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tiny starfish

T

TheGuyFromNJ

I just added 50# of rock and did some aquascaping in my tank. Pics to come. I noticed I have a lot of these tiny starfish. They are smaller than a dime and striped arms. I probably have about 15 of them, probably came in on the rocks I bought alone the way.

My question is are these good, bad, or neither. Do they have a name?

I tried to get a pic but they are too small to make out.

Thanks in advance
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Their algae eaters. Once in a while you might see them on a coral. When their on a coral, their cleaning a dead spot where algae is starting to grow. I think their Astrea stars.
 
S

sinkingbeach

Asternia star, a very common hitchhiker and not harmful at all. They will come and go, some big, some small--nothing to worry about. Although the garf site has a Asterina anomala, they claim it multiplies rapidly and will eat sessile animals such as corals. I'd post a pic just to get confirmation on which one you have.
 
P

pnoyreefer

I had some before and thought they were cute lol.. They multiply rapidly and in one point my wife called me one morning saying " your 180g front glass has 100's on em" and when it got to the point I can't control the stars I had to get a Harlequin and now I have a minimal stars on the tank.....
 
C

Candi

He mentioned striped arms, asternia are just white correct? OP do a google photo search of asternia stars and see if that's what you have, if not Mike what are the baby ones you have in your tank (and were kind enough to pass along to me?) Although I never see them out of the rock I see their arms out all the time, and they are striped... maybe that's what he has? They're baby something or other aren't they?
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
They sound like micro brittle stars, harmless hitchhikers that are a great part of the clean up crew.
 
R

ReeferNets

They are mini brittle stars.

When i feed my tank, It looks like the episode of South Park with the Bums asking for spare change.

Arms come from Everywhere......

That reminds me "Got any spare change."
 
H

harryk

i agree with reefer. If they are striped they are harmless mini brittle stars, but without a pic it's hard to be be 100% on the ID
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

Thanks for the input, they definitely are not asterina stars. Maybe mini brittle like was mentioned.

Pics underwater of something smaller than a dime is challenging to say the least.
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Do they look like this mine brittle? This is only one of my color patterns.

MiniSerpentStars.jpg
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

cool....before you know it you'll have a lot more than 15...and mine do not stay on the LR...they liked the sand (mind you mine is more like crushed coral) and also do nicely on chaeto - kinda neat how they suspend themselves on the chaeto.

Enjoy!
 
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