cichlid101
Member
my urchin is dropping his spines, is that a bad thing?
urchins
- Thread starter cichlid101
- Start date
nero
Member
unfortunatly yes... i just had one loose all of its spines, and about 2 weeks later it died... but! you might have luck, i posted a thread when it happened to me and some people said that theirs had done that before but grew them all back. how long have you had yours? how long did you acclimate it for? i dont think there is much you can do once the spines start coming off... im sorry 
nero
Member
oh yeah, here is that thread:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...k+spine+urchin
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...k+spine+urchin
cichlid101
Member
well i have had them for about 3months now. the other two are doing fine just about 3 weeks ago it started loosing it spines. I did a water change and it still sits there. the other two are trucking along all over the tank. just curious about that one. thank you for the info.
jeffro8332
Member
i had one just like that and it lost some spines here and there but they always grew back. i don't know what type of tank you have but my urchin just like that one ate on my zoos and shrooms constantly so it had to go. although i do contribute most of my coraline growth to this animal. HTH
j
j
ophiura
Active Member
Yup, that is where it poops from
Urchins losing all their spines and sitting in the same place are not likely to recover. Anything is possible, but it is not a good sign. It is normal for them to lose or break spines here and there...and those grow back, but I suspect this one is not doing well. It might be dead. Since there is little soft tissue on the outside, you may not notice much when these things die except that the spines start to fall off. If you look real close, do you see and little thread like tube feet waving around?
Since it was a relatively recent acquisition, it might have suffered some acclimation shock. Individuals can have different tolerances.
Urchins losing all their spines and sitting in the same place are not likely to recover. Anything is possible, but it is not a good sign. It is normal for them to lose or break spines here and there...and those grow back, but I suspect this one is not doing well. It might be dead. Since there is little soft tissue on the outside, you may not notice much when these things die except that the spines start to fall off. If you look real close, do you see and little thread like tube feet waving around?
Since it was a relatively recent acquisition, it might have suffered some acclimation shock. Individuals can have different tolerances.
montidanae
Member
thats a nice Long Spined urchin you got there!