Urchin!

[seffieuk]

This is the only urchin I kept out of 3..be wary in smaller tanks though..actually eat into rock as well as coralline to get microbes to digest. Yes they are poisonous and will cause swelling and stinging if tagged, followed by stiffness. Caught by mine a couple of months back on the knuckle and it took over 6 weeks to finally heal over with pieces of spine emerging for almost 4 weeks from the point of entry.
Mine has developed a taste for star polyps and stripped a mat of them overnight !!!

Ow, nasty

Seffie x

 

[bae1994]

is it the same for pin cusion urchins as i had mine stab me and didnt affect me at all

also seffie ive responded in my thread
sorry to hijack

 

[TigerIssey]

Which will be a mixture of poison and bacteria that meant 6 weeks to heal.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Nowhere near the pain of a lion sting but deffo would not recomend it..yep Tina , lots of ucky puss involved there,lol..swelling only lasted about an hour or two but refused to heal due to infection and the spine pieces being released. Used to not mind my hand until I tried to catch him when removing the other urchins..he now actually waves his spines at me when in tank and seem to be able to project them as i was agood inch off him when he got me !!

 

[Musho3210]

Lets look at the pros though, they look awesome!

 

[Buddyboy67]

Gotta agree with that ..only reason this ninja urchin is still here mate. Grown from 2 cm body to almost 7cm at an amazing rate...gotta love him
If we were to worry about venoms and toxins in this side of the game we'd have tanks with just water and sand,lol...maybe not even sand ,if live, in case of cone snails,lol....

 

[Musho3210]

almost all tanks with live rock have a few bristleworms, which pose a pretty nasty sting, and then there are zoanthids which carry one of the most deadly poison in the world, and then theres plain unlucky if you are alegeric to some of the things in marine tank. Some new employee at one of my LFS was alergic to leathers or something and accidentally brushed the side of his arm on a huge leather coral, the thing swelled up pretty badly. I didn't see him much after that. It was a bad LFS anyway....

Some of the smaller urchins dont have such sharp needles and/or aren't poisonous. I have a tuxedo urchin and i can grab it pretty tightly without any spikes piercing.

To the OP, you HAVE to research before you buy.

 

[keenonfish]

i am having a rant here...but did you not research this before you buy it!?

Do people ever research things before buying

 

[Truck]

i am having a rant here...but did you not research this before you buy it!?

Do people ever research things before buying

you cant afford to not do research before buying

 

[ILuvTropicalFish]

I had a long spined urchin. He was the reason I found this site. He started losing his spines. Once that happens you are about done. I would get one again in a heartbeat. He was beautiful. He definitely ate EVERYTHING on my rock. I was also able to feed him by sliding nori to his spines and he would pull it to his mouth and eat it. He was fascinating to watch. But research is definitely in order. His long spines will protect him from most predators, but not all. I never had a problem with being poked, stung or whatever they do. But I kept a close eye on him any time I had my hand in the tank, LOL.

 

[bollands]

im an impulse buyer its in my blood lol but the person i was buying off on UR hasnt replied so im not getting it thank goodness! are zoas posionous i love them and am looking to get them!

 

[youngfisher]

Well I can say one thing.
You have put me off urchins, and next time my Gf's uncle tells me to "Move abit of that rock" im not sticking my ........ hand in it.
He has a black urchin, give it a week and I bet its back in the shop when I tell his other half it could hurt her.


YF