Why have my pencil urchins grown green fur?

lazarus

lazarus

Member
My urchins are several years old. About 4 months ago I moved them from a 100g to 28g tank, where everything else seems to be growing fine. I recently noticed they were growing green fur on their needles. Looks like algae but....seems to be growing out of the needles. Has anybody observed this and can you tell me what is going on with them?
 
reefkeeperZ

reefkeeperZ

Member
yeah thats green hair algae. as for whats going on... algae is growing on your urchins spines. and an asterina star has hitched a ride on one too. You probably don't have anything capable of grazing in between his spines to clean em off for him.
 
lazarus

lazarus

Member
Can I just take these little critters out and clean off their spines? They can survive a minute or two out of the water, right? Would this help them or hurt them?
 
reefkeeperZ

reefkeeperZ

Member
you might do more harm than good, most urchins don't do well exposed to air. you would be better off plucking what you can with tweezers or forceps while they are still in the tank.
 
lazarus

lazarus

Member
OK - an update. I've done my best to clean the algae off my two urchins. That stuff is tough! It does not come off easily. A couple weeks since doing this the hair is back and worse! I am losing this battle. I notice some of it growing also on my LR. What to do? This is not going well.
 
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