sea urchin infestation

[54seaweed]

All of a sudden out of no where I'm finding sea urchins by the dozens
are there any other ways to rid them other than pulling them out 1 by 1
I don't want them to wipe out my Coraline growth,
they seem to be the black long spine urchins and after reading up they are
supposed to be reef safe
pet store told me they would give me a buck a piece credit on them
I just don't want these things in my tank
If you have any ideas on how to get rid of these things I be grateful

 

[mr_X]

This is the first time I've ever heard of something like this. I would consider this a good thing. I'd rather have sea urchins than nuisance algae (coralline). Meanwhile, what is your question...how to kill them?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Sounds like a good thing to me too. Coralline algae goes rapidly from "why can't I grow it" to " how do I get rid of this stuff?" Just be careful handling them as I once got stung on a dive trip and it really hurt.

 

[54seaweed]

How can I go about getting rid of them
besides just plucking them that can get old fast
could deal with 1 or 2 but there's like 30+ of them

 

[mr_X]

This is definitely an extremely rare occurrence. Mass population explosions of urchins isn't something you see every day. I would spend an hour or so and remove them all manually, and take them all at one time to the LFS, who BTW is robbing you giving you a buck a piece.

 

[Gregcoyote]

In the wild, this is not a good thing as it usually means there is something going out of balance on the reef. In a tank, never heard of it so this is a new one.

Interesting:

http://www.xray-mag.com/content/overfishing-triggers-sea-urchin-explosion

 

[Mrc8858]

If you live in an area with a decent amount of saltwater hobbyists then post them on CL for 1/4-1/2 of the cheapest local source you have for them. That way you can make a few bucks on each one and help out some fellow reefers from paying a premium.

 

[54seaweed]

I've been putting them in my feeder tank till I can get out

 

[Gti_Leo]

Sounds like a good thing to me too. Coralline algae goes rapidly from "why can't I grow it" to " how do I get rid of this stuff?" Just be careful handling them as I once got stung on a dive trip and it really hurt.

lol i got stung by my own put a tiny hole in my thumb and it stung for a few hours

blue tuxido urchins are great for maintaining encrusted coralline algae, i wouldn;t nessessarily call it a nuisense but in some ways it can get carried away, it just adds a beautiful color to the tank so i guess it would come down to maintaining adaquit calcium and magnesium levels to keep it from gettign out of hand or get a poop ton of acroporas to each up the calcium

 

[Gti_Leo]

I've been putting them in my feeder tank till I can get out

you're going to make a pretty penny sellign them, even at say $10 a pop

 

[Bayinaung]

wow dude. you got a sea urchin farm! keep it going! you can be the local supplier for them seriously!

 

[Pisces3473]

Pics or it didn't happen...

 

[Noturaveragereefer]

Pics!!!