Asterina starfish?

[Leyth]

Is this an asterina starfish and if so, is it munching on my jack o lantern leptoseris? Do I need to get rid of him?

 

[Leyth]

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

it is an asterina. No its not eating the coral. I used to like them, but Im over it now.

 

[Mike_J]

Some varieties of asterina stars are known to chomp on coral polyps so do be cautious.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Some varieties of asterina stars are known to chomp on coral polyps so do be cautious.

there has been NO documented evidence. only anecdotal. Lionfishlair here, the expert, has been doing it for quite sometime.

 

[tj w]

Im going to give you my experience here... remember its just my experience. I used to doubt that asterina stars ate coral too until i saw it in my tank. What started with one months ago has started to populate quite a bit. I have caught them munching on my duncan and my jack o lantern as well. After i pulled them off you could see exposed skeleton. I try and get rid of them as i see them now.

 

[Mike_J]

Having watched an asterina star chomp away at one of my utter chaos polyps and ultimately devour it, I'd say that it happens.

 

[twilliard]

Great glass cleaners :) I have thousands of them. The great thing is they only come out at night. I must have mine trained like pets LOL

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Having watched an asterina star chomp away at one of my utter chaos polyps and ultimately devour it, I'd say that it happens.

please take pics and vid if it happens. encourage others to do so as well. so far according to the expert and my few years and research and hundreds of asterinas, its not been documented. Ive personally never seen it. I have 4 types of asterinas." the bad ones."
its a curiosity.

 

[shoelaceike]

Ive seen them eat SPS.

 

[Leyth]

I see there are some mixed opinions. I'll keep my eye on this area of this coral so we can all see if it is indeed eating it or not.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ive seen them eat SPS.

pics?
why dont they eat mine or others is the mystery question.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I see there are some mixed opinions. I'll keep my eye on this area of this coral so we can all see if it is indeed eating it or not.

id still toss it. they reproduce pretty quickly. can out compete more beneficial clean up crew snails. I've been shop vac ing them this month.

 

[twilliard]

I think it is dependant on species
I personally have never seen any eat coral

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I think it is dependant on species
I personally have never seen any eat coral

its weird. Ive seen many pictures of zoa eating stars(not eating a zoa of course). and I have them in my tank. so if they are eating it in others tanks, why?.

 

[tj w]

Great glass cleaners :) I have thousands of them. The great thing is they only come out at night. I must have mine trained like pets LOL

It's funny you can belittle someone else's experiences. Coming from someone who's always "experimenting".

 

[twilliard]

It's funny you can belittle someone else's experiences. Coming from someone who's always "experimenting".

Say what?? I was talking about the ones I have which may be a different species of others.
I would spank myself if I ever "belittled" anyone on R2R

 

[shoelaceike]

pics?
why dont they eat mine or others is the mystery question.

I dont think I have any, I got rid of them a while ago. I had thousands of them....I was noticing the grey ones eating coral while the others didnt seem to

 

[tj w]

Seemed sarcastic and demeaning. It's cool. I'll edit that post.

@shoelaceike the grey ones are the ones I've noticed munching away in my tank as well. I have the white and grey ones.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

were not belittling any one. were saying we have asterias too, several kinds. none have eaten our coral. if you have coral eaters please take pictures of them. or video. so far all that have claimed it have not had pics, so if a species not identified that would be helpful. lionfishlair.com a large and growing database of bad stuff is run by our friend lionfishlair, a member here on r2r
http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/