Long spine losing spines

[Shadowspop]

My ling spine has been losing spines on a regular basis for the past few months. It has lost a ton since yesterday. Is this normal or a sign of a problem?

 

[EmdeReef]

Fast loss is usually a problem. What are your water params? Does he get enough food? Enough algae in your tank?

 

[KJ]

A+ on water parameters?

 

[Shadowspop]

He eats a ton, probably my best cleaner in the tank. Pagans are.

93 Gal cube
78.8 degrees
SG 1.025

Nitrate 5
Ph 8.25
Alk 7.8
Mag 1440
Calc 440
Phos .022

Had him for about 6 months. Grown a ton. Probably about 9-11 inches across. He's still moving all over the place and eating. He looks fine other than is spines.

 

[EmdeReef]

He eats a ton, probably my best cleaner in the tank. Pagans are.

93 Gal cube
78.8 degrees
SG 1.025

Nitrate 5
Ph 8.25
Alk 7.8
Mag 1440
Calc 440
Phos .022

Had him for about 6 months. Grown a ton. Probably about 9-11 inches across. He's still moving all over the place and eating. He looks fine other than is spines.

Your params seem fine unless there’s something else that we can’t test for at home.. is everything else doing ok? Added any medications or anything?

you could try feeding it some nori to see if that helps.

 

[Shadowspop]

No medications at all. I've struggled with sps, forever, but tank is only at 8 months old so it's probably still not stable enough to support them. I rechecked my params again and my nitrates were actually higher, closer to 15 so im doing a water change tonight. Everything else is looking awesome. Freaking zoas are popping out like crazy, shrooms are all thriving. Trachy, lobo, and cinerina same. The longspine is still acting fine today, moving around and eating. The only other thing that looks a little different is that my BTA, that hasn't moved in 5 months, decided to move.

 

[EmdeReef]

No medications at all. I've struggled with sps, forever, but tank is only at 8 months old so it's probably still not stable enough to support them. I rechecked my params again and my nitrates were actually higher, closer to 15 so im doing a water change tonight. Everything else is looking awesome. Freaking zoas are popping out like crazy, shrooms are all thriving. Trachy, lobo, and cinerina same. The longspine is still acting fine today, moving around and eating. The only other thing that looks a little different is that my BTA, that hasn't moved in 5 months, decided to move.

Don’t think 15 would be an issue. From studies I’ve seen, problems start in the ~100+ range and don’t seem to affect all urchins.

Check if anything is rusting. You can also try getting something like metasorb and see if it helps. Usually when this happens it’s a water quality issue, less common would be lack of food or disease.