Is something eating my Euphyllia skeleton?

[AquaScott]

I just noticed this morning, though this may have been going for a week or two. The skeleton was more robust and in tact a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if it's degeneration, or if something is eating it. I have seen my urchin hanging out on the Euphyllias lately, but didn't think anything of it. Would an urchin do it?

 

[Maggie321]

Possibly the urchin eating the coraline and some of the skeleton is collateral damage.

 

[AquaScott]

Possibly the urchin eating the coraline and some of the skeleton is collateral damage.

Thank you for the reply, Maggie. Do you know of anything I could feed the urchin to keep it away from the corals?

 

[Maggie321]

Urchins do what urchins do. They have the teeth that need ground down so coraline is on the menu. Just keep the coraline growing and the urchin will focus on that. Every now and then if I think the tank is low on urchin munchies, I will tuck a small piece of nori under it near it's mouth. That keeps it busy for maybe 10 minutes...

 

[AquaScott]

Alright. I really appreciate the advice. I will do my best to keep the coralline growing. Looks like this urchin is a pretty hungry critter and found the jackpot at the base of the Euphyllias. Are urchins beneficial?

 

[Maggie321]

Yes. Some people have trouble with coraline overgrowing and urchins creep it in check. They also eat other kinds of algae, so they keep that at bay as well. I have tuxedo urchin and they decorate themselves with random shells and they wear a crown of GSP. So they are fun to see cruising around with their green hairdos. They are one of my favorite critters in my tank.

 

[AquaScott]

Yes. Some people have trouble with coraline overgrowing and urchins creep it in check. They also eat other kinds of algae, so they keep that at bay as well. I have tuxedo urchin and they decorate themselves with random shells and they wear a crown of GSP. So they are fun to see cruising around with their green hairdos. They are one of my favorite critters in my tank.

This one was a live rock hitch hiker. I was really excited when I first noticed it. And it hasn't given me any problems, until now. Tank does seem to be pretty free of any algae though so that's good. Just hope it doesn't eat too much Euphyllia shell [emoji23]