Is this an asterina starfish and should I be worried for my coral?

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Is this an asterina starfish and should I be worried for my coral?

[Aurortpa]

Sure looks like one.  It is highly debated whether they are beneficial, inert, or harmful.

 

IMO if they are on rocks or glass/wall, leave them.  If they are on coral, adios ??

[ReefCap]

Even if you only see 1 there are probably 10 others hiding somewhere. Get a harlequin shrimp he’ll make quick work of them. Most aren’t harmful but they will reproduce faster than rabbits and are just overall ugly

[BustytheSnowMaam]

They don't hurt anything, but are generally regarded as reef STDs because they're unsightly and they keep reproducing.  If you frag your corals to share, and you pass on a coral frag with asterina stars, you may upset the recipient.  When I had them eons ago, I gave everything in my tank a quick FW dip and they fell right off.  

[vegasgundog]

IME or IMO, they are the doom to my zoas. I noticed that I'd see them on polyps and my zoas never were reproducing. Once I got harloquin shrimp, my zoas are doing a whole lot better. If I'd do it over again, the first little bastard I saw would have been thrown out. 

[RayWhisperer]

Never seemed to bother anything in my tanks. Hell, I’ve purposly introduced them when live rock is devoid of them.

[Clown79]

I got them and never hurt a thing. Even the ones on corals, they have not hurt.

 

 

There are only certain asterina that eat coral. The majority don't.

1 hour ago, RayWhisperer said:

Never seemed to bother anything in my tanks. Hell, I’ve purposly introduced them when live rock is devoid of them.

Great cleaners, especially in tight spaces.

[banasophia]

I removed the one I had on my live rock when I first started my tank and I have no regrets... took it to my LFS and they probably fed it to their harlequin shrimp.

[KNelson]

On 9/25/2018 at 11:01 PM, Clown79 said:

I got them and never hurt a thing. Even the ones on corals, they have not hurt.

 

 

There are only certain asterina that eat coral. The majority don't.

Great cleaners, especially in tight spaces.

This.  I have a Bongo Shrimp (relative of the Harlequin but much smaller) and he noshes on them.  The 2 times I've seen them on a coral they were just passing by, probably fell off the rock as their suckers aren't very strong. 

[Clown79]

6 minutes ago, KNelson said:

This.  I have a Bongo Shrimp (relative of the Harlequin but much smaller) and he noshes on them.  The 2 times I've seen them on a coral they were just passing by, probably fell off the rock as their suckers aren't very strong. 

They really aren't strong. They fall like dominos. Lol.

 

I remove them manually to control numbers.