6 Legged Star Fish Good, or Bad?
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Invertebrates
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions about invertebrates.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2001
Printed Date: December 04 2024 at 12:40pm
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Topic: 6 Legged Star Fish Good, or Bad?
Posted By: meterman
Subject: 6 Legged Star Fish Good, or Bad?
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 12:57pm
| I received a very small star fish (1/4") on a polyp rock about a week ago. It looks like a brittle star fish. It has grown to about 1 1/2" in diameter in a weeks time. I noticed that it has six legs. I have heard that these guys are bad news for corals. Is this true? |
Replies:
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 1:02pm
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It's only bad if it starts eating your coral!
But the best course of action is to just watch it and only remove it if it starts chomping! It can't eat much and is easy to catch. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 1:12pm
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If it looks like a Brittle Star then most likely not going to be a coral eater, but as Mark said you need to watch it to make sure. ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Crazy Tarzan
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 1:33pm
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I have small 6 legged stars that are a kind or white or sandy color. They look more like a linkia star than a brittle star, and tend to hang out conscipously around my corals... I pull them out as often as possible. However I do have the small brittle look stars, they only have 5 legs on them and don't seem to bother anything at all. They get up to about 2'' across the legs. I just leave them alone. |
Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 2:50pm
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They might be mini stars i have hundreds of them they seem to stay away from my corals.
Brian |
Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 4:15pm
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If they look like tiny brittle stars I let them be. If they look like flattened sand stars with a couple legs longer then the others I remove. Maybe I'm throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but that's what I do. ------------- Jon https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing... |
Posted By: chrisslc
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 4:17pm
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I think those little "sandy" six leg stars are just mini-stars too. Good cleaners from what I've heard. I have them and they seem to just move over the rocks and other non-coral surfaces, grazing slowly. ------------- Murray, Utah just north of the park. "It's all the same to the clam" -Shel Silverstein |
Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 5:12pm
heres a few pics.
is this what they look like? |
Posted By: chrisslc
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 5:52pm
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mini-stars, and CrazyTarzan, notice that they are all hanging out in algae patches. ------------- Murray, Utah just north of the park. "It's all the same to the clam" -Shel Silverstein |
Posted By: ssilcox
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 7:31pm
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You know they look suspiciously ALOT like the coral eating starfish that garf had the article on. http://www.garf.org/Star/starfish.html - http://www.garf.org/Star/starfish.html |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: March 01 2004 at 9:43pm
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peregrinus
------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: meterman
Date Posted: March 02 2004 at 7:51am
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I actually received a 5 legged mini sand star and the small 6 legged brittle looking star. I have not seen the small sand star since I put it in, but the brittle looking star hangs out on a small starburst polyp coral. I will just watch closely to see if I notice any ill effects over the coming months. 2.5 Gal Minibow
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Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: March 02 2004 at 2:14pm
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These have been in my tanks sence setup never seen them go after my corals. they crawl all over my live rock and glass. but i don't have SPS so maybe that the reason that i don't see them eating corals..
Brian |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 03 2004 at 12:05pm
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Jake Pehrson wrote:Posted By: peregrinus
Date Posted: March 03 2004 at 5:02pm
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i will watch these really close from now on.. thanxs
|
Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: March 03 2004 at 10:40pm
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Unfortunately the worst thing about these stars is that if they do end up damaging corals, by the time you decide that it's them there are so many of them they are almost impossible to irradicate. A friend of mine had trouble keeping Xenia and Star Polyps for a long time. Someone told her that these stars ate star polyps so she started taking them out of her tank. Sometimes she would take out as many as 20 or more per day. After about a year of picking these things out she was finally able to get star polys to survive in her tank again. Of course she still finds a few of these stars occasionally. |
Posted By: Crazy Tarzan
Date Posted: March 04 2004 at 7:29am
| I pull them out about once a week. Usually about 2-3 at a time. However I continually find them, and they do tend to migrate towards my star polyps... I have found the most on that rock than any other. |