A good star?

[greneis7]

I came home and discovered this little guy on my glass. Not a brittle, so is this one that is going to get big, have a million babies, and become a problem?

 

[greneis7]

OMG! I have my answer! I was just staring at my tank and noticed all of these little white specks on the front of the tank... I have like 30 miniscule little flippin' stars!!!
How do I get them all out? Will the snails eat them? I don't want all of those in there!!! AGGGHHHH!!!!!!

 

[DaveK]

I believe them to be Asterina starfish. They are a zoa predator.

Remove them now.

 

[greneis7]

I took the bigger one that I posted a pic of out... but there are a bazillion more little teeny ones ALL over the glass? How do I get them out?

 

[DaveK]

You need to pluck them out one at a time. Yea, it's tough work.

You could also add a harlequin shrimp or mated pair of them. Harlequin shrimp will eat them, but be sure you have a plan to feed them after they eat all the Asterina. Harlequin shrimp will starve if not fed starfish.

 

[greneis7]

Dave, I've been reading and was just about to ask about the Harlequins. They appear to be reef safe... any thoughts on them?
How hard do you think it would be to take it out after a week or so when all of these things are gone?
I planned on adding a star once my tank was a little more mature, that would be like buying something only to kill it! =( I don't want to do that.
They are so tiny right now, I honestly don't know if I could get them out. I seriously thought it was sand or something when I first noticed these little specks. She/He must have spewed out a hundred of these little babies!
Hmmm

 

[greneis7]

This is the best I could do, most of them are too tiny to focus on.

 

[greneis7]

With a little more reading on the two stars I was considering getting I found this on LiveAquaria Like other starfish, this member of the Astropectinidae family also consumes small invertebrates, including shrimp, urchins, mollusks, bivalves, or other small sea stars. I am wondering if it would take care of these little guys?

 

[GrendelPrime]

ive always had them in my tank and never saw them eat or bother anything, what color crown do they have?

 

[greneis7]

The tiny ones are all white right now, though there isn't much of them. The bigger one I took out of the tank had a brown spot in the middle.

 

[JulesVane]

I've seen them come & go in my tank. Some have four "legs", some have seven (or a combo.). ...Never noticed they hurt anything and have definately not grown.

 

[greneis7]

This was the response I got from Dr. Foster & Smith
The Pink and Blue Starfish is know to eat other smaller starfish along with other smaller inverts. This would definitely take care of your starfish problem. However, if you do have smaller inverts in your tank we would recommend keeping an eye on the starfish, as it may consume the smaller inverts.
So do you think this means I would be snail-less as well?