I'm done with urchins

Hiker4twenty

Reef enthusiast
Last night when I came home from work my short spine urchin was on top of one of my acans. I didn't think much of it. Upon a close look it seems as if the acans were oozing and melitng. I quickly pulled the urchin off the acan and sure enough most of the polyps were down to bare skeleton and the 2 remaining were all slimey. They were fine before I went to work as I fed them like usual. This morning they were all dead. :frustrat: It also nipped at my porties that I got from Ccapt, but that's making a come back.
 
Off the Pacific Northwest coast there are the most massive underwater kelp forest, I think, in the world. The kelp can grow 2 feet a day and as high as a 150 feet tall. Urchins will wipe out the forests and leave what is called an Urchin Barren. Only sea otters will eat urchins.
 
Interesting. My shortspine has recently developed a taste for my pipe organ corals, even though there is plenty of algae and coraline for him to eat. I will now have to keep an eye on him or banish him to the sump. Sorry to hear about your acans.
 
That might be on my list of "maybe livestock". I like the look of them and how they eat tons of algae, but I don't want another killer on my hands. I'll have to read more about long spines before I dive back into urchins again.
 
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