Urchin acclimation

jd371

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I found a hollowed out husk of what used to be my Tuxedo Urchin this morning. The tank is going to be 5 years old this summer so there's plenty of algae and coralline for it to feed on. It didn't move much the first few days and stayed in one spot, but eventually started to wander.
Now I'm thinking maybe I didn't acclimate it long enough. I drip acclimated for about 30 -45 minutes after bringing it home from the lfs. Should I have acclimated for a longer time?
 

Schnizzle

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I ordered my pencil urchin from reef cleaners and they recommend dropping it right in after temp acclimation. It's been moving all over the rocks leaving a clean trail in its wake for 4 weeks now. My tank is barely 7 months old.
 
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jd371

jd371

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I've heard both just float for temp and release and I've also heard that they require a long acclimation period. There's also the chance that the urchin was unhealthy to begin with right from the lfs.
 

litmusdragon

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I found a hollowed out husk of what used to be my Tuxedo Urchin this morning. The tank is going to be 5 years old this summer so there's plenty of algae and coralline for it to feed on. It didn't move much the first few days and stayed in one spot, but eventually started to wander.
Now I'm thinking maybe I didn't acclimate it long enough. I drip acclimated for about 30 -45 minutes after bringing it home from the lfs. Should I have acclimated for a longer time?

Do you have a serpent star? I'm 90% sure that my serpent star ate the two small tuxedo urchins I added to my tank. I found him hanging around the corpses. Both died once they made their way down near the sand where he hangs out, one within a day or two of being added, the other about a week later. I've read that starfish prey on urchins in the wild so I assume that's what happened.
 
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jd371

jd371

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Do you have a serpent star? I'm 90% sure that my serpent star ate the two small tuxedo urchins I added to my tank. I found him hanging around the corpses. Both died once they made their way down near the sand where he hangs out, one within a day or two of being added, the other about a week later. I've read that starfish prey on urchins in the wild so I assume that's what happened.
At that time I didn't have one. Since then I've added another urchin ( halloween ) and a serpent star. I'm sure that they have come in contact with each other and the urchin is fine. If yours is a green serpent star, I've heard of those being killers.
 

AcroNem

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when urchins I get come in not moving much and just sitting there, they are already in pretty bad shape. Likely from shipping. I do a short acclimation on urchins but not long drips.
 

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