Urchin poop

[TikiBird]

I saw my urchin pooping today, and there was white sand-grain-looking poop, but also reddish-orange little bits. I'm concerned about the red-orange stuff. Anyone know what it indicates?

 

[sneub]

Following, I want to know as well.

 

[ramasezz]

Me too.. have two short spined urchins...

 

[jacobSD]

My Halloween urchin poops out a lot of corraline algae and it looks like somebody sprinkled pink glitters in the rocks. Could be the same deal. Any pics?

 

[TikiBird]

@jacobSD, I was trying to get some pics but the little orangey bits are so tiny my phone camera can't capture them very well.

They sort of look like and are about the same size as sprinkles (like you'd put on a frosted cake or some such!).

Edit to add: your urchin's poop sounds very pretty. Lol!

 

[ramasezz]

Let me share the pics of the urchins I have...

 

[ramasezz]

 

[ramasezz]

 

[akitareefer]

Has it been eating coralline? Sometimes I see hot pink poops [emoji23]

 

[ramasezz]

I see some 'particles' on the tip of their heads... It's generally white... I don't know if it's the aragonite sand that is getting caught in their spines.... but then again I don't see it elsewhere other than the top of their heads.. so I thought that that's their poop.. and now I am following this thread to learn something..

 

[TikiBird]

Has it been eating coralline? Sometimes I see hot pink poops [emoji23]

Hot pink! Lol! It's been chowing down on my algae pretty well, but I can't think of anything in there that's orange! [emoji848]

 

[TikiBird]

So I had a dream last night about the urchin poop. (I cannot believe this is what my life has become.)

In my dream, the orange bits were some sort of bug or parasite. Is that possible??

 

[Bluefish9]

So I know for sure the poo is white fast sinking pellets and the pink stuff that kind of dissipates is something they secrete when they are either stressed or sometimes lost or injured a spine etc.
my two purple rock urchins both secreted the pink stuff the day I introduced them into the tank. Ive only seen one of them secret it again when it broke a spine on the rocks.

 

[jacobSD]

My Halloween urchin is very healthy. It's the exact color of the corraline algae. Pictures if your tank would help to possibly diagnose it.

 

[TikiBird]

So I know for sure the poo is white fast sinking pellets and the pink stuff that kind of dissipates is something they secrete when they are either stressed or sometimes lost or injured a spine etc.
my two purple rock urchins both secreted the pink stuff the day I introduced them into the tank. Ive only seen one of them secret it again when it broke a spine on the rocks.

Interesting! It certainly could be stressed. I just saw two spines on the rocks.

I got him about a week ago so he's still quite new. I hope he's adjusting OK. I'll see if I can get a pic of it....