urchin losing spines

[timrandlerv10]

i have black long spiney urchin...he seems pretty happy--my coralline is disappearing just about as fast as we can regrow it, so it seems like there is still plenty of food. the only other things in the 75 w/55 sump (skimmer, lots of LR, dsb) is more LR, gsm pair, 2 peppermint shrimp, some zoos, some euphylia.

he's scattering spines everywhere! how often is he supposed to lose them? he doesnt 'look' like he has a lower spine density, and it isnt obvious that many are broken, so what gives? is this normal replacement?

thanks!

tim

 

[chevster]

no, its not normal... i had the same problem with mine...

when i first got it i didn't accimate it... and the next morning, spines were everywhere....

did u acclimate him...

this pretty much means he is stressed or you water parameters are pretty bad...

so that is the rason why...

another thing, they poop so much that your sand bed, will soon be covered with their poop... mine was like that, so i had to give him back to the LFS... so just a caution...
i would love to see a pic of him... ehehe

Chevy

 

[boomsticks]

Yeah the two urchins I have ever owned in my life both lost spines then died shortly after. I forgot to acclimate them. Inverts are very sensitive to different water when moving from new homes.

 

[timrandlerv10]

he's been in the tank for about six weeks, so i dont think its acclimation...

its not like they are ALL falling out, but there are a lot in the tank.

i was thinking about cleaning up all of them and then counting the per day/spine count

 

[Packersfan21]

It's a sign of bad health and all of the corraline algae that's dissaperaing might also be due to poor water quality. Longspine urchins should only be kept in larger fish-only aquariums and don't do well in smaller reef aquariums.