Baby Star fish

[cwoods5]

I have noticed 4 new tiny starfish in my tank. Looks like Chocolate chip starfish. Is this normal and are they ok to have in my tank.

[reefhead728]

aslong as ur not planning on having corals

[charlie]

Are they on the glass? How old is your tank, and is there a chance of getting a pic?

[cwoods5]

Tank is about a 13 months old. Yes they get on the glass. I pulled about 5 off my live rock last night. They are all different sizes with the largest almost dime size. I have several corals. Mostley mushrooms and palps. i wll attempt to get picture tonight

[charlie]

Sounds like Asterina stars. Do a search on them!!! They are harmless.

[Ninong]

I have noticed 4 new tiny starfish in my tank. Looks like Chocolate chip starfish. Is this normal and are they ok to have in my tank.

They might be tiny sea stars in the genus Asterina; however, those really don't look like choclate chip sea stars. As Charlie said, most of them are harmless. There have been some reports of some of these stars eating SPS corals, so you should keep your eyes open for that possibility. Dr. Ron Shimek estimates that the harmful ones make up probably less than 5% of the stars in this genus. It's a rather large genus with lots of undescribed species.

[cwoods5]

Here is a picture though it is not a very good one.

[charlie]

I am pretty sure those are asterinas. I usually take the appearance of these guys to mean that things are good in the system. If it was me, I wouldn't worry too much, OK?

[cwoods5]

Well thats funny you say that because I have been trying my hardest to get my alkalinity down (current at 15, has been as high as 20) , but ever since it went up we have noticed everythign in the tank is just growing like crazy and we are seeing news things daily. I'm going to perform a 50% water change this friday to try to get it down. DO you think that is a good idea? any other suggestions?

[charlie]

What salt are you using, and what test kits?

I have found that it is best to let the alk come down on its own, with water changes and such. How much water is a 50% change?

What are your Calcium and Magnesium levels also?

[cwoods5]

Salt Instant ocean
tank is 46 gallon with 20 gallon sump ( 1/2 full so around 10 gallon) therefore around 25 gallon woudl be 50%
I do weeekly H20 changes ( 5 gallons per week)
level has been high for almost 3 months
Calcium (what i refer to as my "A" ranges 360-400
I'm using a api test kits. I took my water to my LFS saturday and he did the test 4 times with his test kit and even opened a new box because he couldnt beleive it was that high.

Not sure on my mag

[charlie]

What it sounds like is you got a bad batch of IO. I seem to remember earlier this year a few other folks had some high alk levels, and they were using IO.
Is there a possibility that you could get into another batch of salt?
The folks that had the high alk problem before just ended up saying screw it and kept on using the IO.
Can you test the IO when you mix it up?

[kronos5]

Thats a good idea Charlie

[Ninong]

Yes, those appear to be sea stars in the genus Asterina. Most of them are usually harmless. I have never had the brownish ones. The ones I had were always white but they come in various shades of white, gray, tan and brown. Dr. Ron Shimek talks about them (with pics) in this article.

Have you tested a freshly mixed batch of saltwater before adding it to your aquarium? It's possible that you have a bad batch. That has happened before. In fact, it has happened more than once but the worst incident that I can remember was back in 2003. Check out this thread. Back then several hobbyists ended up with Instant Ocean that tested at an incredible 95 dKH. The alkalinity was so high it had to be tested in a lab because regular hobby test kits couldn't measure that high. Needless to say, they lost just about everything in their tanks.

Doing a 50% water change with saltwater that is already too high in alkalinity will only make matters worse. Test your saltwater before you make another water change. And it's important for you to know what your calcium and magnesium readings are, too. Calcium, magnesium, alkalinity and pH are all tied together.

Good luck!

[berkdog]

good luck. Let us know what happens when testing the freshly mixed saltwater. and which tests are you using exactly?

[cwoods5]

I found my problem. This morning I mixed up 10 gallons of salt water and tested it beofre i put it in my tank and bang it tested at 15. SO i then tested my ro and it tested at 7. looks like I need to change my mix and buy a another bucket Right???????? I'm going to my LFS tomorrow and i'm going to test his salt water that he sells ( which i use to buy) and see what it measures at. suggestions please

[charlie]

I would just try another bucket, every company that makes salt goes thru this. I wouldn't panic, that's for sure.
I would also have the LFS test your makeup water, just to have a comparison.

[cwoods5]

Ok i went my LFS saturday (this is where I get my R/O water from and I tested his tanks and his Salt water (i sometimes buy his ready made salt water) and it test 15-17 as well. this is also the same store i buy my salt mix from also. With saying all that I guess he got soem bad salt as well right??? or coul dit be possible that somehow his RO water causeing the trouble, remember that i tested the r/o water at 7.