Current thoughts on Asterina stars.

I've been reading threads going back a couple of years about asterina stars being reef safe, being coral munchers, being a delicacy for harlequins and not...

I seem to have brought at least one home, possibly as a hitchhiker on some green star polyps.

In any event, what's the current school of thought on their harmfulness to corals.

If it's otherwise a harmless little algae muncher I'll keep it

 

I have one , same one I have had for 2 years. It eats zoanthids, otherwise I have never had a problem with them and would only remove them if I saw them actively eating corals.

 

There are many different species of asterinas. Some good, some harmful. It's hard to identify the difference between them. You might be able to post a pic and have an expert identify it, there are a few around that post here. Otherwise just watch it carefully.

 

I have to find the speeding little sucker again he scoots along pretty fast for something I always thought to be slow.

I'll try to get a good pic of him tonight but I'm currently in the middle of a dust storm thanks to my new brown bar goby so anything I get may still be fuzzy.

thanks.

 

What color is he? I've read that you can tell the coral eating guys by their color. If that's wrong, I'm sure someone on here will say so!

I know the pure white ones are safe. I have a bajillion and they have never touched anything. I actually really enjoy them and they are one of my favorite things in the tank!

 

also if it has 6 legs it might be dangerous (ive heard) might just be a mutation though

 

looked to be pinkish purple.

I think it had five, but it looked like it had recently split

 

The school of thought on these from what I've read is that odd number legs are bad ones, and even numbered legs are good. White ones are good, but colored ones are bad.

None of this is scientific, and I'm not sure that anyone knows for sure.

I have had a few white six legged ones in my sump only (never seen one in the display tank) and so I've never seen them eat coral. They must be eating something in the sump, and I've never bothered to remove them.

 

Asternia like all starfish can have any number of legs, within reason. It is almost impossible to give an exact ID of the type of asternia based on coloration as well. Most as stated prior are harmless, and populations will wax and wane based on age of system and available food.

 

Very rare to get corals eaters, so most likely safe just watch it closely.