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Is this a baby starfish and is it good or bad?

 

Babystarfish_zpsdb71b693.jpg

 

 

Are there any bad starfish?

(edited)

Asterina starfish; it won't hurt a thing. You can find people who will disagree with that, but in my experience they are harmless.

Edited by Jason Rhoads

OK I kinda agree. They are OK and don't seem to eat any corals but they multiply very quickly and can hurt coral just by sheer numbers and clinging on them etc. I usually take them out when I see them.

Jmo

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

 

OK I kinda agree. They are OK and don't seem to eat any corals but they multiply very quickly and can hurt coral just by sheer numbers and clinging on them etc. I usually take them out when I see them.

Jmo

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

I have what appears to be a couple living fragments (legs?) creeping around my glass. You recommend chucking them?

if you find ones that are blueish in color they will sit on top of zoos/palys and eat them. If you see any of these doing that i would remove them. I have first hand knowledge of this!

If they get out of control, get a harlequin. Beautiful shrimp, free food : )

CuC= Clean up Crew :)

Gotcha I was thinking what we call "Mr Hanky" our Sea Cucumber LOL

I have what appears to be a couple living fragments (legs?) creeping around my glass. You recommend chucking them?

The fragments you see are the results of the starfish multipling via asexual reproduction. Like BTA's they will pull themselves apart to reproduce.

 

Even though the lighter colored ones that you seem to have are harmless to me, I would still always try to remove them when I saw. I did this because some people do not like them and when they see them in your tank they get scared of buying or swapping frags from you because you have a starfish cootie.

they get scared of buying or swapping frags from you because you have a starfish cootie.

 

Hahah, I bet people get really scared of the quarter-sized Aptasia cootie I have :)

The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium vol 1 has pictures of many of these things you are asking ID on.

thats Julian Sprungs right?

that's a really good book Rob suggested..if you can find it for less than $100...

Asterina. My preference is to remove them when I see them for a couple of reasons. They can multiply to plague proportions and, in some tanks, they can prey on zoanthids and some corals according to lots of anecdotal evidence from first-hand sufferers. This includes people that once swore up and down that they were harmless, but later changed their mind. This is an old report, but it's worth looking at: http://www.garf.org/Star/starfish.html

 

While some people report no problems and others theorize that it's only some species that are problematic, I've yet to really hear anything definitive and reliable about how to differentiate the harmless from the harmful species. Thus, it's easier just to remove them when I see them.

The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium vol 1 has pictures of many of these things you are asking ID on.

 

Or, you can just ask the question here on WAMAS because that is the whole point of the club. ;)  Never be discouraged from asking questions because I guarantee everyone else had that same question before and / or someone else is  wondering the same thing.

The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium vol 1 has pictures of many of these things you are asking ID on.

I have that SC education so reading is not my strong point :)

 

thats Julian Sprungs right?

that's a really good book Rob suggested..if you can find it for less than $100...

I wish they had some of those for my KIndle :)

 

Or, you can just ask the question here on WAMAS because that is the whole point of the club. ;)  Never be discouraged from asking questions because I guarantee everyone else had that same question before and / or someone else is  wondering the same thing.

Plus I am lazy when it comes to certain things and with all my "other duties" trying to find some time to open a book much less look up something is a pain :)

personally I like it when Huly asks stuff as she never seems to have normal issues in her tanks LOL....so its a learning experience for all in the end...if she just opened a book this place would be boring....and she always illustrates with great photos...

personally I like it when Huly asks stuff as she never seems to have normal issues in her tanks LOL....so its a learning experience for all in the end...if she just opened a book this place would be boring....and she always illustrates with great photos...

On ES we have a saying "useless without photos" lol so it just makes sense to take a photo as I have no idea how I woud describe half of the stuff we have seen.

 

Example Phone call to Origami about flatworm

 

Me- Um sorry to bug you but we have an issue.  We noticed what looked to be algae on one of our torches but the snot looking substance moved.  We think it might be a flatworm but when we tried to pick it up with the tongs and it broke in half.  It is really big

 

Origami- what color is it?  Was it flat?  How big?

 

Me- purpleish, looks slimey and flat, 1/2" to an 1" easy

 

Origami-  AEFW never get that big and you should not be able to grab them with tongs post a photo and let me know when it is up.

 

Me describing a bristle worm to my mom-  It was like a huge alien creature you would see in one of Pez's ScyFy movies. Long thin spikey thing

 

See my description skills are not the best!

We always say "pictures or it didn't happen" on wrangler forum.

From my observations in my tank over the years:

 

The white/cream ones appear harmless and don't sit on corals. I see them on glass more than on rock.

 

The ones with the gray/gray-blue backs, which are stubbier, self-propagate at a phenomenal rate compared to the others. They sit on my corals which can cause damage even if coral isn't being "eaten". Worst of all, they sit on top of my zoanthid polyps, sometimes days at a time a single starfish (if I let them), which kills the zoanthids. I don't know if they are eating the zoas or just suffocating them,  but why would a star not eat for several days in order to sit on a polyp in contact with its mouth?

 

The mini bristle stars do not bother anything.

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