Urchin spawn bad?

[ReeferK]

So I got a tuxedo urchin yesterday and drip acclimated him for about an hour and placed him in the tank, everything looks fine but I did notice later that day he went up to the top of the tank and started spewing white stuff which then made the whole tank foggy.

I heard this is due to stress? Should I be concerned? He’s still at the top of the tank this morning and probably moved a little from where he was. Seems alive I can see little tentacles moving.

is the cloudy water bad for my tank? Still a little cloudy when I checked this morning, It’s a 20g tank so not much water volume, should I do a water change? Even though I did one a couple days back?

 

[Perthegallon]

Never heard of that before

 

[MERKEY]

They are like snails and will release clouds of eggs and sperm into the water column.



The cloudiness will go away...no need for water change



I've noticed this is triggered in snails with temp swings...when it's cold I see them releasing a lot

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, tuxedo urchin spawning is related to temperature "shock" (a relatively rapid change in temperature; see the link below) - it might be due to stress, but I don't know if that has ever been studied (I imagine it would be a rather difficult thing to demonstrate even in a lab setting, and I don't know that it would be considered worthwhile to study by most people).

I personally wouldn't be concerned.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/blue-tuxedo-urchin-breeding-success.609938/

 

[ReeferK]

Thank you guys! I’ll keep an eye on him

 

[helwrj28]

Any update on your urchin? Mine that I just acclimated just did the same thing and curious if I should be concerned or not as well..

 

[hsp]

Mine were spawning as well--one triggered the other, I assume. I cannot confirm what others stated that a temperature change triggered the spawning event. Well, it goes up and down 0.3 degrees all the time. Interestingly, my Bicolor Blenny really liked to snag on it. BTW, no need for water change, but skimmer was working overtime.... Watch the video (quality is low as the water was getting cloudy):

 

[Paul B]

They do that. I used to have an urchin collection business where I SCUBA dove for them. I once had too many so I put 24 of them in my reef where they all spawned at the same time. I thought for sure I would lose everything. Nothing died and it cleared up in a day or so..

It was this kind. New York local purple urchins.