Check this out

Yotes right, they can be on anything you introduce to the tank. I have never intentionally put stars in my tank and yet I have asterinas and serpents popping up from time to time. they we just too little and likely tucked away when they first found their way into my tank.
 
I've recently discovered these little tiny stars in my tank. They are perfect little white stars about 3/8" across.

The weird thing is:
I haven't put any corals in my tank in 6 months. I haven't put any new rocks in my tank in over 18 months. Then these things just show up outta nowhere in the last 3 weeks. :shock:

I don't have any idea what kind of stars they are. Need to research them and hopefully they are reef safe.

EDIT:
http://www.garf.org/news26p2.html#STAR

Good thing I don't have any SPS in my tank. Not sure if these are the ones I have in my tank though. More research is in order. I had to ask myself -- if they eat SPS, how the hell did they grow in my tank? I don't have ANY SPS in my tank.
 
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There is a lot of controversy over these little stars. They are called asterinas. Some say they eat coral, others say that they simply eat corals that are already suffering form some other condition or in other words already dead or dying. I have them in my tank and they seem like a great addition to my CUC I have never seen them anywhere near my corals. I should note that I am referring to the 6 leg variety. I have read that there is an 8 leg variety that otherwise looks the same that is confirmed bad news! Perhaps this is the source of the controversy. I am sure that as with all things marine, there are more than one variety or species and it's not unlikely that one of them is a great coral hunter. Just keep an eye on them and if you see them cruising through your corals then you'll have to get them gone. Another thought, You just got rid of your sixline. They have been known to control asterinas so perhaps that's why they are only popping up now.
 
They were in there before the 6-line. And remember, the 6-line was in the 10g frag tank for almost a year. I only put him back in the 30g display to see if he would get along with Nemo. When he tried to kill Nemo again, I sold him. I don't think he was back in the 30g tank for more than 5 or 6 days. These stars started popping up about 3 weeks ago. Found one last night that was about 3/4" across. So they were in there while the 6-line was still in the 10g frag tank.

Saw my chiton again last night. Might have to put a name to it if I keep seeing it.

I really torn about what to do with the stars. Some people say they split and multiply really quickly and could over-run my tank. Others say to leave them be. I'm okay with detritus eating stars. But if they become plague proportions I'll have a helluva time getting them all out without taking the tank apart........ even then, there's no guarantee I'll get them all out. Part of me wants to get rid of all them right now. The other part of me thinks that because I run a low nutrient tank..... there's no way they could possibly have enough food to reproduce to plague numbers.
 
I'd just keep an eye on them and don't remove them unless you either simply don't like them, or they start causing trouble. They are a welcomed HH in my tank.
 
I like my little stars too.I've never seen one on a coral,but they like the patches of film algae that grows in places I can get too.Theres a lot of em in the overflows,so I'm just gonna leave em be.
 
Wish I could get cool hitchhikers like you guys. Last one I got ate the base out of my Poscillipora :grumble:
 
Rcpilot said:
I really torn about what to do with the stars. Some people say they split and multiply really quickly and could over-run my tank. Others say to leave them be. I'm okay with detritus eating stars. But if they become plague proportions I'll have a helluva time getting them all out without taking the tank apart........
Click to expand...

RC, if you're bothered by them, get a harlequin shrimp. They feed exclusively on star fish and will probably wipe out your tank pretty quickly. If it does a really good job eating your stars, you may have to think about buying starfish to keep it fed. Or some people keep one star in a separate tank and just cut off a leg for the shrimp every so often (and then the star grows a new leg)...
 
I'm okay as long as they don't eat corals or explode to plague population levels. They are probably good cleaners, so they can stay.

But great tip on the shrimp. Thanks Biff :Cheers:
 
Bifferwine said:
RC, if you're bothered by them, get a harlequin shrimp. They feed exclusively on star fish and will probably wipe out your tank pretty quickly. If it does a really good job eating your stars, you may have to think about buying starfish to keep it fed. Or some people keep one star in a separate tank and just cut off a leg for the shrimp every so often (and then the star grows a new leg)...
Click to expand...

That's just wrong! How would you like someone to cut off your arms and feed some other creature! I'm calling the Sea PITA people! :mrgreen:
 
I am pretty sure that they are too busy saving flies. They wont have time to worry about a star leg...
 
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