Urchin eating my coralline

[the___jest]

I just bought an urchin, I love this cool guy. But it seems he loves coralline algae, he ate a big area of it on the only rock that is covered. My question is will it grow back or like when he poo's it out will it regrow in another location?

 

[fishieness]

it will grow back, but without an ideal setup, it may take a while. if he is eating coraline then it proabably means that you dont ahve enough food in there algae wise such as ahir algae or anything else. you can try feeding algae sheets, but not all will eat this. They are capible or wearing down rocks quite a bit if there arent a ton, and well, if they wear down rocks, they will wear down the bacteria on them too.
just make sure that you ahve neough food in your tank.

 

[corally]

I have had a pincushin urchin in my 55 for about 2 months now and I just noticed yesterday that was starting to eat some of my coralline. I gave him an algae sheet and he accepted it. I have heard though that urchins actually help spread the coralline around you tank.

 

[the___jest]

I hope he spreads mine. I have enough algae in there for him. That seems to be all I can grow LOL. Maybe he just wanted some coraline at the time.

 

[the___jest]

all the coralline he has eaten is now white my cal is a little high any ideas how to get it back purple?

 

[reefreak29]

urchins shoud eat algea sheets mine ate silversides

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by the___jest
all the coralline he has eaten is now white my cal is a little high any ideas how to get it back purple?
your Ca is high, so your Alk is probably low. this often makes it turn white. you can raise it with a suppliment, but you may just want to switch salts to one that works better for your system.

 

[corally]

Originally Posted by corally
I have had a pincushin urchin in my 55 for about 2 months now and I just noticed yesterday that was starting to eat some of my coralline. I gave him an algae sheet and he accepted it. I have heard though that urchins actually help spread the coralline around you tank.

update: all my coralline is now gone

 

[relaxn79]

sorry to hear that. I got a tuxedo urchin and some purple spine urchin. My tuxedo sheded some spines recently. Have u ever noticed this. Is it bad.

 

[corally]

Originally Posted by relaxn79

sorry to hear that. I got a tuxedo urchin and some purple spine urchin. My tuxedo sheded some spines recently. Have u ever noticed this. Is it bad.

An urchin dropping it's spines is a sign of stress. Have you tested your water?

 

[the___jest]

fishieness... actually my alk is right on the money. I just recieved my purple up today, I'm going to wait a few days till my cal goes down before I start using the purple up. Hopefully it will help.

 

[rainfishy]

My urchin loves calurpa and totally leaves the rocks alone. In fact I cant really remembers him being on the rocks at all, but he carries the calurpa around on his back

 

[jester805]

My urchin wanders all around the tank (rock, sand, glass). Are the algae sheets the same as seaweed sheets????