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View Full Version : need advice on how to remove urchin


toaster77
02/19/2009, 09:04 AM
hi all,

i've got a black-body purple-spined urchin that has found a nice little cubby hole as a home in my live rock. it has been causing minor rock slides every now and then, and i've had enough. the question is, how to remove it from my tank? It only comes out at night and travels at most a few inches from the hole and half-asleep i've tried a few times to grab with tongs but it attaches itself pretty good and my tongs were not strong enough to extract it.

any advice? my other idea is to take out the live rock and put in a covered bucket, see if it comes out and then bump it off...

thanks for any tips!

kretzkiller
02/19/2009, 09:15 AM
just reach your hand in when he comes out and grab him. through it in your sump. that's what I had to do.

CoRPS
02/19/2009, 10:40 AM
I've had to move my longspine urchin away from my frags a couple times. What I do is grab it by one of it's spines and drag him to wherever I want. Sorry I can't be of much more help.

plancton
02/19/2009, 11:08 AM
If you get stabbed by its spines hit yourself in the place of the wound with a rock, that will reduce the spine to powder, because they are so fine that chunks are stingy and hard to remove and turning them to powder is a good method. I learned that from scuba diving.

CoRPS
02/19/2009, 11:11 AM
I've been stabbed a couple times but the spines haven't ever broken off inside me. That's good to know though! My clownfish actually got stabbed in the face last night, he seems to be alright after a few hours of acting funny.

sikpupy
02/19/2009, 01:48 PM
You could serve an eviction notice to him but then you have to give him 30 days by law to vacate, and, then, if he does not leave willingly, it takes up to another 30 days to take him to court, so, your looking at least another 2 months before anything starts to happen as useually if it goes on that long, tennants still stay longer than they are supposed to. It useually takes another 2 weeks or so to get the sherrifs department out to throw them out. :smokin:

swearint
02/19/2009, 02:05 PM
With short spined varieties, the way I pick them up is to grab them and wiggle them in a slight twisting motion. They usually release after 10 - 15 seconds. With the long spined type, you might try aiming a powerhead underneath it until it releases.

Todd

Lanceafer
02/19/2009, 02:06 PM
I have ad to move a couple and all I did was get a spoon and gently work it under the urchin. When it was about 1/3 of the way under I just twisted slightly and they pop right off.

toaster77
02/19/2009, 02:11 PM
thanks all for the tips - i'm chicken and worried the spines would be venomous or eject but maybe i'll wear some gloves and try the pick-up method. this is a short-spined urchin.

it's daytime home is in a hole in the live rock that's pretty hard to access, i'll have to try and catch the bugger at night sometime.

cash cow
02/19/2009, 08:56 PM
don't worry about the spines!!! i have 4 urchins and pick them up all the time!!!! a longspine even broke a spine off in my finger......they aren't poisonous.........i pick urchins up in the ocean all the time too!! there's only a couple types of venomous ones, and they aren't available in the hobby......

VirginiaMarine
12/26/2016, 11:23 PM
I thought I would never get a rose tip urchin out of my styrofoam cooler/acclimation box. He tucked himself in the corner and was hanging on for dear life. I tried just about everything including long tweezers and a putty knife. Then I read this post. Thanks for the good advice. I tried a spoon but couldn't get enough under him. After blasting under him with the powerhead for about a minute I was able to get a spoon under him and then pop him off. Another five minutes and I was going to break up my trusty acclimation box. I'm sure it was made worse by the fact I was trying hard not to kill him on his first day. Thanks a bunch.

Mark9
12/27/2016, 06:20 AM
You have answered an almost 8 year old thread.

FamilyTank
12/28/2016, 04:25 PM
If the info is still accurate have at it. Use that search button people!