Sick sea urchin

[Christianmom60]

My sea urchin hasn’t moved around in a couple of weeks. He’s lost a few spines, but “grabs” if I try to touch them. The water salinity was a little high, but with frequent water changes, it’s going down. Is he going to make it?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

What have you been feeding it?

Jay

 

[Christianmom60]

What have you been feeding it?

Jay

It has just been eating the algea

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I just didn’t see much algae in the picture. You could augment that with some dried nori algae attached to a small rock.
Jay

 

[Christianmom60]

I just didn’t see much algae in the picture. You could augment that with some dried nori algae attached to a small rock.
Jay

How will he get it? He hadn’t moved in a couple of weeks. There is a lot of green algae on the rocks. We added a protein skimmer last week to bring down the nitrates. We were showing high nitrates, but when we took a water sample to the pet center, they used the same test kit we have, and said our nitrates were good.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

You rubber band the algae to a small flat rock and then place the urchin right on that. If you have algae in the tank, just try moving the urchin over on top of some to see if it will eat. If it’s spines droop or fall off, it is dying and you’ll need to remove it .
Jay

 

[Christianmom60]

He has lost some spines but appears to have some tiny ones growing. I’ll try the nori for a few more days

 

[Christianmom60]

You rubber band the algae to a small flat rock and then place the urchin right on that. If you have algae in the tank, just try moving the urchin over on top of some to see if it will eat. If it’s spines droop or fall off, it is dying and you’ll need to remove it .
Jay

Will all his spines fall off if Spike dies? So far only a few have fallen off.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

First, the spines will droop down, then they all fall off. You’ll want to try and remove it promptly so it doesn’t foul the tank water. I sometimes use the nose test- take the urchin close to the surface and give a whiff...you’ll know right away if it’s dead and needs to be thrown out.
Jay