Hitch hiker starfish good or bad

[drue131]

I have some of these hitch hiker starfish in my rock curing tank are they good or bad any idea

[TJG]

what does it look like?????

[JPMagyar]

Drue -

If they are smaller than a dime with irregular legs then they are most likely a fast breeding flatworm that could begin to eat your corals. I let them stay in my tank (290 gal reef); they quickly multiplied and I had to employ a Mandarin fish to keep them down. They are not too difficult to keep in control if you decide to let them stay.

Another common hitchhiker is the small white brittlestar. White round body maybe 2 or 3 millimeters across, thin legs which are even in length. These critters are harmless and even helpful to a reef as they remain small and eat detritus.


Hope that Helps!

Joe in NY

[BrianH]

I received a small 6 legged starfish on my florida aquacultured LR. It's not a serpent or brittle star, it has 6 rigid legs and is off white to gray in color. Any ideas or opinions??

Brian

[drue131]

Here it is there are 3 on the glass

[JPMagyar]

Coral eating fast multiplying flat worm, but not too difficult to control if you decide to leave em'. I think.

Check with Dr. Ron to be sure.


Joe

[Theo]

I'm sorry but I dont think its a flatworm...it looks more like a starfish to me. i have lots of these small white stars and they seem to be harmless. I've seen several discusions on them and I think the jury is still out.

[sharkdude]

They are definately a starfish that reproduces by division (thus their irregular shapes). I'm convinced they eat all types of film algae as well as coralline algae. Some have implicated them in eating sps polyps.

They cause no problems in my tank other than eating coralline algae.

My mandarian never touched them and I once read that someone tried a harlequin shrimp with no success.

[texasreefer]

I have them in my tank. They eat algae off the glass and rocks.

[Phisher]

I have them too and they multiply fast. They clean the glass and LR at night and are very good at it. I have heard they eat sps as well. I dont keep any sps but they dont seem to bother softies, leathers, lps or clams.

[drue131]

I have sps corals but the rock they came on isn't in my reef tank yet

[Zigzag Man]

The one cool thing about having these little starfish is when they begin multiplying beyond control, you can get a Harlequin Shrimp. Those are some pretty cool little crustaceans. My wife wants to get one, but we'd have to buy a couple starfish just to cut legs off occassionally to feed it... if you already have a starfish infestation then there shouldn't be any problem. :)