Black spiny urchin excreting something....

[faerykisses]

Hello all.

Just wanted to ask if any of you guys with black spiny sea urchins have ever seen them "excrete" anything...

Lemme explain, we have a black spiny sea urchin that we've had for about 3 months or so. Lately, I have seen him do something that I've never seen before.

In two different spots I noticed him "excreting" these tiny, but perfectly round, things.

Now, I do not know if this is just normal sea urchin "poop" and I just never noticed before...or if he is spawning or what, lol. But yesterday when I checked the tank the small balls he was "pooping" were red in color...

I have no pictures, I'm sorry and I have been doing searches on this all day with no luck. All water parameters are normal, and exactly where they should be.

The funny thing is, I watched him do it...I was watching him move around and then all the sudden these little balls came out from the top of him...not were his tube feet are but out the top and then they fell or "filtered" down through his spines and onto the sandbed....in doing this he left a nice little pile of balls... 8O

So, anyone know anything about this...I'm at a loss.

TIA

 

[Fluff]

It's normal sea urchin poop. They do it alot.

 

[faerykisses]

thanks fluff...i was a little worried there...and then i thought "what if its just poop"...LOL

how funny of me...

Thanks again!

 

[mmaglione]

So, this poo, is it bad for the biological levels of the tank? I purchased a black spiny urchin and OMG THIS THING POOPS ALL DAY EVERYDAY! My tanks sandbed, and LR are LITTERED WITH IT. It actually is quite distasteful looking. Will all of this poo throw off nitrates, ammonia, and or any other biological level in the tank? Im thinking feceese just lying around cant be good. I have a protein skimmer which should nutrilize most but, its just gross!

 

[thincat]

It's all part of the nitrogen cycle. Fish eat the fish food, but not all, next down the line breaks up what's left, urchin eats that, then poops it out, then the bacteria eats that and so on down the line until you get nitrates. Then either you do a water change or anarobic bacteria breaks down the nitrates to nitrogen gas and that bubbles out into the air.

 

[thincat]

Also your corals and featherdusters as well as your snails eat some of that poo and it's a mini ecosystem.

 

[thincat]

Here is one of my urchins eating up a storm. Look closely and you will see what is either his eyes or his walking feet.