weird green starfish on rockwork

ok heres a pic online of it but still no id.

starfish just keep a eye on it .

They are not bad. Most of them just eat algea, but there are a few that can eat coral. Just watch to see what they are on. They multiply like crazy though. So if you dont want tons of them, i would keep them out. I have some in my tank, but everytime i see one, i pull it out. They reproduce by just spliting, so they can get out of control fast. Harlequin shrimp eat them if they start becoming a problem for you. Oh, and they are a type of asterina more then likely.

my partner beat me to it!  lol!  most types of asterina are fine.  i have found that it seems i have at least ONE of the types that like zoas in my main tank.  they are easy to remove...they are slow as hell...freshwater kills them right away, or you can just grab them with your fingers or tweezers.  personally, i would get rid of every single one you see because they do spred like CRAZY...so even if you're killing the good ones, you've got plenty more in the tank to make up for it.  keep an eye on your zoas.  if you see any of the starfish heading near or on any colonies, grab the sucker.  and here's a link for you  http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1426

Thanx guys Im not gonna throw it back in.Ash thanx for the site. Im gonna let my husband dispose of it, Im a wimp at this kind of stuff, I refuse killing anything except a roach, ugh!!. lol

ok so this morning I took a closer look at the nano and noticed these little suckers are everywhere. I also noticed a few right on top of my zoas. So Im just gonna get rid of them, Harlequin shrimp it is. If anyone locally is selling or willing to make a few bucks loaning it to me, let me know. 

yea, get rid of them buggers!  they are REALLY annoying when they like zoas...and since they are starfish, they can be moving around and sneak right into a colony with like one stub of a leg!  i hate them!  lol! 

Try to find some shrimp, but if you cant my guy will have them. Let me know!

Ash Im gonna get on that asap, theres only 3 zoa colonies in there but they r nice, dont want to loose them. Maxima thanx I should be able to get it down this way, Im gonna deff. have to go check at your guy soon.

You know, I'm actually thinking of grabbing a harlequin myself. I have those bugger starfish EVERYWHERE in my main tank and my refugium.  I just don't want the shrimp to start eating the sand sifting stars rather than the asterinas.  lol!  that's would tick me off!  But anyway, 3 zoa colonies can disappear REALLY quick with ANY zoa pest, so it's good that you're taking preventative measures now before it's too late.  Also, I wanted to let you know, all my frag tank stuff(including the new tank) is on it's way, so I should have that set up within the next week or two and will be fragging and growing out all my zoas and some acan and acro frags.  Let me know if/when you are still interested in buying some nice super rare collector pieces for good prices.  PM me or send me an email at ashleyUCF@yahoo.com   hope we both get rid of these stupid starfish!  lol!  talk soon!  -Ash

I have had the white one in my tanks for years there harmless.

There's alot of different kinds.

And ash, yeah, they will def eat your sand stars. I couldn't find them any stars at my LFS for over a week, so i finally had to give them one of my sand stars and they really really liked it. :( So watch it. I wouldn't put one in your big tank.

yea, i've been wrestling with whether or not to get one.  cause right now, they have PLENTY of those little asterinas to eat for now, but i have three sand sifters, and i don't know if i want to risk losing them.  we will see...they are just really ticking me off.  my girlfriend or i have to grab one or more off one of the zoa colonies daily and nightly.  but i should be getting all my stuff for my frag tank by next week, so it will be easier to keep track of everything in the frag tank than the main tank as far as the zoas go.  i'm probably going to shoot you a text tomorrow, btw.  i'm going to be doing a water change tomorrow, and since i'm going to be turning everything off at some point during the change, i figured i might as well swap the breaker while it's off, so i don't have to go through the annoying running around making sure all the ball valves are right, and nothing is over flowing, etc. more than i need to.  anyhow, be by your phone, PWEEEESE! 

I have good priced Harlequin Shrimp coming!

I have good priced Harlequin Shrimp coming!

-mastermind

hey johanna, any luck with getting rid of the starfish?  i was going to get a harlequin, but my girlfriend has been on a mission to get every last one of those stupid things.  lol.  it will NEVER happen, but it keeps her busy, that's for sure.  every night she grabs my head lamp and fills up a medicine cup with those little jerks.  we keep finding them on our zoas, and after we remove them from the polyp they are on, the polyp looks REALLY nasty...so they are DEFINITELY trying to suck my zoas dry every chance they get...oh, and this was a surprise the other day!  I found one right smack in the middle of my superman acan colony!  it was in a tiny section where there is a tiny bit of tissue missing from where a laarger tibe worm set up shop, and that "tiny bit" definitely looked larger after i grabbed that bugger off.  they are definitely doing more harm than good, in my case.  once everything i'm fragging(zoas, acans, some acros, etc.) is out of my main and in my frag tank, i will see how things start looking.  MAY still get a harlequin...just not looking forward to another "good plan gone wrong" and begin seeing my sandsifting stars getting eaten alive. 

anyhow, you have an update?  would like to know if you finally found a shrimp, or if you just decided to have your hubby just manually remove the stars whenever you see them like my gf and i have been doing.  leme know how it's going!  hope it's going well!  Oh, and leme know if you are still interested in some zoa frags(or any other frags) now that I have my frag tank.  talk soon!  -Ash