what is this

Looks like a little grey star fish with 6 legs and a hole. It moves fairly quickly for being so tiny.

 

asterina starfish

 

An adorable asterina star! They're so darn cute.

 

Its definitely an asterina.

I want to mention that there is a debate on the safety of these star.

Some are harmless, eat coralline and othe algaes but ppl have reported them eating their corals. The belief is anout 5% are not reef safe but there is not a definitive way of knowibg which are safe or not.

I personally remove any I have found just to be on the safe side and to control how many I have in my tank.

 

I have read that too! I probably have 50 or more in my tank (because I think they're adorable) I haven't ever had them eat at my cirals, at least that I have seen. But I have heard that occasionally this happens.

 

Ive read the debates in them. Little guy is gonna dtay for now if he takes a psycho route and starts munching corals ill eliminate the issue. As of nownhe just crawls across them to go to the rock work

 

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

 

Nice read. I think ill keep him unless he takes a liking to my coral or move him to the sump probabky move him to the sump next time i see him.

 

Noticed a 2nd one same color a little smaller. Oh boy this should get interesting. Thinking inmay move them to the sump to be safe im sure ill see more.