Baby starfish???????

Ok this really flipped me out today. I got rid of my overflow box, and went with Covey's design with just a single tube in the corner of my tank, much better flow! Anyways, after I got everything up and running, I noticed what looked just like a starfish, 5 limbs, star shaped, the limbs had tiny bristles on them, whitish color, about 1/4" MAYBE in diameter, floating in the middle of my tank.....First I thought it was a plastic shaving or something, but when it got in the path of my powerhead, the limbs curled in and it turned into a ball shape, floated to the sand bed,and then opened back up, and started crawling....I couldnt get a pic, it happened too fast, and now I cant find it...It almost blends in with the sand bed. How could this have happened? I didnt introduce ANYTHING new to my tank for some months. Is this even possible? The wife doesnt believe me...lol

 

Micro brittlestar?

 

I think I have some too. I last saw it come out 3-4 months ago. Then last week I saw some legs sticking out of a hole.

 

It didnt look like the micro brittles in the pic. It's limbs were thicker, different body style than a brittle. It was pure white, with slightly orange bristles on the bottom of the limbs...It was cool though, still cant figure out where it came from...lol You would think it was just some hitchhiker from my LR, but that rock has been in there for MONTHS, and as small as it is, I dont think its very old. It was about half the size of those micro brittles in your pic.

 

I have these in tank, I dont know if its what you have. It sounds like youd have bristle starfish, which I have also. But I found this in my tank and it freaked me out at first. Well, not freaked me out, i like it.

Also, I havnt added anything to my tank in a month or 2 and I found a little snail in my tank. Ehich is weird because i only have 1 giant snail in my tank. But i guess its been staying in the live rock. Some things stay in there for a long time without you know. im sure you brought it in on your Live rock or maybe a coral you brought in.

Its probably just a harmless filter feeder.

 

Yea, thats what Im thinking, def nothing harmful, I was happy when I saw it. lol, I just wish I could find it again, wonder how much bigger it might get? Most stars are nocturnal arent they? I had a green brittle a LONG time ago, and it always hid under LR until the lights went out.

 

I think it'll probably stay pretty small, but I dont know what you have exactly. My little asterina starfish wont get any bigger than they are now. They might grow their limbs back though. If you see your on your coral or anything just get it out of there. I've heard of some of these starfish eating your polyps and things.
GARF predatory starfish 11/25/01


does this look like what you have?
AsterinaFAQs

 

No. All the limbs on those were way thicker, and the colors dont match either. I also noticed most of those had 7 limbs or 4 limbs. The one I seen had 5. I swear it looked just like one of those orange starfish you get at a novelty shop, only it was white....Ive noticed a bunch of baby snails popping up out of nowhere as well... Some are kinda like a football shape, others have a round layered shell thats white with little red dots around it.