quick URCHIN question

[dkonni]

I have 2 urchins in my 55 gal

they are both hovering on the sand at the bottom of my tank. they usually like to sit in between rocks but one of my URCHIN's is more compressed than usual, meaning it looks flatter and a few spines are falling out. Do they go through a molting type process or is there reason to believe they may be sick? The other Urchin wasn't looking as normal either.

I have an algae blenny, cleaner shrimp, 10 hermits and they are all doing fine. Water parameters seemed fine too...Just a little low pH

 

[Alexander]

that is really bad news if that is happening .Sorry to break the news. the animal is definitely stressed and not doing well. Urchins live well in higher salinity. I keep my tank at 1.026 and never let it get below. where is your salinity at?

They feed on algae, is there any algae currently growing in your tank at all?

best of luck yo your urchins hopefully you can get them to pull through. Sitting on the sand is not a great sign. they naturally rest in rock crevices for protection and forage in the the night. They stay on the rocks to grab any type of algae including coralline if you have some. they scrape the rocks with self sharpening teeth and definitely do not typically feed at all off of the sand.

What type of urchins are they exactly?

 

[andysgirl8800]

sounds like you have a lot of algae eaters in your tank and you may not have enough food left for them all to share. Do you have a fuge attached to your tank? If so, remove your urchins to the fuge. Tie a piece of seaweed to a rock and place the urchin directly on top of it. This might help a little. Otherwise, he may be too ill to recover. Just my 2c.

 

[Bifferwine]

How low is low pH?

 

[kwsm]

We put in algae sheets for the foxface and every now and then when the urchin stumbles across it, he'll sit there and eat the entire thing. They are ridiculously voracious eaters. If he's starting to lose spines, a lot of times it's too late and they will rapidly decline until they die. Try sticking him on top of an algae sheet maybe? Get him some easy food and fast.

Also, as a side note, I have a 55g as well. One urchin and a handful of nassarius snails take care of all the algae and then some in my tank. With two of them plus the rest of your CUC and the blenny, I would think supplemental feeding would be a necessity.