Urchin spawn bad?

ReeferK · Dec 27, 2022

So I got a tuxedo urchin yesterday and drip acclimated him for about an hour and placed him in the tank, everything looks fine but I did notice later that day he went up to the top of the tank and started spewing white stuff which then made the whole tank foggy.

I heard this is due to stress? Should I be concerned? He’s still at the top of the tank this morning and probably moved a little from where he was. Seems alive I can see little tentacles moving.

is the cloudy water bad for my tank? Still a little cloudy when I checked this morning, It’s a 20g tank so not much water volume, should I do a water change? Even though I did one a couple days back?

Perthegallon · Dec 27, 2022

Never heard of that before

MERKEY · Dec 27, 2022

They are like snails and will release clouds of eggs and sperm into the water column.

The cloudiness will go away...no need for water change

I've noticed this is triggered in snails with temp swings...when it's cold I see them releasing a lot

ISpeakForTheSeas · Dec 27, 2022

Yeah, tuxedo urchin spawning is related to temperature "shock" (a relatively rapid change in temperature; see the link below) - it might be due to stress, but I don't know if that has ever been studied (I imagine it would be a rather difficult thing to demonstrate even in a lab setting, and I don't know that it would be considered worthwhile to study by most people).

I personally wouldn't be concerned.

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