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There is an abundance of coralline and other algae otherwise I don't feed it.Possibly -- if it's lost all of its primary spines, as yours seems to have done. The spines you see seem to be its secondary spines. Are you feeding it? What are your parameters?
Yes, but what are they?Parameters are what they have been for 7 months.
Could it be low calcium?Possibly -- if it's lost all of its primary spines, as yours seems to have done. The spines you see seem to be its secondary spines. Are you feeding it? What are your parameters?
I stuck some Nori under it last night. It seems to have eaten most of it.Yes, but what are they?
Starving urchins may drop their spines, and your urchin may not be getting sufficient nutrition from coralline algae. Mine have access to nori.
I have a small tuxedo I found as well. It has found it's way into the over flow. I can see I'll be pulling the plumbing apart sometime to get it outNothing seems too out of line -- my nitrates are higher than that -- so I'd say that feeding is the key. Urchin spines don't really change shape, so it's most likely that it shed its primary spines over the past month without you noticing, and probably due to starvation. If you don't want to keep feeding it nori, I'd certainly invest in some sinking algae pellets. They really do need more algae than most people feed them; if you're looking for something that can survive on less, tuxedo urchins are a much better choice.