starfish ID?

[DNickell]

About month ago I noticed a very tiny starfish on my back glass. It was smaller than the diameter of a pencil erasor, including the two legs it had intact--the other legs appeared to be missing.

I didn't see it again until a few days ago. It has now grown to about half the size of a dime, including the seven (?) legs it appears to have now--all but two being new growth and much smaller.

It is white and stubby--not a serpent like starfish. I have seen it several times in the last few days, always either on the glass or on bare live rock very near the glass.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of starfish this might be? More importantly, is it going to be a problem in my tank?

I have some soft and LP corals, plus a few turbo snails, maybe a dozen hermit crabs, a large cowrie and a long spined urchin, plus a few fish. This is a 120 long tank.

I have noticed no reaction from the starfish when food (flake, nori, etc.) comes near it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I had a supposedly "reef safe" spindly legged starfish years ago. It was reef safe to the extent that it didn't bother corals. I did catch it snatching snails off the glass and eating them, just before I removed it. That experience has made me cautious of starfish since. I assume this one hitched a ride in on something and is just now getting large enough to be noticible.

Any comments would be appreciated. I try to give unknown hitchhikers the benefit of doubt, but I would like to know more about what is lurking in my tank.

 

[lowincwrx]

probably an asterina star. you'll get mixed reviews on them some say they're reef safe, if they do attack anything its more likely to be sps. i have some in my 29g i only have softies and they have never bothered them.

 

[lowincwrx]

if you go down a few threads theres another person asking about these as well.

 

[DNickell]

I just got home and was looking in my tank and found another one. That's two of the little buggers!

I also thought I should clarify on the legs; it obviously has five legs, but the way two of the little "stumps" are growing back it looks like they are almost divided into two seperate legs for each stump. Very odd looking.

The second starfish is the same kind only just a bit smaller.

Any idea how these things reproduce? Should I worry about a population explosion of these things clogging up all my pipes?

I don't have any SPS in my tank. I did recently upgrade my lights and have been researching the possibility of SPS that are compatible with mushrooms, colt coral, and my LPS corals. I've also been trying to learn about claims to see if my set up would support them.

Will these starfish be a problem for those?