Long Spined Urchin

[ILuvTropicalFish]

I have a 125 gallon aquarium with many semi-agressive fish, live rock and a few inverts. My long spined urchin lost most of his spines, possibly due to aggression but I am not sure. He was injured by the other fish after he lost his spines. I isolated him in a small netted fry container (6x5x4 inches). I think he is recovering there. As he gets better he will need more room to roam, but the other fish in my tank could hurt him before he grows his spines back. I have a 29 gallon set up that has cycled, but it has not been running long. Will it stress him too much to move him to a new environment?

 

[Spishkey]

im guessing its a marine tank? we have a marine section on the forum that may be of better help to you asking there


http/www.fishforums.net/category/72/Trop...efs-and-Marine/

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

im guessing its a marine tank? we have a marine section on the forum that may be of better help to you asking there


[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/category/72/Trop...efs-and-Marine/"]http/www.fishforums.net/category/72/Trop...efs-and-Marine/[/URL]

Thank-you. I was not sure where the best place to post this was. I will try there.

 

[Colin_T]

the urchin should be fine if you move it to another tank. Keep it underwater and make sure the temperature and water quality are similar.
Try to encourage algae to grow in the tank and keep the water clean.
Urchins normally shed their spines when they are stressed and it is normally caused by poor water quality.

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

the urchin should be fine if you move it to another tank. Keep it underwater and make sure the temperature and water quality are similar.
Try to encourage algae to grow in the tank and keep the water clean.
Urchins normally shed their spines when they are stressed and it is normally caused by poor water quality.

Water parameters test fine except Nitrates are at 60 and phosphates are at 3.0. The reason I think it is aggression is my eel has tried to take a guppy away from him and my bird wrasse looks like he wants to pick at him. If they broke some of his spines, that could weaken him. I am just guessing because I do not know. I appreciate the second opinion on moving him. I was not sure that in this weakened state that moving him would be a good idea. Thank-you for the input.

 

[Colin_T]

60ppm of nitrate is pretty high for a marine tank with inverts. Sea Urchins come from the ocean and there is never any nitrates in sea water. You should try to get the nitrates & phosphates down. If you plan on keeping inverts you should keep the nitrates as low as possible (below 30ppm) and phosphates as close to 0 as possible.
Eels don't normally bother urchins but some wrasses might try to pick at them. However, a healthy urchin will simply hang onto the rocks and keep its spines in the direction of the attacking fish. Most fish work out urchins aren't worth the trouble.

You can buy nitrate & phosphate absorbing granules from most fish shops. They sit in the filter and absorb the nutrients from the water. Doing more frequent or bigger water changes will help to lower them as well. You can get nitrate removing filters (de-nitraters) that develop colonies of anaerobic bacteria, and these remove nitrates from the water.
A protein skimmer would help reduce the organic matter in the tank and keep the water cleaner for longer, thus helping to keep the nitrates lower.

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

I got the skimmer and started it running. I had added phosphate removing media a week ago. None of this was done in time for my urchin. I moved him to the 29 gallon...tried to acclimate him slowly. It did not work. 24 hours later he was dead. This is the hard part of this hobby. I hate losing my critters! RIP.