little white starfish question

[AndyP27]

We have a few little white starfish (about 1/4 inch (6mm)) in the tank. I asked our pet store guy about in MO before we moved about them and he said they can get bad but I don't remember what they do. I just counted six of them, is this something that will mess with coral? Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Tgunz127]

I got a few of them ... In my opinion they are harmless ... When I see them I pulled them out but some ppl like them ... They are called asterina starfish ... Look them up for more info ...

 

[ColaAddict]

they just like to move about on the walls of the aquarium eating algae, they should be harmless, but they can multiply really fast and can be an eyesore.

 

[EricTheRed]

They can also go rouge and eat certain paly's. After several years without any problems I just recently had some that ate my contest paly and now I'm plucking them off my pink zoas. If they get really bad and you want them gone, then harlequin shrimp will eat them. However a harley will eat hundreds of them in a matter of a week or two so you have nowhere near enough to go that route. Once they're gone you have to buy chocolate chip starfish to feed them, and that is not always an easy thing to do.

 

[Cubbies]

They can go after coral so keep an eye on them. Just like Eric said they love polyps. I have a few in the tank as well but haven't done any damage so far. I try taking them out as well.

 

[yogoshio]

Throw them in a sump and get some harlequins

 

[fishworld]

they will also eat leathers too, I learned that the hard way.

 

[saltymike]

I had hundreds of them in my tank and never paid much attention to them until my red hornets disappeared. I bought a harlequin and within 2 weeks they were all gone. I bought a couple chocolate chip stars for him to eat and then I sold him.

 

[Lil BamBam]

I found these on my palys today... Very upset It went after a few of my favorite frags.. They are now air drying as a punishment :sly:

 

[nailbender]

I've had these all over my tank and had no issues.....until yesterday. I moved a paly that wasn't doing so well and it perked up about a week ago, then a few days later it started shriveling up again I thought it was too close to an acan so I went to move it and found one of them little suckers on the stalk. It will never do it again.

 

[FishBeard]

Holy cow, this thread is like the precursor warning of the little white starfish uprising!

All ur palys are belong to us!

 

[Advanced Aquatics]

Asterina stars they are going to eat coral and sps for shure.

 

[ColaAddict]

Will they come off with coral dip?

 

[EricTheRed]

They eat every speck of coraline algae off my rocks, which isn't that big a deal, but after eating my contest paly I now see them eating my pink zoas. We need to buy a community harlequin shrimp that we can pass around the community eating these littlebastards!!!

 

[Advanced Aquatics]

You can dip or just go the easy route with the harlequin shrimp

 

[Tbonekilla]

These things are kill on sight in my tank now. Found them eating orange zoa's and GSP.

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