BABY STARFISH??

[ansonluna]

I just cleaned my glass yesterday and today, while checking out my new arrow crab, I noticed these tiny whit dots stuck to the glass w/what appears to be 5 to 6 "legs". The legs look like smaller white dots (than the center) connected by a fine line...they are all over the glass, but not a whole bunch. Is this something bad or good? They are so tiny pics would be impossible.

[mathias]

we talked about this before I think we came to the conclusion that they eat algae but make sure they don't get to your corals....

[ansonluna]

so they are starfish?

[alexwolf]

sounds like baby brittle stars, which are not the algae eating kind but the beneficial ones. good to have.

[jrhein]

I have seen some little thick white stars in my tank. They haven't seemed to harm anything yet. Are these beneficial or do I need to try and get them out?

[::pete::]

Like these guys?

http://www.garf.org/STAR/starfish444385.jpg

[ansonluna]

well mine are way two small, like 1/8 of a centimeter.

[ansonluna]

or whatever the first notch of a centimeter is :huh

[Reef69]

if theres a bunch against your glass..they are copepods..lol..the opnes in the pic are astrea stars..

[ansonluna]

Good, at least I know now my tank is coming along healthily...if thats a word.

[mathias]

yea it was astrea stars we talked about last time and nobody could come to the conclusion if they where harmful

[djmc7300]

astrea stars are good to feed the harlequin shrimp (can't spell) i heard. and those other things that are all over the glass. i have them too, but i believe they are another form of plankton. just scrape it with the magnet and they should be good for the corals, or so i've heard. i haven't had a problem with them.

[Instar]

Sounds to me by the description and size like you are describing a stinging animal referred to as a medusa. A planktonic form that can be larva or a small form like a jelly fish. The tentacles and size are perfect fit for that in your description. They sting like crazy for their size and do not make good coral food. They will also kill baby seahorses, larval fish and eat copepod larva if given the chance. Sometimes you can see them pulse through the water. The good news though is that your water is in good shape if you see those. Other than larval fish or baby seahorses, it seems they don't bother any thing unless one of them happens to grow larger as is occassionally the case. But, when that happens, they usually get caught up in a filter or something and thats the end of it. Medusa are common planktonic larval forms of many things in the reef environment.

[jrhein]

Mine look just like that but are more like the one in the middle. Mine are white not brown. Do I need to try and remove them from my tank?

[ansonluna]

What can one put in the tank to eat them?

[GaryP]

Harlequin shrimp will eat them, but will also eat any other starfish you have too.

[Viet-Tin]

most asterina starfish are harmless but theyre are a few that might eat corals. Im not 100% on that but the ones i have in my tank seem to be algae eaters.

[Tim Marvin]

Are they micro stars? Do they look like tiny brittle stars?

[GaryP]

Tim,

I think we have people talking about several different critters here.

[CD]

Are they micro stars? Do they look like tiny brittle stars?


Those are the ones we have in our display...very tiny and white? Looks just like a mini brittle. They pretty much stick to the sand bed, but every once in awhile I'll see one on the glass.

Wendy

[ansonluna]

Ok the ones I have are white and look like my drawing and about 1/10 cm.

They are very similar.

[dow]

Hmm... Anson, that looks like a tiny crop circle. Are you sure you don't have aliens? :w00t

[CD]

Hmm... Anson, that looks like a tiny crop circle. Are you sure you don't have aliens?


ROTFLMAO....good one!!!

Seriously though...that drawing looks like this anemone thing that we have in our display. It doesn't move though. It has wedged itself into a hole in one of the rocks, and will sting the crap out of anything that gets near it. I have NO clue what it is, and in reality, would like to get rid of it. I've also seen one in my 'fuge. :unsure

Wendy

[Viet-Tin]

Maybe a hydroid jellyfish?

[ansonluna]

You know Cd, I bought a few pieces of rock from suba_steve and I have some thing similar wedged it the rock also. It looks like a collection of spiderwebs almost but with white dots. I stuck my finger at it, you know the bird, and it sucked in. I didn't get stung though. I though maybe it was some sort of feather duster.

[CD]

It looks like a collection of spiderwebs almost but with white dots. I stuck my finger at it, you know the bird, and it sucked in. I didn't get stung though


Yes! Kinda covers the hole in the rock just like a spiderweb with little tiny ball-like white dots on the end of each tentacle (tentacles are about as big around as a safety pin), and it has a kind of cylinder shaped mouth/center on it. It shrinks up to the side of the hole when the MHs are on, but comes out after lights out. Before I knew it was there, I had put a small two polyp frag of zoas I had gotten from FinAddict right above the hole where it was residing...the next day, the zoas looked like they'd been stuck in a 500 degree oven - dried up like a rasin :cry Couldn't figure out what had happened until I spotted it the next night. It's not very big either...smaller than a dime in diameter. I've never tried to see if it would sting me, but the zoas sure didn't care for it. I'd like to try and get it out of there because I have another zoa colony growing towards it, but was afraid to rip it out...I don't want those things multiplying!! :blink

Wendy

[Instar]

This is definitely a mixed post. There are at least 4 different animals talked about here.

The tiny specs on the glass are hydroid medusas, a larval jelly fish like thing.
The tiny bittle stars in the sand are micro stars that occassionally climb the glass and are way larger than 1 mm.
The things pictured in the 1st page are Asterina stars, also way larger than 1 mm. Scavengers that eat anything organic so if they do happen to park on the foot of an encrusted frag, they eat that spot too and have been observed to start off RTN.
The later thing (spider web, clear tentacles really, with light colored balls on the ends of them) is a type of, or related to an anemone that some people find multiply to annoying numbers when conditions are right. It can be over 1/2 inch with many tentacles. I've had many of them in my reef without any concerns other than to larval fish and larval sea horses.
And lastly, Wendy, if the tentacles are not clear and its nocturnal in nature, that could be a club anemone. If it was that, it can grow very large (much larger than 1/2 inch and not clear), will pack a real punch, killing anything that even slightly touches it. Its probably not that as normally you don't see those at all until well after all the lights are out.
Not sure I got all the animals talked about in this post, but, thats at least a lot of them

[CD]

if the tentacles are not clear and its nocturnal in nature, that could be a club anemone.


The tentacles are clear, and it is nocturnal. I Googled "club anemone", and all I could find was a strawberry colored anemone that didn't look anything like it. I should add that there almost appears to be nothing to it between the tentacles and mouth. If our camera were any better at taking micro shots, I'd snap one off tonight and post it. I know this thing must have quite a sting to it, because the polyps that were placed near it literally looked fried. :( The fact that there is another one in the 'fuge has gotten me worried...obviously these things are multiplying, and who knows how many there are that I can't see. :blink

Larry, did you have a link that might show a pic of what you are talking about?

Wendy

Note: It looks more like that pic that ansonluna drew, except that the "dots" are only at the end of the tentacles, and there are more tentacles.

[ansonluna]

Wendy, I have never seen a mouth to what I poked at. It just looks like a bunch of tenticles (translucent) with white balls at the tips, but it almost looks like there are white balls along the tenticles.

[ansonluna]

ok, does what your talking about look like this wendy? I spotted one, tried to take a pic with no luck, as they are pretty clear. my almost professional illustrations will have to do.

[CD]

That's it!!!! And the little tenticles stretch themselves across the hole it is dwelling in - the one in our display tank anyway - the one in the 'fuge is a little more...um...compact. BTW, that is a darn good drawing :shades

So does anyone know what this thing is?

Wendy

[Instar]

Wendy, A link to this polyp thing or a link to the club anemone? This clear thing is something else, not a club anemone.
For club anemone pictures, I've seen some in an big anemone book recently. For this polyp, don't worry about it. I have lots of them in my 125, all over the substrate at one point. I don't think there is a nice collection of rock that doesn't have at least one. I have a small sponge rock with one in a black sponge. Other than stinging zoos, they really don't seem to bother much and don't wander from their hole. If they did reproduce, and I have read of it, then they could cause trouble. They did reproduce in my reef in the rubble bottom. Don't know anyone in recent times around here that has had a problem with these things. The dozens of them on the rubble at the bottom of my 125 are covered over now with green star matts, mushrooms, anemones, leathers, palythioa, sponge. etc. I'm sure they are still there, just don't see them anymore. I have a large one in a nano that I may be able to take a picture of. Will work on it...

[Instar]

Here are your pics Wendy:

[ansonluna]

Wow, good job on the pic. I tried for an hour trying to get a decent pic. Finally, I decided to go with my God given talent.

[CD]

Yep, that's definitely what I have! Good pics, Larry ;)
They are actually kinda neat looking little critters, but I was just a tad worried after I saw what it did to the zoa polyps. It never ceases to amaze me how many odd things keep popping up in our tank - especially noting that it's about a year old now. Same thing with the live mysis we have in our tank. They showed up about a month and a half ago - where did they come from? I don't know. Of course, that's why I never get bored staring into the tank...always something new to discover. :D

Wendy