Pull urchin or let it rock

[Glass Algae]

Hey so my pincushion was doing fantastic and then I started doing more water changes and I think the swing in salinity and stirring the sand bed yesterday caused the water quality to drop and now the urchin has dropped I'd say most of its spines. It's just clung to the sump wall right now still looks somewhat active.

I made a post prior to this about it losing some spines. Now I know what yall were saying when you said "too many spines to count is bad" cause it's a clean PILE of em. I'll assume this urchin is not long for this tank.

Question is should I remove it now and freezer bag it or should I let it rock till it dies?

Ty all for your help in advance. A little bummed but I know these things happen. I'm just looking for the most "humane" thing to do at this point.

 

[G Santana]

A few months ago my urchin dropped a boat load of spines on its back and I thought it was a goner, I started to supplement his feeding with nori as the tank has matured and only film algae is available to it and it has made a huge comeback. Now I'm not sure if they dropped spines as part of a cycle or it was due to nutrient deprivation or an illness.
But I would supplement his diet with nori and watch him carefully.
Good luck.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They don’t adjust well to change in parameters
Spines should return as mine did

 

[blaxsun]

Been there... while the prospects aren't good, if you can at least keep it eating it may tough it out. I'd rubberband some seaweed to a small flat rock and place it under him. I've got 2 green urchins in the same boat right now, but they've been growing spines back over the past few days. Knock on wood...

 

[Glass Algae]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies. I think I'll just try to keep it eating and watch it.

Not for nothing but I've never seen it so active as it is right now so that's a good sign. I figured if it was right on the brink it would be a bit lethargic but it's not. It seems to be over compensating for loss of spines with its tentacles as most are out keeping it moving around.

Lights just turned on and it decided to go to its favorite corner. So we'll see what happens.

I Def blame myself for the outcome here as I knew blasting rock too much could be bad news bears but it handled it fine before. I think water change mixed with rock blasting didn't help it, as well as the gha is going away so probably running out of food.


With the nori supplement feeding can I get regular grocery store kind or is it a special lfs food

 

[blaxsun]

With the nori supplement feeding can I get regular grocery store kind or is it a special lfs food

I feed Two Little Fishies SeaVeggies (green seems to be a favorite).

 

[Glass Algae]

I probably shouldn't use roasted nori from the supermarket, huh?

Amazon will take until Thursday to get me 2 little fishes seaweed. Only place close I can get to today is local grocery store where they have just roasted nori

 

[G Santana]

This is cheap and comes with 100 sheets. It's what I use

Romaine lettuce will due in a pinch or store bought nori non treated.

 

[Glass Algae]

This is cheap and comes with 100 sheets. It's what I use

Romaine lettuce will due in a pinch or store bought nori non treated.

Of course it's Thursday delivery for me...
I hate my address. Ever since pandemic no over nights or same days ever make it anymore to me :/

 

[Glass Algae]

If anyone was curious, the urchin is doing just fine. Still eating, moving, and wearing hats. It's even started to grow its spines back.

I was under the impression a mass spine shedding was a death sentence. Well we will see where it goes!

The hobby surprises me every day!

 

[homer1475]

When I first got my short spine pincushion, it lost nearly all it's spine about 2 days after being in my tank. Pretty sure it was a goner, low and behold 3 years later it's grown all it's spines back and is a algae eating machine! I've never fed any of my 3 urchins, and all do great(i do grow coralline like most people grow GHA, and they loooove coralline!)

 

[Glass Algae]

Yeah it never even stopped trucking. Just hid a bit more during the day. Now it's back to business as usual!

It was losing some spines originally but one day it lost I'd say 85 percent easy.

Nothings ever a sure thing in this hobby!