Blue and White Star like critters in my reef tank

[dwfain]

I've had some of the little white star-like critters in my tank for a couple of months now. Today I see a couple of blue ones. Are they the same? Should I be concerned? What are they?

 

[dank reefer]

Those are Asterina starfish

Although some are harmless (White ones) its best to remove them as soon as you see them as they multiply faster than gremlins do.

 

[T-J]

Looks like Asterina starfish. Some people leave them, others pull them out.
I've always left them in.

 

[dwfain]

Those are Asterina starfish

Although some are harmless (White ones) its best to remove them as soon as you see them as they multiply faster than gremlins do.

What about the blue ones? I did not think Asterina's were blue. I thought Asterina's were white, red, yellow, or grey?

 

[dank reefer]

No idea. I've never seen or heard of a blue one before, but then again I am not as salty as some other reefers out here so I'll let them chime in on that one.

But any Asterina I see in any of my tanks I remove post haste.

My wife thought they were cute , until there were hundreds! She saw the true beauty of a Harlequin Shrimp.

 

[elysics]

They come in all colors if the rainbow, there are hundreds upon hundreds of species. And then there are Aquilonastra too which look similar

 

[Mikey Maroon]

I have many blue asterinas (about 9 or 10 at last count) and one or two larger white ones that have black and red/brownish markings. I noticed that one of the blue ones likes to munch on some nice advanced/robust coralline algae which causes small neon pink colored patches that bleach white but typically recover back to purple within a week or two. I think I'll leave a few stars in the tank to promote bio-diversity but I prefer they not eat the beautiful coralline algae!