Found a starfish

[Fox]

I was about to clean the glass on my tank last night when I saw this little http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs216.snc3/22359_294745932278_699737278_4915145_6393014_n.jpg
I have never tried caring for a starfish before and I am wondering if I can use this groups wealth of knowledge to identify him and let me know what I will need to care for him....

Thanks in advance!

[workn2hard2day]

google "asterina starfish"

[Fox]

Wow way to kill my buzz :(

"This type of starfish has been shown to eat coralline algae and some corals; specifically acropora, xenia, green star polyps, zoanthids, and several types of soft leather corals."

ONLY the majority of my coral stock :(

Guess I'll have to keep an eye on him...on the bright side, I guess I wont have to worry about feeding him... LOL

[Eyford01]

Definitely an asterina, I purposely went out looking for these neat lil hitchhikers, if it's on the glass it is most likely an algae eating variety, from what I've read the algae eaters only go after corals if their numbers exceed the available food (plague proportions) but they're easy enough to just pick out if you feel you have too many, I have never had any sort of a problem with them and would recommend keeping it, congrats!

[Fox]

Sweet!

That certainly makes me feel a little better...

I will keep an eye on my corals just in case of course!

Thanks!

[rocco134]

I found one like this in my tank not to long ago too (except mine only has 3 legs). He hasnt touched any of my corals.

[Fox]

Funny you should mention that, because when I first found this guy he also had 3 legs...by the time i got my camera out, he had stretched out the bottom ones you see in the picture...cool how they can grow them back if they lose them too!

[bvlester]

I have some in my tank and they have never been on my corals.

[ScubaSteve]

My general rule is, as long as they place nice they can stay. I've got a couple different ones in mine (even an orange one which makes me question if it is asterina...) and they kinda just do their thing. None of them have touch my stock ... yet.

[Delphinus]

Never had a problem myself with asterina stars. Just cool little hitchhiker that didn't bother anything.

[Bugsy]

I have 2 of these little stars and never have bothered my zoas at all. They clean the rock around them though as you can see where they have been. I have always been told they are harmless in the tank.

[madkeenreefer]

I had a whole bunch of these in my last tank and I would always find them under my frags and around the base of corals , I manualy removed them over time ,
they were not just plain white in my case they were a moltey colour orange brown grey and sorts.

[Eyford01]

asterina come in many different varieties which explains the difference in colours, as for the number of legs some of mine have up to 7 but they reproduce by splitting themselves in half which is why you might see some lopsided ones with only 2 or 3 legs