May have Asterina stars in my tank. Should I be concerned?

[Hamtastic]

Noticed this little guy today while I was shopping. Should I work to remove him from my tank immediately? If he’s even an asterina to begin with. If so, how? Thanks for any response.

 

[SPR1968]

I would remove any you find as they multiply very quickly and left unchecked will infest the tank. I know…….

 

[AKReefing]

Asterinas are not a threat. They're a normal part of the CUC.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Noticed this little guy today while I was shopping. Should I work to remove him from my tank immediately? If he’s even an asterina to begin with. If so, how? Thanks for any response.

I saw one in my tank a couple of months back, haven't seen him again.

Asked the LFS and they shrugged and pointed out a couple in their display tank and they told me not to worry about them.

 

[AKReefing]

I would remove any you find as they multiply very quickly and left unchecked will infest the tank. I know…….

Asterinas do no harm.

 

[Nonya]

Harmless. Don't worry about them.

 

[Shibaken3]

some variety eats zoas so watch on your zoas.

 

[SFREEF3R]

A little over a year ago, I knowingly introduced a single asterina into my tank, a hitchhiker on some macro algae. I love biodiversity so I thought the more the merrier. After that it disappeared and I often wondered if it had died.

Fast forward to a month ago and I realized I now had hundreds all over the tank. The variety I have is mottled brown and grey and with the irregular shape blends easily into my live rock. They also stay off the glass.

What I noticed first was that the bright purple coralline that covered most of my rock was suddenly disappearing. It turns out the kind of Asterina I have distinctly like coralline. They move from place to place consuming small spots that turn bright pink before fading away.

In an effort to preserve my coralline algae, both for aesthetics and food for my urchin, I culled the population, pulling out at first ~100 and then more each day. Now I usually pull out one or two a day, but there are always a more I see tucked out of reach under the branches of corals.

I don’t anticipate that I will ever eradicate the population unless I introduce a harlequin shrimp (something I’m opposed to as it will quickly starve once the starfish are gone). For now I’m ok managing the population.

As much as I like biodiversity I probably wouldn’t add again.

 

[Clarkjw2002]

I went the harlequin shrimp route once. Had it for over a year and sold it because I thought it was going to starve after not seeing a single star for several months. 6 months later and the little buggers were repopulating the tank--this was a 90 gal with about 150lbs of pukani and Fiji rock. Nothing new was added to the tank because I was getting ready to move so they were from the original population.

Still have some in the livestock water trough I am keeping the fish in currently. They came with the rock I moved out of the tank. They'll be killed once I get my tank set up and fish moved.

Bottom line, they are harmless but if you like Coraline algae you don't want them because they will eventually grow to plague proportions and eat it all.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I remove them, they eat coraline. Since removing them earlier this year, my rocks have all turned purple.

 

[Waters]

I also remove them but only because they multiply at an astounding rate. If you see one, you have 20.

 

[GlassMunky]

Asterinas are not a threat. They're a normal part of the CUC.

Agree