Huly June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 Is this a baby starfish and is it good or bad? Are there any bad starfish?
Jason Rhoads June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 (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 June 17, 2013 by Jason Rhoads
sachabballi reef June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 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
Djplus1 June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 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?
rocko918 June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 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!
YHSublime June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 If they get out of control, get a harlequin. Beautiful shrimp, free food : )
Huly June 17, 2013 Author June 17, 2013 CuC= Clean up Crew Gotcha I was thinking what we call "Mr Hanky" our Sea Cucumber LOL
Coral Hind June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 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.
Jason Rhoads June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 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
zygote2k June 17, 2013 June 17, 2013 The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium vol 1 has pictures of many of these things you are asking ID on.
smallreef June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 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...
Origami June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 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.
Incredible Corals June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 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.
Huly June 18, 2013 Author June 18, 2013 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
sachabballi reef June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 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...
Huly June 18, 2013 Author June 18, 2013 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!
YHSublime June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 We always say "pictures or it didn't happen" on wrangler forum.
swimmatte June 18, 2013 June 18, 2013 I have a bunch of those in my tank.... I never see them moving or doing anything, good or bad.
treesprite June 20, 2013 June 20, 2013 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.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now