Not harmless. I let them outa control once. Had 1000s. Killed all my zoos.

Every time that my zoas have been closed for a couple days I used to dip them and sure enough one or two of those guys would come out

Thats why I said harmless in small numbers there slugger! :lol:

I've never had mine reach "plague" numbers and almost always see a few to a few dozen on the glass. I must have the algae-eating variety, since never found them to pose any danger to my zoas or other corals [knock on wood]:biggrin:

Anything that gets into the 1000s in our tanks would cause a major problem I would imagine. A few bristleworms, good for scavenging uneaten foods. Thousands of them make touching anything in your tank a major hazard. Even certain types of corals. I love pulsing xenia but if they reach into the 1000s, then they are a weed that smother everything else and turns your tank "brown".

As with most things in life, moderation is better than overwhelming amounts.

Anthony

Thanks for all the input. I hate to kill them. They are so cute! But don't really want them to over take my tank either.

There are two different species of asterina's if you research them further.

From what I've read, the 5 legged variety are perfectly reef safe.

The 6 legged versions are your zoa and star polyp eaters

When two starfish love each other a whole bunch...

My approach with anything is leave it alone unless it becomes a problem. They're not real fast, so if you have to remove them, it's easy enough. I have hundreds of them, never an issue.

My kids and I love those little starfish! Sometimes you find odd ball ones with 3 legs or 7 legs! They're fun like that. Plus there's always an endless supply of them, unlike the larger starfish.

in deed, some of them **** off zoanthids enough so that they close and melt away.

I don't have many of them but when ever I see one on a zoanthid polyp I remove it from my tank.

But the large amphipods are probably those who ate your zoanthids. They come out at night and chew on the zoanthids. Check ou at night if you have them on your zoanthids.