Urchin eating sps

[oshanickreef]

Hello. I have had this urchin for a year or so and I have seen it eat dying acropora frags before but never alive coral. Then the past two days it was in the same spot on an acro which I thought was weird. After it moved I noticed a lot of the acro is dead. It for sure ate live acro tissue.

Pic of the urchin and coral below

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[ohashimz]

Hello. I have had this urchin for a year or so and I have seen it eat dying acropora frags before but never alive coral. Then the past two days it was in the same spot on an acro which I thought was weird. After it moved I noticed a lot of the acro is dead. It for sure ate live acro tissue.

Pic of the urchin and coral below

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Are you sure ita not eating algae off the sps?
I keep these urchins for years and my system is sps dominant. Never seen it actually eating the coral

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[oshanickreef]

Are you sure ita not eating algae off the sps?
I keep these urchins for years and my system is sps dominant. Never seen it actually eating the coral

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Two days ago the coral looked fine and after the urchin left it has PE and I'm sure it will bounce back.


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[ohashimz]

Two days ago the coral looked fine and after the urchin left it has PE and I'm sure it will bounce back.


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Wow, very strange. Thanks for sharing

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[ThRoewer]

My diadema long-spine urchins do that all the time. I think, more by accident than intentionally, but whatever is on their feeding path gets milled down. Mostly they do damage to the flat encrusted portions of the corals but damage to branches is not unheard of either. So usually, when the algae are back under control, I put them in the sump or a different tank where they can't do too much damage.