Are my Urchin's Dying????

[dkonni]

I have 2 urchin's in my 55 gal, they've been living healthy for about 8 months & two weeks ago I noticed both of them were deflated at the bottom of the sand. I thought they were dead/dying, but next thing I knew they popped right back up and were looking better than ever for the next couple weeks. Today, both urchin's are back to sitting on the bottom of the tank looking almost lifeless & deflated. What is going on? I did just do a water change yesterday, but all my readings appear normal and everything else in the tank is doing fine.

Please help

 

[Bifferwine]

Are they losing their spines?

 

[dkonni]

Not really losing spines...but both of them are just laying lifeless at the bottom of the tank in the sand....They did this a couple weeks ago, i don't know if it's an unhealthy cycle or what, I was hoping someone had more insight into how Urchin's behave. It's just weird that both Urchin's are doing it at the same time, makes me think it has something to do with the water parameters. They rebounded before, i hope they can again

 

[yote]

That don't sound like normal urchin behavior to me.
When they do that,are they close to each other or just randomly sitting on the sand.

 

[dkonni]

They are just laying at the bottom..their spines aren't falling off but they're just looking flat & not expanded.

I don't know what it could be...now my 2 mushroom polyps are not opening up like they normally do.

My water parameters still appear normal, temperature is 76, salinity is fine...i dunno what it could be??

 

[Bifferwine]

Have you checked for stray voltage?

Identifying, Locating and Curing Stray Voltage in a Saltwater Aquarium

 

[yote]

Can you list all your parameters? And are you checking salinity with a hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[dkonni]

With a hydrometer...the Urchin's are not right next to each other- they're across the tank..

what do you mean by stray voltage?? and how does that work

 

[Bifferwine]

Read the link I posted.

 

[BL1]

You should get a refactometer, hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[yote]

In addition to reading Biffs link.Have your LFS test the salinity of your water.That hydrometer might not be giving you a true reading.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Do you have pics? I really didnt know that urchins could deflate.

I would check your nitrates. Those can be pretty hard on inverts especially urchins and starfish...they are closely related.

 

[sen5241b]

Please give us ALL water parms! Do they have enough to eat? After 8 months your tank may have run out of plant food that they need. I'd put them each on a small sheet of dried algae.