reefinmike
New member
i had tons of these in my 90 gallon reef tank but found one today in my 125(dosent have anything from the 90g in it and is about 10 miles away from the 90g) on one of my clams... is it bad?
starfish id
- Thread starter reefinmike
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Vancouverman
New member
Astrina Starfish. They multiply by division and are like the plague. Sometimes eating zoonathids ive heard. You can get a harliquin shrimp that will eat them I think but if they outnumber his appitite you may need more shrimp. Also please verify that the harliquin shrimp will control them first. Im just going by what ive read. I also find one every now and then in my tank. I remove it to the bird feeder every time.
Jay
Jay
ophiuroid
Premium Member
Nearly everyone with LR has these stars, and it is quite rare for someone to get a problematic species. Not impossible, but really quite rare. Asterina stars are a normal component of a reef tank. I have never heard them pose a risk to clams.
I would assume they are innocent until proven guilty. In all likelihood, you have a harmless species as does most everyone else. Keep an eye out, but I would not personally recommend a specialized feeder to erradicate something that may not (and is most likely not) any problem at all. Nor would I recommend hunting them down manually. That simply will not work. Very cryptic and quick to reproduce, you could take a lot of the joy out of the hobby real fast.
I have loads of these, and report no problems. Most people report no problems. Of those that cause issues (and number of arms, size and color are no way to identify them), eating coralline algae appears to be the most harm they cause. Far fewer people report issues with soft corals. And even more rarely is an SPS muncher.
For the most part, these are eating microbial/algal films, which is why you find them on clam shells, glass and rockwork. So watch them, but I wouldn't assume you have a problem.
I would assume they are innocent until proven guilty. In all likelihood, you have a harmless species as does most everyone else. Keep an eye out, but I would not personally recommend a specialized feeder to erradicate something that may not (and is most likely not) any problem at all. Nor would I recommend hunting them down manually. That simply will not work. Very cryptic and quick to reproduce, you could take a lot of the joy out of the hobby real fast.
I have loads of these, and report no problems. Most people report no problems. Of those that cause issues (and number of arms, size and color are no way to identify them), eating coralline algae appears to be the most harm they cause. Far fewer people report issues with soft corals. And even more rarely is an SPS muncher.
For the most part, these are eating microbial/algal films, which is why you find them on clam shells, glass and rockwork. So watch them, but I wouldn't assume you have a problem.
Haddonisreef
New member
I have some of these guys that eat monto caps! So be ware, the only way to really slow them down is to get a harliquin shrimp. The shrimp only eats sea stars. good luck!
