i just upgraded to a bigger tank and bought some new live rock and have a 1" brittle starfish as a hitchhiker. are these potentially bad? zoa eater? best way to get rid of it? thanks.

Brittle stars don't eat coral (AFAIK). Yours is likely a harmless mini/micro brittle star. Do you have a picture?

thanks but i took care of it, i was able to soak the rock in freshwater and he came out. better safe than sorry, don't want it to turn into a bad star down the road.

I havo loads of mini brittle stars and they're just wonderfull detritus eaters. They keep my chaeto pristine clean as well as the rockscape.

PROB WAS A GOOD LITTLE CLEANER.Way to go

So what exactly did you do with him once you got him out of the rock?

Bristle star fish are a great addition to the CUC. I have a 5" black one in my RSM and it comes out once and a while to snack on crap left around. You should have left it in....

woops. i read some can be predatory.
but yeah, i don't have any guilt.

way to be an artard. Some brittle stars will hunt for fish, but very few and much larger ones. Certain species of regular stars will predate on clams and corals, including a small (around 1%) amount of asternids. Micro brittle stars are nothing but beneficial, and you just killed it for no other reason than ignorance and arrogance. There is a search feature on this site and google for a reason. Use it next time or even post a thread before you just go ahead and kill something... Its part of being RESPONSIBLE in this hobby.

edit-spelling

So now I'm confused. You make a post asking if they are bad, and get rid of it minutes later without waiting for a response? What exactly was the point of making the post? Also a quick search will reveal many posts stating they are one of the best cuc members you can have, and that only the green stars can be predatory.

Don't beat him up too much....we were all new at this once....As long as he learns, we have done our part....

God knows, I killed off a few organisms over the years....Sometimes bad, sometimes good....

:facepalm:

Next time, don't make a thread asking what to do if you've already made up your mind. If you're really nervous, put the hitchhiker in a separate container. Also, I would seriously reconsider how to research if you just hear the word "predatory" and then make rash decisions. The fact is that it is the large green brittle star species (getting to many inches to over a foot in diameter) that have been known to be predators. If you only learn by half-truths, you will likely lose more beneficial hitchhikers in the future.