Urchin losing spikes

[MamaZooKeeper]

my urchins spikes are falling off. Hes still moving around and has a shell attached to him. The spikes are by where the purple tip green frogspawn was. Did my new coral kill him? I had everything tested yesterday and added calcium yesterday for the first time. Now my urchin looks bad and I have had him about 10 months. Hes one of my favorites!!!! HELP! Is he dying?

 

[rssjsb]

That is usually a sign that they're on their way out, I'm afraid.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

hes still going! eating n pooping and picking up shells!

 

[donya]

Spine loss can also be caused by non-fatal physical trauma. In those cases, the damaged are can look small at first but spines will start falling off in a larger are around it over a few days time. However, spine loss over more than just a small area is a pretty serious situation regardless of the cause, and the most common causes of massive spine loss are malnutrition and stress from environmental changes happening too fast. Did you test the pH and KH before and after what you dosed?

If the urchin is eating, you should probably start target feeding it if you aren't already to maximize the chances of recovery.

 

[MamaZooKeeper]

My urchin grew all his spines back and is still going strong!!! Yeah for a urchin that didnt give up!

 

[gnasher]

Hooray!

 

[tatuaje08]

I have a pencil urchin that will drop spines once in a while. They have always grown back. Dropping spines is a sign of irritation or bad health, but just because they are dropping, that doesn't mean certain death. As you have found out.

 

[SOCOMMike]

Unfortunately, urchins and I have never worked. Congratulations on him regrowing his spines.

 

[gbose]

Donya,

What would you target feed an urchin with? I ask because I've been told they eat only algae of some sort or the other.... not sure what type.

GBose

 

[gnasher]

^ Urchin cookies!

http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/cookie.html

When I'm too lazy to make them, I feed mine uncooked nori.

 

[TY31088]

My urchin grew all his spines back and is still going strong!!! Yeah for a urchin that didnt give up!

Good to hear and thanks for the update.

 

[Fishypapa]

My urchin grew all his spines back and is still going strong!!! Yeah for a urchin that didnt give up!

Wohoo :bounce3: that's terrific! My little blue tuxedo (his name is Dexter) is also one of my favorites in the tank. Love how they try to camouflage themselves.