Couple of Questions

[FishyReef]

Came in to my office today and it looks like something has wrecked havoc on a couple of things in my tank overnight - my two corals were re-arranged and now look awful, and the opening to my feather duster looks like it was either munched on or ripped up. I think the culprit might be my pink urchin - he was on top of one of the corals when I arrived, and I'm guessing he could have ripped the feather duster if he moved across it. I haven't see the feather duster come out, and wonder if it still can - will it repair its tube itself? I moved both corals back into place and they should be okay. Anything I can do to keep the urchin off of them?

Also, my turbos did an awesome job eating the hair algae I had in my tank (I had a lot of it and can't believe they ate through it that fast!) - I'm now concerned they will starve to death before it regrows - I know I can supplement their diet with nori temporarily - what's the best way to feed them the nori? Can they get it off a veggie clip, or should I try to anchor it to a rock in some way?

Thanks!

 

[Bifferwine]

The feather duster will heal if it's left alone and not bothered or picked at anymore. The turbos usually spend more time on the glass than rock, in my experience. You are probably better off suctioning some algae to the glass. But that could also rot in the tank and cause your parameters to spike up. You are better off returning some of them to the LFS or passing them on to another hobbyist with algae problems since they are running out of food. If your urchin has taken a liking to corals or inverts, you may not be able to do anything about it. Take it back to the LFS if it keeps eating things it shouldn't. Sometimes that happens with those guys.

 

[FishyReef]

Thanks, Biff! I got them from Live Aquaria and unfortunately don't have an LFS to return them to. I've posted an add on CL to try to unload some of the turbos (LA sent me about 3 extras and about 6 extra large guys). So far they still seem to be finding stuff to eat even though the hair algae is gone, but I don't know how long that will last. I bought as many as I did based on the number of turbos that were included in the pre-made CUC packages from various sites, so hopefully long-term it won't be too many.... I've been feeding my fish a little extra emerald cuisine in the hopes that the extra pieces will feed my snails while I'm at it. So far my parameters are okay, but my water clarity isn't the best.

The feather duster came out of its tube and appears to be doing fine - didn't appear much yesterday, but was out most of today so I think it will be fine. I'll leave it alone and hope others do too!

Yeah, I definitely have to keep an eye on my urchins - the pink one likes one of my corals (I discovered the other is being knocked around by a giant turbo), and the purple one landed himself on top of my lettuce slug today - never seen that guy move so fast! Didn't appear to have caused long-term damage to him, but I definitely need to keep a watchful eye on these guys!