Long Spine Urchins - Anyone have a Fish injured from one?

[Carant]

Hello All,

Yesterday I put in a large long spine urchin into my tub that currently has a 9" blonde naso, 8" hippo and 5" yellow tang. It was a freebe from the LFS as some one wanted to get rid of it.

They are very interesting animals and I am really enjoying it ... especially the cleaning of the algae off of the rocks. Also the way they detect shadows and protect themselves by positioning the spines towards the shadow (ie big fish that wants to eat it). Also surprised at how fast they can actually move along if they choose to.

Tonight the urchin was motoring along the open side of the tank where the naso hangs out at night... the go to bed routine was on as the main lights turned off. The naso did not know what to do about the urchin .... kinda freaked her out a bit. Swimming around the urchin and the urchin doing the point the spines towards the shadow to protect itself. Basically the naso went to another location.

I got to thinking how easy it would be for the naso to injure her eye with a spine.

Anyone have a fish injured by a long spine urchin?

Thanks,
Bruce

[karaim]

It's possible, especially if the fish rams into it.

I've actually heard of urchins trapping and killing small fish.

[jrobison]

never seen a fish injured but a friend of mine got stabbed by a spine and he had to go to the ER and have it cut out. Got 7 stitches. They are very sharp.

[philter4]

I have never had one in my tanks, but in the ocean I have seen fish easily move between the spines as a hiding place. I've seen reef butterfly that was 4 inches swim between them to stop from being chased by a bigger reef butterfly. The B/F manuevered easily through the spines and didn't seem to have trouble so I would assume that the fish are able to avoid them. The only exception would be for a fish try to eat the urchin, then the fish would have to avoid the spines while getting to the body. I've seen triggers do it, and I've seen them blow the sand from under the urching and flip it over. Again these are in the ocean, not the confines of your tub, but I wouldn't be too worried about it.

[aquaman67]

I had one and the fish learn or already know to leave it alone.

Make sure you keep it fed after it strips the rock bare.

I fed mine algae chips and I have a pygmy angel that liked to try to steal them. I had to get it real close to the spines to keep the fish from getting it.

Another good thing to get is Nori (seaweed for sushi) from Wal-Mart. It's in the Asian section, usually on the top shelf. Get the non-seasoned kind. My LSU could eat a whole sheet in one night.

[anbosu]

Yeah I have a hard time getting nori to my tangs because the urchins like it so much.

[ladyshark]

I had a pencil urchin once in a tank with a small snake eel. The eel got pinched just behind its head, apparently just slithering around the body of the urchin. I caught it in time and eel is good but the urchin went to LFS

[Carant]

Hello,

I kinda thought that there would not be a problem ... however I thought that I would ask.

Aquaman67 - I got the urchin from the LFS ... someone had it and it got too big so they just dropped him off ... I took it off their hand for $5. Lots of work for him for a while ... however I will remember the nori specifically for it when the eating gets slim.

What are algae chips? Off the shelf food or something that you made yourself?

I remember reading on this forum about urchin pucks ... homemade food ... I will have to search and see if I can find it.

jrobison - the spines are quite amazing .... in the you can slide your fingers along on towards the urchin .. but impossible to move the other way. Of course I did this with one that was broken off. I could only imagine having one jabbed into me ... you would have to push it all way through ... no going back. ouch ... just thinking about it.

philter4 - Yes I have seen movies of triggers blowing them over and eating them from the exposed bottom. Not matter how good the defense ... there is always away around it if you are determined enough.

I was not thinking about a fish actually getting the spine in it's body ... more like causing damage to it's eye.

Thanks again,
Bruce

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14223623#post14223623 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jrobison
never seen a fish injured but a friend of mine got stabbed by a spine and he had to go to the ER and have it cut out. Got 7 stitches. They are very sharp.


I've had more than few spines get broken off in my hands/fingers over the years. They are far to brittle to pull out, so the typical first aid is to need the area in order to break up the spine as much as possible and just let it alone to dissolve. Usually the bits of spine dissolve within a few weeks, though I did have one jabbed in my knuckle that took nearly a year. IMO as bad as this approach my sound, I like it better than having someone slice me open :eek1: