I purchased a little pincushion urchin 3 days ago, and affectionately named him Hedgie. Here is a picture of my little baby http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=375658&stc=1&d=1499117765 I am a saltwater beginner and my tank has been established for about 2 months. He is the first inhabitant, and seems to have been doing well. However, yesterday he lost about 4 spines sometime in the night while I wasn't watching him. My tank levels are good, 0 ammonia,nitrites or nitrates. PH is at 8.2, and my salinity is at 1.024. I acclimated him for an hour and a half, the salinity from the lfs was 1.026. Did I acclimate him long enough? I know 4 spines isn't a lot, but I am in love with this little guy and would be devastated if anything happened to him. Am I just being paranoid? He also has plenty to eat, my live rock has lots of algae on it and I supplement him algae wafers just in case, he seems to love them.
Sea urchin help?
- Thread starter mcnugx69
- Start date
heathlindner25
New member
I don't see "lots"of algae in your pic?
Honestly the picture was more just to show how cute my urchin is, not give an accurate image of my tank. My tank is a 40 gallon and the urchin is only 1-1/2 inches around. The picture is pretty zoomed in, and the piece of live rock it is showing is only 4 pounds. I have 20 pounds of live rock in the tank, not as much as I would like but I plan to add more. One big piece came with green algae on it, and another large piece has purple coralline algae on it so I really don't think starvation will be a problem, especially for such a tiny urchin. I really could be wrong, but so far he hasn't lost any more spines and has been very active, even decorating himself with some shells I put in the tank. I do wish I had waited for ny tank to mature a bit more, but I'll keep an eye on him.
Thank you for the reassurance, he's doing great today. I think he may have been stressed because I did a water change the second day I had him, I made sure all my water params were the same. He probably just got stressed from all the activity haha. I also bought him a nice big chunk of chaeto to let grow in my tank, just to make sure he has plenty to eat and will stay happy and healthy. I'll be putting him in a 200gal in a few months, so the 40 gallon isn't his forever home.
schnebbles
New member
I love my urchin! He's survived very high ammonia in my tank so they must be pretty hardy. I have a tuxedo. I think they are really cool.
I heard tuxedos and pincushions are a little hardier, which I can believe because they are the most common ones found at my local petco, and their water params aren't stellar. I love my little guy too! It's so adorable when he carries things around. I love him as much as I would a cat or dog, and would do anything to keep him happy.
billdogg
Well-known member
As mcgyvr said, I wouldn't be too worried. It isn't uncommon for them to sometimes lose a spine or two. You haven't lived until you find a spine in the sand by jamming your finger into it. When you do, if you can pull it out intact, good. More likely, however, it will break off under the skin and be near impossible to dig out. No worries - it will fester a bit and in a few days when you're squeezing the pus out, the little remnant will pop right out!
