What's this in my reef tank?

[Virtute71]

What's this in my reef tank? https://imgur.com/gallery/rySNA

Looks like starfish? Never seen them before until I bought some corals.

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[Jeff4777]

asterina starfish

[ssick92]

Yes, it is definitely an Asterina. Some people have had experiences with them munching on SPS, but I have never had it happen in any of my tanks. They are generally considered safe.

[shadowmonster]

I don't trust them. :thumbdown

Until somebody can distinguish the bad ones from the good ones without a doubt I'll continue to treat them all as bad. The links below might shed some light as to why.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-

http://www.withinthesea.com/reef-aquarium/pests/asterina-anomala/

http://www.coralpedia.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1426

[Virtute71]

I don't trust them. :thumbdown

Until somebody can distinguish the bad ones from the good ones without a doubt I'll continue to treat them all as bad. The links below might shed some light as to why.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/45-reefkeeping-101-

http://www.withinthesea.com/reef-aquarium/pests/asterina-anomala/

http://www.coralpedia.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1426

Thanks for the links. Very informative!

[Virtute71]

Yes, it is definitely an Asterina. Some people have had experiences with them munching on SPS, but I have never had it happen in any of my tanks. They are generally considered safe.

You have zoas in your tank? I got one and I'm planning on populating my reef tank to have large zoa patches like this.

http://i.imgur.com/7kTXxuz.jpg

[Virtute71]

clicked send too soon. I'm just a little worried about the asterinas :)

[ssick92]

clicked send too soon. I'm just a little worried about the asterinas :)

Yes, I don't have any asterinas in my current tank, but in my previous 2 tanks I had plenty of them, and had all types of corals -- zoas, mushrooms, LPS, SPS and they never touched anything.

[Virtute71]

They also eat coralline algae, which I'm trying to propagate!!!

[Virtute71]

Yes, I don't have any asterinas in my current tank, but in my previous 2 tanks I had plenty of them, and had all types of corals -- zoas, mushrooms, LPS, SPS and they never touched anything.

OK I'll give them a whirl. I've only seen a couple so far.

[billdogg]

If one of my tanks starts to have too many I'll catch a few and spread them around. I have yet to have one do anything harmful to my systems in the almost 30 years I've been at this obsession.

If they are getting over populated, it is an indication that there is way too much food for them in your tank. Take care of that and their population will dwindle.

hth

[taby15]

That's a sweet set up. Only have a few zoas. They were itroduce as hitchhikers

[shadowmonster]

Yes, I don't have any asterinas in my current tank, but in my previous 2 tanks I had plenty of them, and had all types of corals -- zoas, mushrooms, LPS, SPS and they never touched anything.

Just out of curiosity how big were these other tanks? Over the years I've found that a lot of people who say that they haven't had any problems with these starfish usually have rather large tanks.

[ssick92]

Just out of curiosity how big were these other tanks? Over the years I've found that a lot of people who say that they haven't had any problems with these starfish usually have rather large tanks.
1 was a 30g long, and 1 was a 65g. I definitely wouldn't consider them in the "large" category by any means, but definitely large in comparison to my current nano.

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[shadowmonster]

Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of 100 gallons or more. Things could easily go unnoticed in these tanks. Not that they can't in smaller ones too though. I have a variety of corals in my 20 gallon tank at the moment, but you couldn't pay me to add these starfish to it. The fascination is long gone and overall it's just not worth the risk IMO.

[mcgyvr]

Just out of curiosity how big were these other tanks? Over the years I've found that a lot of people who say that they haven't had any problems with these starfish usually have rather large tanks.

I've had them for years also in my tanks and never worry/never had problems... 10G, 30G cube, 120G long, 40breeder

[shadowmonster]

Perhaps... I wouldn't expect you to wake up one morning and find a whole colony of zoanthids has been decimated or one of your prized sps corals has been stripped down to the bone, but just because your not seeing this doesn't necessarily mean it's not happening. Eveytime somebody says that they haven't had any problems with these starfish I always take it with a grain of salt. (especially when they have rather large tanks)