Baby Starfish?

[dapellegrini]

While I was considering scrapping off some of the frequent snail eggs I get on the glass, I noticed these little guys... Are these tiny baby starfish?

 

 

[fishybusiness]

I had those a long time ago. I believe they are a type of hydroid that feeds on the pods in the tank. I saw plenty of pictures of them on wetweb media.

[CGNano]

They are hydroids.

[c est ma]

Shimek article with pics of “dots with legs”

http://www.ronshimek.com/Animal%20Groups%2...0Cnidarians.htm

 

 

--Diane

[dapellegrini]

Thanks for the link - but I can't seem to find a clear statement on whether these are good or bad?

[barmer]

Had them in my tank with no harm, they go away after a while. I believe hydroid is the generic catch-all name for baby anenomes and jellyfish.

[bluebastion]

They only are bad if they stick around... but that doesn't happen much. Most of the time they will die out... good or bad? The real question is, "Is the occurrence normal?" Yes, it is.

[c est ma]

See this recent thread for more links on the subject:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...c=134096&hl

 

In short, Hydroids exhibit two life stages, the polyp and the medusa. (The other two large classes of cnidarians have for the most part been reduced to just one stage, the polyp in the case of the corals and the medusa in the case of the jellyfish.) The medusa of the hydroid is what you are seeing. The polyp is the part that is sometimes considered dangerous because they can have powerful stings. For the most part, dangerous hydroids are large, often quite attractive species that almost never show up as hitchhikers. There are some small ones with rather firm stalks that have been harmful in some people's tanks, the so-called brown hydroids. I have had these for years with no problems, altho once in a while I bring in a new clump on a new frag that does get invasive, so I have to feel that there are different strains, if not species, of brown hydroids as well, to account for the different experiences we have. (If invasive brown hydroids are caught before their numbers explode they are easily controlled by simply pulling them out.)

 

Brown hydroid pic & links in this thread:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...c=135399&hl

 

I believe most of the medusae (which I LOVE to find in my tank--they are so cool!) come from the very tiny white hydroid polyps, of which there are many types, and which have been outcompeted in my tank by anything I've added, so that they now exist, if they exist at all, in rock crevices & holes...They are hard to see but worth searching for...and much more commonly seen on new LR than in established tanks. I don't believe you need to worry at all about these. There is a pic of one of mine in the thread above (the polyp stage, that is).

 

--Diane

[dapellegrini]

Thanks!