little starfish???

[jaydm93teg]

when i first bought my LR i noticed a few tiny white and dark colored starfish.

Now there are a MILLION little white dots all over my glass and if u look close enough they look like little swirls and i think they are turning into little baby starfish but none of them get any bigger than half a penny.

 

[blind1993]

yea those stars wont get any larger they are cool to have. and the white dots are probably pods. if you get pics maybe someone can confirm this.

 

[jaydm93teg]

what are pods??

what is so good or cool about these stars? the only reason i ask is cause there are really like a million of them everywhere. just kinda want to know what they are good for?

 

[blind1993]

ok well i just learned this right know. there are many types of these that can eat corals so if you have corals i would take the starfish out.

pods are copepods good for system will eat detrius and are food for fish.

 

[dannybradley]

They are Asterina starfish. Some are predatory towards coral and some aren't. Most live off of algae films. If you have a lot and want them gone, it's a great excuse to get a Halequin Shrimp. They're amazing and only eat starfish. And if you can, try to get a captive bred one.

 

[blind1993]

http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1467">http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=1467</a>

just thought i would add this

it is a star eating a zoa.

 

[roundman]

The little swirls are not stars they are <span style="font-family: Arial;">Spirorbid Worms, which are filter feeders </span>they don't hurt anything and actually help clean the water. check this site out

 

[tsciarini]

Please note that asterina stars do not usually eat healthy tissue. They are "cleaners" and if you find them on your corals, they are likely either there "hanging out" or eating dead or dying tissue on the coral.

Most echinoderms in our hobby are scavengers or plankton eaters.... otherwise they are predtory on things like mollusks and annelids.

 

[jaydm93teg]

i think i forgot to add that these dont look like typical starfish they dont have the traditional 5 legs........some have like 3 or 4 and others have 5 or 6 really weird.

so the little white stars are fine just cleaners........and then all the little tiny white swirls help filter the water so all is fine and well??

 

[victor626nj]

yeah thats because they break of and make more star fish if you have a refugium pick them of and throw them in there believe me they are better to have then not so dont worry about them they are very benifecial to your aquarium rather then not ..and welcome aboard