Mystery starfish

Maho.B

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Hi. Came home and spotted this starfish on the glass, I've never seen it before, it's 1/2" to 3/4" in diameter and has mottled brownish coloration on the top, all white on bottom. How do I determine if this is good or bad (for coral). The picture isn't great because I had to take it from the far end of the tank. Thanks.
PXL_20241009_213304669.jpg
 

twentyleagues

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Asterina starfish. Some say no issue some say they eat certain coral.
Years ago I caught them eating my zoas. The zoas were perfectly healthy and yes they were eating the zoas not algae, I didnt have much algae the tangs kept it gone.
 

vaguelyreeflike

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Hi. Came home and spotted this starfish on the glass, I've never seen it before, it's 1/2" to 3/4" in diameter and has mottled brownish coloration on the top, all white on bottom. How do I determine if this is good or bad (for coral). The picture isn't great because I had to take it from the far end of the tank. Thanks.
PXL_20241009_213304669.jpg
There’s multiple different species of asterina in the hobby, some eat algae, some eat coralline, some have been observed to eat corals. The species I have eat mainly coralline and other types of algae, I do see them occasionally crossing over corals but they do not consume them or linger unless there’s algae near or on the coral. I used to have coralline all over my tank but I let the asterina population boom for my harlequin shrimp and the coralline started to disappear, but only in the areas that they were plentiful.

Personally I would wait until you see them actually harming your corals to remove them
 

PharmrJohn

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That's a nice specimen! But yeah, they can be problematic sometimes. And they multiply FAST! Some like them (I do if there aren't too many), and some don't.
 
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Maho.B

Maho.B

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That's great info, thanks! I will observe it, honestly if it ate Coralline algae from the corners of the tank that would be great! We'll see.
 

Borat

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I know how exciting these things are when you first encounter them (from my own experience).. best wishes with your further reefing!
 

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