Sea urchin going bald

bluespotben · 01-05-2003, 01:43 PM

Ive had my urcin now for about a month. over the last two days it has been sitting in the corner rather than patrolling around the tank, it has now moved into the centre of the tank and i have noticed about 12 spines lying on the bottom, now a little bit of the urchin is bald what is happening to it?

rayjay · 01-05-2003, 06:35 PM

Unfortunately the urchin is dying.

bluespotben · 01-05-2003, 06:44 PM

oow no! is there any way i can save it? shall i just leave it let it be or put it out of its misery by leaveing it in some fish anesfetic? thanks again

rayjay · 01-05-2003, 10:21 PM

I know of no way to save it. The only painless (to them that is) way is to put it in the freezer where it's system just goes slower til it dies. Same thing to do with fish.

rnsmith · 01-05-2003, 11:26 PM

Well, not so fast . . .

I have a pink one that almost went bald and was moping around. Come to find out he/she was not getting enough food - especially coraline algae - calcium for his/her spines. It would even come to the top to feed on floating flakes - pretty sad in retrospect. So, I boosted the light exposure - -> algae growth and calcium level. Also, provided some sinking pellets - shrimp and algae disks - which seem to be a hit. Doing much better now, although not fully recovered.

These things need a lot of coraline and other algae! The LFS does not usually tell you that. I have a long black spine urchin that was in the same 37 gal with the pink one. Now that it is in a 75 that gets a lot of light and algae growth he/she is growing like crazy.

A proposal for the "Secrets of . . . " series - 'Secrets That The LFS Won't Tell You.'

Rich

01-05-2003, 01:43 PM	#1
bluespotben Just Moved In Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: england Posts: 7	Sea urchin going bald Ive had my urcin now for about a month. over the last two days it has been sitting in the corner rather than patrolling around the tank, it has now moved into the centre of the tank and i have noticed about 12 spines lying on the bottom, now a little bit of the urchin is bald what is happening to it?

01-05-2003, 06:35 PM	#2
rayjay Citizen Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 154	Unfortunately the urchin is dying. __________________ *RAY'S REEF*

01-05-2003, 10:21 PM	#4
rayjay Citizen Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 154	I know of no way to save it. The only painless (to them that is) way is to put it in the freezer where it's system just goes slower til it dies. Same thing to do with fish. __________________ *RAY'S REEF*

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01-05-2003, 06:44 PM	#3
bluespotben Just Moved In Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: england Posts: 7	oow no! is there any way i can save it? shall i just leave it let it be or put it out of its misery by leaveing it in some fish anesfetic? thanks again

01-05-2003, 11:26 PM	#5
rnsmith New in Town Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2	Well, not so fast . . . I have a pink one that almost went bald and was moping around. Come to find out he/she was not getting enough food - especially coraline algae - calcium for his/her spines. It would even come to the top to feed on floating flakes - pretty sad in retrospect. So, I boosted the light exposure - -> algae growth and calcium level. Also, provided some sinking pellets - shrimp and algae disks - which seem to be a hit. Doing much better now, although not fully recovered. These things need a lot of coraline and other algae! The LFS does not usually tell you that. I have a long black spine urchin that was in the same 37 gal with the pink one. Now that it is in a 75 that gets a lot of light and algae growth he/she is growing like crazy. A proposal for the "Secrets of . . . " series - 'Secrets That The LFS Won't Tell You.' Rich

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