Tuxedo Urchin not doing good

Basementreefer · Mar 15, 2020

Hello fellow reefers!
I got an issue with my urchin. Or rather he has an issue. I have him for roughly 2 months now and he has been doing great! Today, when I went downstairs to do the weekly WC, I saw him on his back moving his spines. I turned him back onto his „feet“ and he went on. He tried to climb the rock work, fell and landed upside down again. Now he is still laying upside down and moving his spines. I didn’t notice that he lost any spines though. I did measure phosphate and nitrates and they where just right. Couldn’t test ammonia as my test expired a month ago. So I have to get one first. I really hope that my little urchin will do better soon. What do you think about that? Is that a very bad sign? And how does that come?
Thanks so much in advance!

Flippers4pups · Mar 15, 2020

Basementreefer · Mar 15, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
Bump

Did that, still moved his spines. Turned him around again. He walked a couple of inches to the rocks and I hope he is not turning himself upside down again.

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

Went downstairs and saw him upside down again... Still moving his spines. Don’t really know what is going on with him.

Reef. · Mar 16, 2020

Basementreefer said:
Did that

You type bump in a thread to move that thread to the top of the page again so more people have a chance of seeing your thread, rather than it being on page 3 where less people see it, me writing this has now also bumped your post to the top of the page again.

najer · Mar 16, 2020

Does it have coraline and algae to graze?

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

Reef. said:
You type bump in a thread to move that thread to the top of the page again so more people have a chance of seeing your thread, rather than it being on page 3 where less people see it, me writing this has now also bumped your post to the top of the page again.

Oh okay, I didn’t know that. Thanks

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

najer said:
Does it have coraline and algae to graze?

Yes, some spots are reachable.

Deezill · Mar 16, 2020

what are your magnesium levels?

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

Deezill said:
what are your magnesium levels?

Test Said 1170ppm

Deezill · Mar 16, 2020

I thought your mag might have been a little high but its a tad low.

lmm1967 · Mar 16, 2020

did your salinity swing at all? can you confirm your salinity level? They are sensitive to small swings IME

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

lmm1967 said:
did your salinity swing at all? can you confirm your salinity level? They are sensitive to small swings IME

I can’t really tell. After the water change I measured salinity of 35.4 and I didn’t measure before the water change. But a few days ago when I measured it also said 35.4. I guess there wasn’t really a swing. I also saw that he lost some spines. And the tentacles are still not extracted. Tried to feed him some algae stripes but he didn’t really care.

lmm1967 · Mar 16, 2020

once they start losing spines - I think they are doomed. The one time I had that happen it was due to a salinity swing.

I hope he recovers for you.

NeonRabbit221B · Mar 16, 2020

High nitrates?

Likely starving. Hold a piece of nori near him. They are often on their way out if you notice them losing spines...

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

lmm1967 said:
once they start losing spines - I think they are doomed. The one time I had that happen it was due to a salinity swing.

I hope he recovers for you.

Oh Crap... I really hope he will survive. I am keeping a close eye on him. I really don't know why there should have been a salinity swing though. I have an ATO, fill it regularly and he was already behaving strangely before the WC.

NeonRabbit221B said:
High nitrates?

Likely starving. Hold a piece of nori near him. They are often on their way out if you notice them losing spines...

nitrates are around 8 and I tried that today already, but he is not interested. His tentacles are not out as well, so he can't/wouldn´t "grab" the algae sheet. It was floating away constantly.

Thank you very much for your suggestions and answers though! I really appreciate it!

New&no clue · Mar 16, 2020

Does he have enough food to eat? One of the things I learned when I got mine is they eat a lot. I put a half sheet of Nori in my tank every morning for my fish to eat. At night there is still some left and I use to pull it, but I forgot a couple times and found in the morning it was all gone. I didn't know who was eating it at night, as my fish were all sleeping. One night I came down at lights out and saw my urchin sitting on the clip. Now I always leave the Nori in and every morning it's gone. I would put some Nori in for him where he can reach it. If he's on the sand and not able to climb up you can take a piece of rubble, if you have any, and put the nori sheet on that and secure it with a rubber band. place it next to him so he can eat without having to climb anything.

Basementreefer · Mar 16, 2020

New&no clue said:
Does he have enough food to eat? One of the things I learned when I got mine is they eat a lot. I put a half sheet of Nori in my tank every morning for my fish to eat. At night there is still some left and I use to pull it, but I forgot a couple times and found in the morning it was all gone. I didn't know who was eating it at night, as my fish were all sleeping. One night I came down at lights out and saw my urchin sitting on the clip. Now I always leave the Nori in and every morning it's gone. I would put some Nori in for him where he can reach it. If he's on the sand and not able to climb up you can take a piece of rubble, if you have any, and put the nori sheet on that and secure it with a rubber band. place it next to him so he can eat without having to climb anything.

Thats a very goof idea! I will do that right now.
Thank you very much!

steallife904 · Mar 16, 2020

how old is tank? they need an established tank. I have 2 in mine for 3+ years. One of them is 5 years old in tank. Tank had been running for years before I put them in. I think it sounds like he is starving.

TheShrimpNibbler · Mar 16, 2020

When I still had my urchin, he started losing spines a couple of times, but was able to make a recovery. Whenever it started to lose spines, I would soak a piece of nori in a cup of water until it had softened up. Then I would go and gently push the piece under him and hold it there until the urchin had grabbed on and was eating. This is what always worked for me and I kept my urchin for a year.
Good luck and I hope your urchin makes a recovery!