Sea Urchin survival

[Magellan]

Story time! My sea urchin was one of the first critters I put into my tank after it had finished cycling. Unlike some other urchins he is respectful of all my corals, and will carefully navigate around them in his never ending quest for food. I named him Magellan because he is constantly circumnavigating the tank (if you know why that’s significant you probably did well in school). He has thrived ever since being introduced to my tank, a 28 gallon JBJ nanocube. Fast forward several months to about 3-4 weeks ago. I accidentally poked him with my algae scraper, he had moved and was much closer to the glass than I thought and the hard plastic made an audible crunch as it hit him. This was mortifying. Of all the noob mistakes to make, this one was possibly the easiest to avoid. He didn’t immediately show any symptoms, other than an intial sprint for cover. However, a few days later and I noticed that he was moving less and less, and the spot where he had been injured had gotten worse not better, and he was beginning to lose spines. One quick google search later, it was apparent that the internet gave him a zero percent survival rate. I saw post after post calling for a trip to the freezer in order to “humanely” end it’s life. Post after post saying that once sea urchins start losing spines it’s over. I kept looking for more information, because my sea urchin was only losing spines in the area of the injury, and not over his entire body. I finally found one brief post describing a similar situation involving an injury, where the urchin recovered. I decided to monitor the situation, change my carbon and purigen, and give him a chance, as what had happened was entirely my fault I thought he should at least get the opportunity to avoid the freezer/trash can. I fed him seaweed, and even reef roids (really seemed to like that). He had a couple days/nights where he barely moved more than a few inches, and lost more and more spines around the injury spot. Then one day, I saw some new spines poking out, and he started to move some more. He has continued to improve, and has made an almost complete lap around the tank today!! Wanted to share as there doesn’t seem to be many examples of positive outcomes involving urchins, hope this helps someone make a more informed decision in the future.

 

[Hitman]

Awesome story with a awesome out come! Mine once lost all his pins and disappeared for a few weeks I was mortified, then one day I saw most the coralline algae had vanished from a back corner of the tank and to my surprise there he was full of spins and going to town! 6 months later all coralline is gone from my tank:mad::mad::mad:

 

[Justin Cook]

Thanks for the story. I've never had the experience but it's good to learn a bit more about what can happen if I do. I've always found urchins to be pretty hardy once they're established. I've lost one to poor maintenance practices and one never really got past the 1st week. Other than those two "learning experiences" I have one in each of my tanks and they're been there for 3 & 5 years respectively.

 

[Magellan]

Thanks guys! Great to hear some positive feedback, I was really not sure I was doing the right thing for my tank. It’s relatively small and I’m almost positive it stressed out my Goniopora, it’s doing much better now that my urchin is. (Everything else was fine and continued to thrive, but they are hardier species - leather tree, GSP, hammers, zoas, mushroom, monti, and a birds nest). Of course, the goni needs dirtier water and changing the filters coincided with it mostly closing up for a few days, so who knows?

But really glad to hear some more positive urchin stories

 

[BZOFIQ]

Great to hear yours went full circle.

I recently bought 2 and they started "shedding" spines after acclimation; I thought that's it, they are both going to be gone by day 2.

Fast forward 3 weeks and they went from barely moving to "lapping" around each tank.

There are days they sit around and there are days they move across different zip codes so to speak.

Always loved urchins but haven't had one longer than maybe little over a year.



That said, what's the life expectancy provided they are not cracked open to make sushi?

 

[Magellan]

Justin cook said he has had some for 3 and 5 years, I think they will stay alive as long as they have a quality environment to live in.

 

[Reefs.r.4.me]

I'm doing research on survival after spine loss. There is a beautiful pink urchin (at least what's left of its spines) at the lfs, it came in yesterday, but it lost about a quarter of its spines in shipping. I'm not sure that would be a good investment. Sigh.

 

[Reefs.r.4.me]

Great to hear yours went full circle.

I recently bought 2 and they started "shedding" spines after acclimation; I thought that's it, they are both going to be gone by day 2.

Fast forward 3 weeks and they went from barely moving to "lapping" around each tank.

There are days they sit around and there are days they move across different zip codes so to speak.

Always loved urchins but haven't had one longer than maybe little over a year.



That said, what's the life expectancy provided they are not cracked open to make sushi?

I have had my urchin for three years. His name is Scrub. He started out as a baby in my 3.5 gallon for the first year and then I moved him to my 40 gallon. He's been as happy as my clam, Baby Helga, who has been with me for two years. Both seem to prefer smaller, less frequent water changes. That does not mean neglect. My water quality is usually spot on with prudent feeding practices, an ATO and two part dosing. I'm a huge fan of finding the smallest corals and creatures I can. Most of those corals started out smaller than a thumbnail. Watching them grow from single heads or tiny spikes and pieces brings me the most joy.