When an urchin eats your SPS..........

[TonyB]

............what type of damage does it inflict? I have some mysterious damage to a few SPS that occurs overnight. It looks like sections of the coral have been mowed down. I have a long spine urchin and a tuxexo that are the most likely culprits. Fish are wrasses, clowns, tangs and gobies.

thx.

 

[ddr_phish]

I know some urchins eat coralline algae, but I'd assume the slime coating on sps would deter them. Pictures might help.

 

[seafansar]

It's probably the long spine. I know a guy who has two huge ones in his tank and they eat the tops off of some of his sps's. He noticed something was eating his sps's, but he didn't know what. He realized it was the urchins when he heard a crunching sound and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He turned off all the pumps and anything making noise and finally realized it was his urchin munching on one of his sps colonies.

 

[TonyB]

lol, that explains the noise I keep hearing!

 

[seafansar]

Haha...glad to have solved your mystery!

 

[gflat65]

I've got two different species that seem to love monti cap... The tuxedo and a halloween (orange and black with white sweepers). I had some growing on an overflow, and even after killing it, they still sit and munch on the skeleton.

 

[Atomikk]

Could also be a sps eating crab.