Pincushion Urchin - Lost a Bunch of Spines

[jjonesrjc]

Hi All I did a major overall recently to my AIO 14 Gallon Nuvo Penninsula. Replaced Protein Skimmer, Return Pump and Powerhead. I also did a little reworking of the rock work and scrubbed some hair algae I've been battling (the flow through my overflow was not pushing the water through my Chemipure Blue, rather around it). None of my fish, corals or other inverts were affected by the change, however, I noticed today that my pincushion urchin was losing a bunch of its purple spins on the top of its body. It's still moving around and the purple spines  on the bottom are mostly intact. Am I at the point of needing to remove it in order to avoid it causing a nitrate spike when it randomly kicks the bucket.

[seabass]

Have you been target feeding it?  If not, it could be starving.  Try feeding it a piece of a sheet of algae every couple of days.

[jjonesrjc]

I have not been target feeding as there are a couple of large patches of GHA in the tank. I had a massive outbreak of GHA back when I first introduced him 7 months ago but still have some around that I figured he would be grazing off of.

[j.falk]

I agree...they usually lose their spines when they aren't getting enough to eat.  Get him some Seaweed Selects / Nori.  The lost spines will regrow once it starts getting the right amount of food again.