Just wondering if these guys are bad for a reef tank . Thank you
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Thank u !pic 1 is an asterina starfish. some people say they're bad and maybe eat zoas? i got lazy about plucking them out of my tank and the worst thing they seem to do is crawl onto my ATO sensor and cause the alarm to turn on. i have a few zoas that don't seem to be bothered
pic 2 looks like a pineapple sponge
Agreed. Pic 2 is a pineapple sponge.pic 1 is an asterina starfish. some people say they're bad and maybe eat zoas? i got lazy about plucking them out of my tank and the worst thing they seem to do is crawl onto my ATO sensor and cause the alarm to turn on. i have a few zoas that don't seem to be bothered
pic 2 looks like a pineapple sponge
Ball sponge.Also need to help to ID this
Thank uThe starfish was formerly in the Genus Asterina, officially Aquilonastra now. Of the 28 or so species, only a couple will harm corals or invertebrates and we usually don't see those in the hobby. Aside from a fast rate of reproduction they're almost always harmless. I also agree the second pic is sponge, harmless as well.
+1 to this...Certain asternias do in fact eat corals, softies, lps and sps. The one that do and don’t are not easily identifiable. So they are a gamble.
Haha yep+1 to this...
They also crawl all over corals eating algea so you will always be wondering if it's the 1 or 2 that eat them or not
Any other way to rid my tank of the starfish? I like the shrimp but don’t want to keep him after they’re gone. Yes I could take it back somewhere but that’s a hassle and risky
I wake up to about 2 dozen on my glass not to mention them all up in my GSP... I’ve scrapped them into nets a few times but then they’re reproduced and back the next day.when i was getting rid of them i just used long tweezers
it was kinda fun in a messed up kind of way? do it at night that's when they're out and about
but my strain doesn't seem to be the bad kind. i remove them whenever they're on my ATO, but nothing beyond that and at most i see 6-8 at night, doesn't seem to be increasing much
They’re going down when I get home.... I just assumed I lost my coralline in the move but now I do believe that’s a lieGet them before they are an issue.
I had a few in my 120. 6 months later I had hundreds. I have removed at leat 200 and am down to 5ish a week. If you have coralline and see white spots, its from them, as that is their main food.