baby starfish?

[labnjab]

Today while looking in the tank, I noticed around 30 very small "creatures" on the glass. They look like starfish, they have a very small white body (about the size of the ball on a ballpoint pen) with 5 almost clear arms going around the body, in the same pattern of a starfish. I've seen a few about a week ago, but they disappeared, and now their back again. If they are starfish will they overpopulate when they grow, or will they be fine? I know we have atleast one grown starfish that we see once or twice a week.

[Gemstone]

I have the same thing on my new saltwater tank...dont know what it is tho..would also like to know..

[angelcakes]

i wonder if these are the brittle starfish? google it and see if it is

[labnjab]

Their so small I almost thought they were dust, but they have arms like a starfish and they come and go, one day they are there and the next their not, and then their back again, I need to clean the glass but I don't want to kill anything...lol

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Sounds like baby Astarina Stars. They can grow to plague proportions. I have them in my tank. It's almost impossible to have a marine tank without them. About the only way you will clear a tank of them is to keep a Harlequin Shrimp. They are great detritivores so nothing to worry about.

[Dr.Fragenstein]

Sounds like baby Astarina Stars. They can grow to plague proportions. I have them in my tank. It's almost impossible to have a marine tank without them. About the only way you will clear a tank of them is to keep a Harlequin Shrimp. They are great detritivores so nothing to worry about.
+1, asterinas will typically look like baby sand sifters and sometimes have six or more arms, or they might have 2 full and a bunch of halves, they reproduce by dropping arms apparently. They will consume micro algae, nothing to worry about

[labnjab]

I thought thats what they might be, we have a larger one that shows up sometimes thats missing some legs. It spends most of the time in the sand. So their gonna do more good than harm by the sounds of it, even in their large numbers. Sorta like trumpet snails in freshwater. Thanks you for the help.

[oldhead]

Ahh yes, I remember these little guys. I had them on my glass for about 2 weeks when I first got my tank going. After that they stopped appearing there. Guessing that they found their home elsewhere in the tank.

[kaybee]

Any chance they're micro brittle stars? (as seen on this link, right column, 3rd row down):
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/crawls.html

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

kaybee, the problem with the brittle star idea is that brittle stars don't climb glass and generally only come out at night. Astarina stars come out all day long and spend a good bit of time on the glass.

[kaybee]

I was thinking the same thing, but practically all the asterina's I've seen were never "about the size of the ball on a ballpoint pen", even the misshapened ones which appeared to be comprised of just a single leg. Just an idea, and I could be wrong.

[Halelorf]

Yea I thought it might be a asterina but the size description doesn't match. All the ones i've seen in my tank are much bigger than a pen ball point.

[labnjab]

We have one thats an adult asterina thats around a 1/4 inch thats missing two legs, which we saw shortly after adding live sand. This must be the parent. The others didn't show up for the first time till a few weeks later, on the glass, during the day. They are all gone now, but I'm sure they will be back. Hopefully they will be gone long enought so i can clean some algae off of the glass...lol I have some coraline and hair starting to form on the front glass.

[SpottedGoby101]

I think I have tiny brittlestars on my glass. I had over thirty that I suctioned off the tank about 2 weeks ago, but there are more. Their disc are smaller than the size of a pencil tip and they have waving arms. I wish I could take a picture to show everyone, but they are so tiny right now, I can't get anything to focus on them. I would love to know if my assumption that they are small brittle stars is right. I do have asterina too. My 75 gallon tank is fallow with live rock and I do not have fish yet.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

We have one thats an adult asterina thats around a 1/4 inch thats missing two legs, which we saw shortly after adding live sand. This must be the parent.

That's how Asterina's reproduce. :) They drop limbs and grow new ones, and the old limbs turn into little Asterina's. They can get to be a real big pain in the Asterina. :hmm3grin2orange: