Weird thing on my polyps...

[jdsabin1]

Before my real question, I just want to say thanks for this fantastic web site. All of you guys have helped me out immensely to this point as I have scavenged through thousands of posts learning as much as I can about creating a nano-reef.

 

Anyway, I finally added my very first coral to the tank last night (Eclipse System 12, LR, a gramma and clownfish and a few small crabs). I added green star polyps. Anyway, when I put it in the tank, naturally they weren't overly keen about opening up immediately so I was studying the purple mat and noticed a small creature crawling amongst the closed polyps and the easiest way I can describe it is:

 

A small white thing that looks like a starfish except the arms are no bigger than a piece of white thread. Does that make sense? There were a few of them crawling around on the coral. Very small. I had to hurry to get to work today so I didn't get any pics but can tonight when I get home.

 

This morning when the light came on the polyps were opening up actually so I was pretty excited about that.

 

Thanks for any suggestions you may have as to what this is.

[lostdog]

Possibly a brittle or serpent star? A photo would help.

[sjpresley]

Sound like small brittle stars, will probably be filter feeders and you won't see anything except their arms on a regular basis.