Starfish?

Only noticed what looks like a starfish, since i got a new piece of rock from the lfs with the xenia on it, i can see its a starfish, but what kind is it and is it good or bad?

Thanks...




Also those blotchy looking patches on my mushrooms , is that caused from to much light they are half way up the tank , and have 200watt t5 on them?, or is that just normal?

 

Well I have heard all the sky is falling Hype about them and all the horror stories but to this day I have yet to see one to harm anything , What they will do is eat on dead or dirty corals flesh they tend to love leathers and colts . Also i can tell you that A Harlequin shrimp will never eat them either !

And If you have one then you will have more a overly fed tank tends to make life better for them as they will explode in population numbers don't over feed and trying to remove them is next to useless .. Thats what I know about them

 

This looks like a classic asterina star. There is some controversy on good or bad, but I think the overwelming opinion here is bad. I agree after finally catching the one that was eating my toadstool leather stalk. Omard had a great posting on this, look under inverts and asterina or http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/asterina-outbreak-43438.html

The unfortunate thing about them is if you see one, you probably have 100. I take them out every time I see one. They are really hard to see on LR.

Hope this helps.


W

 

I have never had a problem with the little guys.

 

I have only spotted one so far if i see it again should i get rid of it, and does it only take 1 to breed more or does it take 2 to tango?

 

Cheers guy's, Does anybody know, besides removeing them, does anything eat them?

 

Asterina's

Never seen anything that would eat them...even my Harlequins would not touch them.

If you get that one out and any other you see right away, you may catch them before they start to really multiply (which then can very very fast)

But odds are, if you have one, there are hundreds of little bitty ones waiting to come out of hiding and crawl on the glass....

Fought them for years, but have finally accepted the inevitable, and now just live with them.

They seem to come in ebbs and flows...for while see just a few in tank, then all of a sudden there is 20-30 of them on the glass.

But the good thing is that they are voracious algae eaters, and between them and the snails my glass and rocks are pretty much algae free, except for coraline, and have been so for years.

Every water change I siphon the ones I can get to on glass, just to keep population under control. Not to get rid of them....Probably thousands of them in overflows...(But what the heck, they are keeping gunk and algae from building up in there....)

Once upon a time (not so long ago to some of us ), when there were no such things as skimmers or other devices we now take for granted for aquariums, most people looked upon these little guys as a very valuable micro-fauna to help keep their tanks under control.

They have probably been blamed for far more reef/coral damage then they deserve.

Not saying you don't have the dangerous type...but odds are against it....

Learn to live with them...(and they will provide a valuable service)

 

I have a few, only seen 3 which started as 1, but never been a problem at all.