Little White Statfish?

[Billybatz9]

Are little black starfish bad? I thought they were white, but they are black. Or maybe they died and turned black. Whatever. Are these bad?
http://i.imgur.com/fwfp7IY.jpg

[BillNye]

Looks like asterina starfish. I have a bunch in my tank and they don't seem to do any harm. They can slowly take over though.

[Billybatz9]

Looks like asterina starfish. I have a bunch in my tank and they don't seem to do any harm. They can slowly take over though.

Any way to kill them?

[biecacka]

Harlequin shrimp.

Corey

[lhm nole]

Any way to kill them?

Pluck them out with tweezers and throw in the trash can

[RayAllen3422]

Once they are there it is hard to get rid of them. They multiple very quickly.

[JBeursken]

I have them in my tank as well. they don't bother anything....saw 4-5 on the rocks about 1 month ago, haven't seen them since

[clsanchez77]

They are mini detritivores and good for your tank. If their population explodes "too high", then it means you have a lot of detritus in your system. No harm, they are there to help.

[AZRippster]

Ours have a taste for palys and zoas, they have decimated several of our colonies. We have a Harlequin shrimp that is slowly eating their feet off!

[Jeff4777]

Harlequin shrimp.

Corey

lmao.

[ca1ore]

'Asterina' is an imprecise term that gets used to describe what is likely to be a number of different species. While many appear to be harmless, it stands to reason that some may not be - and explains folks differing experiences with them. Just keep an eye on them, and if damage to zoas occurs, for example, then you'll know there is a problem to solve.

[biecacka]

lmao.

Not sure what I missed.....

Get 1-2 harlequin shrimp. They will destroy them. The catch is...they ONLY eat starfish. So once they decimate the population, you will need to catch them and sell them to another reefer or LFS. Or you can chocolate chip starfish to feed them.


Corey

[BillNye]

Linckias eat these little guys too apparently...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1745175

[Sk8r]

I don't think they're asterinas. Asterinas as I know them are white and missing (always) part of one arm. These are something else. You might just drop them into your sump and let them earn a living eating the crud that accumulates. I've never known them to multiply out of hand---unless you have a zoa tank.

[ReefWreak]

Ours have a taste for palys and zoas, they have decimated several of our colonies. We have a Harlequin shrimp that is slowly eating their feet off!

It didn't eat anything else? I might be in the market for a few of these, have a zoanthid problem that I can't get rid of and didn't want in the first place.

To the OP, I would remove and destroy them. Whether they're friendly or unfriendly, asterinas never live in moderate numbers. The only tanks I've ever seen them in have them EVERYWHERE.

[clsanchez77]

It didn't eat anything else? I might be in the market for a few of these, have a zoanthid problem that I can't get rid of and didn't want in the first place.

To the OP, I would remove and destroy them. Whether they're friendly or unfriendly, asterinas never live in moderate numbers. The only tanks I've ever seen them in have them EVERYWHERE.

Was not my experience, but then I don't give advice in extreme fashions either.

[jsnrho82]

You are going to see two camps on this issue, and they are about as polarized as Republicas and Democrats in the U.S. Some folks think these guys are the Devil and kill everything in the tank up to and sometimes including fish, while others think they are totally harmless.

I am of the opinion that there are some of these who will eat zoanthids (and only the more valuable zoanthids, never the crappy brown ones you don't want) these, in my experience are the black/grey variety. The white ones seem to be passive, and I rarely see them chowing on anything but the tank glass.

Either way, these will self-regulate in population.

[AZRippster]

I am of the opinion that there are some of these who will eat zoanthids (and only the more valuable zoanthids, never the crappy brown ones you don't want) these, in my experience are the black/grey variety. The white ones seem to be passive, and I rarely see them chowing on anything but the tank glass.

I agree that at least the ones I have target the brightly colored and valuable zoas, and palys. They don't seem to fiddle with the brown and darker ones. I picked 5 off my zoas last night that were munching down. I hate these things. I do have a Harlequin that's constantly eating them, but he has enough in one end of our 450G that he never makes it over to where I really have the problem.

[clsanchez77]

I agree that at least the ones I have target the brightly colored and valuable zoas, and palys. They don't seem to fiddle with the brown and darker ones. I picked 5 off my zoas last night that were munching down. I hate these things. I do have a Harlequin that's constantly eating them, but he has enough in one end of our 450G that he never makes it over to where I really have the problem.

Lol, sounds like you need another Harlequin

[AZRippster]

After last night when I battled getting at least a dozen off of our palys and zoas, and then finding about 5 headed to our rastas in the center of the tank, I'm thinking the same thing. Never had this issue before.