Urchins and gorgonians

Oredigger77 · Apr 1, 2022

I was checking out my tank tonight about two hours after lights out and I saw one of my tuxedo urchins up on one of my gorgonians.

I've had two gorgonians for about a month now and they were looking great and even had noticeable new growth. Then about a week ago I started seeing less polyps and brown stringy stuff on them. In fact I moved the other gorg this morning because I thought it may have grown too close to a pectinia colony but as you can see there isn't much around this one.

I added two tuxedo urchins about the same time the gorgs got unhappy. Is this normal for urchins to eat gorgs or maybe it's just cleaning off the brown stringy stuff? Any ideas if I should or could do anything?

Frisk · Apr 1, 2022

I don't think it's the urchins that are eating your gorgonians but it is a possibility. Watch the urchins carefully and if they continue the same behavior after the brown layer is removed then they're probably the culprit. If I had to guess they are most likely eating the brown stuff off of them and that could be why they gorgs are not opening. Try gently blowing off the brown stuff and see if that helps.

Its also possible the gorgonian is shedding its skin but I find that looks more flakey. Do you think you could get a clearer pic?

Oredigger77 · Apr 2, 2022

I'm only taking photos with my phone so sorry if they're still not clear. The brown stringy stuff isn't there that I see this morning on either gorg. Maybe the urchin ate it all?

Frisk · Apr 2, 2022

I would still try blowing on them with a turkey baster or a pipette. Sometimes algae or dinos can clog their polyps and cause the polyps to retract, as long as none of the flesh is damaged though I don't think the urchin is trying to eat them.

Eatfrenchfries · Apr 25, 2022

Are your gorgonians shedding?

Oredigger77 · Apr 25, 2022

Yes, I think they were. One of my limpets was back on this gorgonian yesterday and we had just begun seeing its polyps again in the last couple of days. We ended up thinking that they were all just eating the shed straight from the source.