My Sea Urchin losing its spines
- Thread starter laneym
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coralman05
Member
like he said test your water.. only way to find out
travelerjp98
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by coralman05 http:///t/389299/my-sea-urchin-losing-its-spines#post_3439845
like he said test your water.. only way to find out
Yep.
Originally Posted by coralman05 http:///t/389299/my-sea-urchin-losing-its-spines#post_3439845
like he said test your water.. only way to find out
Yep.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
I agree that you need to test your water parameters and see if the little guy has enough food. Else there isn't any other way to tell.
flower
Well-Known Member
I agree with all of the above, personally I would never try and keep an urchin in a tank newer than a year old. They need lots of algae to live, and they are very sensitive to nitrates and phosphates. Since it died so suddenly and not losing spikes over a few weeks, I would say water quality is the most likely cause, not starvation. Sorry for your loss, I know it's hard to lose a critter.
reidenbachla
New Member
Yikes, I am fixing to check my tank levels. There appears to be spikes growing back so I thought they just shed. Mine has algae to a degree but we feed him frozen fish we caught also.
I never thought of him starving
Is this a reason for the spikes to fall off? it's been happening about 2 weeks now. and the only thing in the tank with him is blemy's that we caught in the wild. He is wild also and we have had him for almost 2 years now. He has lots of rocks to climb on.
I never thought of him starving
Is this a reason for the spikes to fall off? it's been happening about 2 weeks now. and the only thing in the tank with him is blemy's that we caught in the wild. He is wild also and we have had him for almost 2 years now. He has lots of rocks to climb on.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by reidenbachla http:///t/389299/my-sea-urchin-losing-its-spines#post_3504457
Yikes, I am fixing to check my tank levels. There appears to be spikes growing back so I thought they just shed. Mine has algae to a degree but we feed him frozen fish we caught also.
I never thought of him starving Is this a reason for the spikes to fall off? it's been happening about 2 weeks now. and the only thing in the tank with him is blemy's that we caught in the wild. He is wild also and we have had him for almost 2 years now. He has lots of rocks to climb on.
Starvation is a slow death...over a few weeks sound exactly like that's the problem. Wild caught is also risky, concerning disease and bacteria. We really need to have your numbers on the test results. It likely is a combo of reasons the urchin is dying. They will try and fight death...(growing a few new spins) but unless the problem is addressed it will be too little too late. However, that doesn't mean we can't fix things and get him back to health, we just need to know what to do before it's past helping. Post those numbers ASAP
Originally Posted by reidenbachla http:///t/389299/my-sea-urchin-losing-its-spines#post_3504457
Yikes, I am fixing to check my tank levels. There appears to be spikes growing back so I thought they just shed. Mine has algae to a degree but we feed him frozen fish we caught also.
I never thought of him starving
Is this a reason for the spikes to fall off? it's been happening about 2 weeks now. and the only thing in the tank with him is blemy's that we caught in the wild. He is wild also and we have had him for almost 2 years now. He has lots of rocks to climb on.Starvation is a slow death...over a few weeks sound exactly like that's the problem. Wild caught is also risky, concerning disease and bacteria. We really need to have your numbers on the test results. It likely is a combo of reasons the urchin is dying. They will try and fight death...(growing a few new spins) but unless the problem is addressed it will be too little too late. However, that doesn't mean we can't fix things and get him back to health, we just need to know what to do before it's past helping. Post those numbers ASAP
reidenbachla
New Member
Should have the results tomorrow. the fish tank guy is going to do it for me. As soon as I have them I will post them.
bang guy
Moderator
The three most common reasons for an Urchin to lose spines are:
1 - Osmotic Shock - typically from a rapid decrease in salinity. This can be something assimple as adding a weeks worth of topoff all at once.
2 - Starvation - they are fairly easy to feed. Try an algae sheet.
3 - Low Salinity. Depending on the species they do not tolerate low salinity well.
1 - Osmotic Shock - typically from a rapid decrease in salinity. This can be something assimple as adding a weeks worth of topoff all at once.
2 - Starvation - they are fairly easy to feed. Try an algae sheet.
3 - Low Salinity. Depending on the species they do not tolerate low salinity well.
reidenbachla
New Member
Well I don't know exactly what the results were since my hubby is in charge of the tanks but they did do a water change and we are going to get algae for him. My hubby was keeping the lights off to stop algae growth not knowing the little guy needed it so much. He has the light on more to produce natural algae growth. He eats brine and frozen fish we have caught in the wild (to keep it to his liking) but the algae could be the problem. He said he seems to be better today. And he has ALOT of spines trying to grow. Do they make algae cubes? (not sure if he asked our tank guy or not) Is that a good way to suppliment him if they do?