Pincushion Urchin - Lost a Bunch of Spines

[w2inc]

I’m in the same boat my black long spine was doing ******* great up until two things happened
1) i raised my salinity level because i was adding corals
And
2) i added some crabs for algae control and they did too good of a job

so my little guy lost all his spines and he’s barely holding on

A salinity rise can be more stressful on livestock than a drop. However, I feel like the rise would have to be kind of large like 1.020 to 1.025 to really stress animals out. I can’t remember why mine dropped its spines. Likely it was a high po4 issue. Mine had dropped all of its spines in a neglected tank and after some 30% water changes 3 days apart and back to regularly maintenance he completely recovered.

I think there is hope for you. It is just my opinion, but I believe that if you are able to remove him within 24 hours of death then all will be well. Change some water afterwards if there are concerns.

I like them and they do good work on algae. I have stopped keeping them because they are strong enough to drag my birds nests and digi’s as well as knock my frags off of rocks. It was a bummer to wake up and find a frag dropped in the middle of another colony and had been stung to death.

 

[Gogoggansgo]

A salinity rise can be more stressful on livestock than a drop. However, I feel like the rise would have to be kind of large like 1.020 to 1.025 to really stress animals out. I can’t remember why mine dropped its spines. Likely it was a high po4 issue. Mine had dropped all of its spines in a neglected tank and after some 30% water changes 3 days apart and back to regularly maintenance he completely recovered.

I think there is hope for you. It is just my opinion, but I believe that if you are able to remove him within 24 hours of death then all will be well. Change some water afterwards if there are concerns.

I like them and they do good work on algae. I have stopped keeping them because they are strong enough to drag my birds nests and digi’s as well as knock my frags off of rocks. It was a bummer to wake up and find a frag dropped in the middle of another colony and had been stung to death.

i really get a kick out of having one in the tank and i know my **** is spot on but he’s just been holding on, he just keeps on going. The good thing is i just got done doing massive upgrades to the tank and added micro algae and he has been eating on it oddly . So maybe it’ll help him idk yet

 

[Ro Bow]

did he end up ok? My urchin has the same problem

 

[HuduVudu]

did he end up ok? My urchin has the same problem

This is usually the end. Sorry.

 

[Ro Bow]

This is usually the end. Sorry.

dang. thanks..

 

[Bobbyg.mccray]

Parameters are:
Temp 77
Cal 412
Alk 9.4
Nitrate 11 ppm
Phosphate .4
Salinity 1.024

I'm working on the phosphates by dosing redseamax algae management. There are a bunch of patches of green hair algae for it to feed on but I can offer it a nori sheet tomorrow.

Bring that salinity up a little, urchins I got from Petco are fat and healthy at 1.025