star

[caribian1]

i have alot of baby stars on my live rock its that good or bad

[LPDK91]

Good thing to have. Good clean up crew.

[beba]

do you have pictures??

[D to the P]

not necessarily good. The may be Asterina sp. starfish. If that is the case they are not reef safe and you should try to get as many of them out as possible. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-0...ture/index.php
Read the article for some info and pics.

[Salamander]

^ What???

From the article posted above..."Returning to our example of the common, small Asterina species found in some reef tanks, these sea stars in recent years have suffered, unfairly I might add, the reputation of being risky or just plain un-safe in the reef."

Most Asterina are good additions to your crew. I'll take them if you don't want them. Or they could be mini bristle stars which are also common hitch hikers.

IMO keep them if what you have might be asterina stars. If you see them doing harm them pull 'em out. Its not like they're hard to catch.

[D to the P]

the article that I posted also said:
While they favor one type of prey that is convenient or popular to us, like sand bed worms, brown diatoms or bubble algae, they will adapt to eating other food items following the reduction or absence of a preferred food item. Thus, the reef keeper with a persistent growth of microalgae in a garden reef display will likely have less trouble with misbehaving omnivores than another aquarist with an aggressively skimmed and scrubbed tank that supports little growth of the matter. In a phrase, the hungrier that a so-called "reef-safe" creature gets, the less "reef-safe" that creature becomes. In the case of Asterina, many years ago during the bare-bottomed, nutrient poor Berlin style era of reef keeping, reef husbandry with early protein skimmers and limited nutrient export processes was not as efficient as it is today; diatoms and other nutritious growths grew quickly in our tanks. And Asterina were not considered un-safe by hobbyists.

In other words, because of technology and a better understanding of proper reef husbandry that has allowed us to remove nutrients from our tanks to such a low level that microalgae doesn't grow prolifically enough to feed these starfish they will adapt to feeding on corals or coralline algae (which I have seen them do). They are not easy to get out, sure you may get one individual, but they reproduce like crazy by fission and usually just end up over running the tank.

[Salamander]

Sorry but I don't buy it. I've known so many people with these and no complaints. Not to say it could never happen with some species but most are harmless. Who really cares if they eat a tiny bit coraline algae on occasion? I have to scrape it off myself anyway...so thanks I say.

What you quoted above is more of a generalization and not entirely discussing stars as indicated by the sentence preceding it.

"....It also explains why some other "controversial" reef invertebrates have contradictory reputations like Mithrax/Mithraculus crabs. Many such creatures are opportunistic feeders." Then it goes on to what you quoted in the above post. Seems a little misleading.

No reason to kill likely beneficial free reef safe starfish....and no reason to tell someone else to do it too.

Caribian1....Do some research before you needlessly kill what may be beneficial. Don't rely on one thread for your info. Who knows... maybe you don't have asterina anyway....

[caribian1]

the star fish they look like white color

[caribian1]

most of them are in the tank glass

[D to the P]

Well don't kill it to you know what it is, it could definately be something beneficial. I agree with you salamander that IDing the starfish is an important thing to do first.

its only my opinion from what i have read and witnessed that asterina starfish are not reef safe and are pests. I've seen them eat coraline, I know they can reproduce into plague like numbers, I've read about people having these starfish eating their corals (especially zoos), and therefore I see no reason to want them in my aquarium.

I guess one man's trash is another man's treasure. I don't want to argue about whether they are reefsafe or not, like I said its just my opinion based on the evidence I've found. In your experience they haven't been a problem so I see why you wouldn't think so.

[bertoni]

I've always enjoyed my asterinid starfish. Most of the ones we see in tanks seem to be reef-safe. They might eat coralline algae, but I consider that a plus. Mine don't, but I've found other ways to kill the bilious purple.

Some eat corals, but that is rare, and might involve separate species.

[caribian1]

im going to whait till they get bigger and if the are asterina star fish i will take them all out

[Playa-1]

I've got a few hanging around and have not had any trouble with them.

[caribian1]

nope

[MERTZ18]

no prob with them here. ive not seen them hurt any of my corals.