Microscopic stars growing on aquarium walls!!!

M

marmari

New member
I have white microscopic, tiny stars growing on the walls of my aquarium...they are spreading pretty fast!!!:confused: I have no idea what could this be, some sort of algae or a parasite? I also have brown algae growth which my magnet cleans out neatly, - since my tank is only 1,5 weeks old and the cycling has not begun = I have no amonia spike yet, wonder when will it happen. Anyways how do I get rid of these tiny creatures( they look like feathery dust)???
 
1.5 weeks and no cycle? If they are microscopic how can you see them? Just pickin on ya. If they are not hurting anything why remove them? For looks? Just keep cleaning the glass. What does your tank consist of? The brown algae sounds like cyno bacteria and is normally caused by excess nutrients. If there is not much for live stock in the tank it may be cycling now. Have you tested for nitrates or nitrites? I bet you are cycling now but the good bacteria is keeping up with the ammonia. Pee in the tank to get it cycling faster. But really don't pee in it.
 
I have 4 small damsels and 2 big hermit crabs. Those should produce enough waste in the tank, 55 gal. If the good bacteria is keeping up with the ammonia, how do i know there's cycling? I have tests, they show 0 amonia, and only one notch more with nitrites, but its still at the "safe paremeters" zone. Today I got one big snail and one smallish hermit...I am hoping that he can hide in the rockwork from the big guys.
The stars look like snowflakes. Yes, I wiped them. I just wanted to know whether there were parasites from the live rock...Everytime I go to LFS I end up buying a new live rock with lots of caves and holes and little flowers on them........
 
I have these in my tank, too - at least I think they're the same as yours (small, but not microscopic). They seem to prefer the walls of the tank, but I see them everywhere. I assume they like the walls because of the films that grow there and the ease with which they can consume them. IME, these guys are nothing to worry about. Some folks have blamed them for eating their corals, but I've never seen it. I do occcasionally siphon them out during a water change, but only because I think they're kind of unsightly...
 
Yes, I didn't consider that they may just be hydroids.
Are they star-shaped or indeed tiny starfish?
 
Well, if that picture is what you have, then you have hydroids. These aren't good to have because they have quite a potent sting. Luckily, they are pretty common in new tanks and quite often die away.
 
dont mean to hijack this thread but are these "asterina starfish"

and what is there purpose in life?

sorry but the search feature.....well you know


CIMG0123.JPG
 
They (Asterina) stay small, about the diameter of a dime, I've got them in all my tanks, I think of them as just a little added biological diversity, can't see that they do any harm...
 
Reason i was asking is i heard they like to munch on sps corals and coraline algae. The coraline they can have at it but i dont want them munching on my first Acro that i am about to be putting in.

just trying to get a definitive answer

once again, sorry for hijacking the thread
 
i had a billion of those hydroids. they became very thick in my quarentine and main tank. i noticed 1, then a month later you almost couldnt see through the glass i had so many. however they disapeared in a hurry. i think they disapeared around the same time i started removing phosphates. anyway, when they disapeared, both tanks cleared up same time and i have not seen any since.

oh yea, at first i thought they were super tiny urchins. they look alot like them and can move around. they reproduce by splitting or breaking off a few arms and that little peice grows real fast into an adult.
 
I too have had an infestation of these small stars in my smaller reef. GARF reported that these may damage SPS and started selling Harlequin Shrimp to deal with the infestation. I personally find them distracting and in the future will even quarantine my coral frags in case these are hitch-hiking on the rock base before adding them to my new reef tank.

Dr. A
 
I've never had hydroids.
I do have alot of those Asterina stars. They can have anywhere from 1 to 7 arms IME.
Night or day, I've never seen them on any corals, only on rocks and glass. I can't see that they do much of anything, but suspect they must be eating algae as that is the only living thing I ever see them on.
GARF reported on those probably 5 years ago or so. I recall there being a discussion on Dr Ron's forum about them around that time. As I recall, although there may be some that are coral predators there are others that are harmless herbivores so you don't need to panic when you see them but just keep an eye out for any signs of damage. You only need to get rid of them if they turn out to be the bad actors.

Allen
 
I had an outbreak of Asterina stars and I can say that they di attach a show tricolor bali acro that I had. Almost completely destroyed it over a weekend. I had a huge population of them over the course of 2 months and did not see them doing anything wrong until one day and then they did their damage quickly. I went out and bought a harlequin the next day and what do you know.... no more dying corals... no more starfish. Plus harlequin's are cool as heck and I just feed mine a cheap chochlate chip star once a week (make sure he get's on the star right away or that chochlate chip will do some damage)
 
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