Sea urchin care

[drew300]

Anyone know if its a bad sign for a long spine sea urchin to lose color on it spines?some of them are turning white

[Sniperhank]

Loss of spines and color is usually an issue with parameters. Inverts don’t tolerate nitrates and other parameter issues well.
That said, if it was just added to the system and wasn’t acclimated properly it could be fine.

[drew300]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Loss of spines and color is usually an issue with parameters. Inverts don’t tolerate nitrates and other parameter issues well.
That said, if it was just added to the system and wasn’t acclimated properly it could be fine.

Its been in the tank for a few months now. My water parameters are good. Some say it may be starving

[Autumnsky]

Feed it some seaweed salad seaweed sheets. Get it some Caulerpa.

[Sniperhank]

Good parameters doesn’t really mean anything. Ifvthere isn’t any algae, it might be starving...but in the same breath there should almost always be stuff to munch on. It’d depend on the size of the tank. Starvation is a too often used answer to what we don’t know.
An example is why one of the urchins in my tank died off. Parameters were solid and the other urchin didn’t care what was going on b

[54seaweed]

Originally Posted by Autumnsky

Feed it some seaweed salad seaweed sheets. Get it some Caulerpa.

OK why am I being fed to a urchin

I had a urchin that the spines turned white than it disappeared didn't see it for months thought it died , than one day a bunch of spines appeared on the sand bed , freaked me out wasn't expecting that , than the urchin slowly started coming out before I knew it his spines were bigger and longer

[Autumnsky]

Because that's what they EAT, LOL!

Supplement the little guys food an hoping it gets better. Also you never know how old they are?