Do urchins eat coral?

I have had a small urchin for about six months. Its got short purple spines and its inside is white. It eats algae and when I have had a Chromi die, it ate that too.

I accept that it knocks down one of my frags every week. But recently several of my zoanthids and palythoas have suddenly sustained mortal injuries. Everything else is healthy. My favorite palythoa is a stump! My tank has nearly no algae, except for the glass so maybe its getting too hungy? Its pretty much all corraline on the rocks.

Could that little jerk be eating my coral?? Everything I read was positive about them.

 

I had a purple short spine urchin that ate some of my green porites. Let's just say I got rid of it quickly.

 

I have a black long spine urchin that destroyed a 15+ frag of watermelon zoas before. I've still got the urchin and he hasn't eaten anything else.

 

My pencil tip began by grinding down a piece of white rock in my aquarium making a mess in my black sand! Lately I've found him pestering the xenia field, but I can't confirm that he's actually trying to eat them.

 

Well that might explain things! He came with the full setup when I bought it, so we'll see what happens.

 

Some urchins do like a little meat in their diet.

 

I had a Tuxedo Urchin that never ate any corals that I know of. Did an excellent job of cleaning the rock off.

 

My Tuxedo Urchin eats my coralline and nothing else. I've tried trapping him onto top of algae and he will not eat it.

 

seems to be a common theme with the zoas. I have a longspine and a tux. had them for over a year and no issues with any corals. wonderful wonderful algae eaters and really fun to watch so im definitely happy with mine. I dont have any zoos though. My koran angel will make immediate dinner out of them.

 

I also have a brownish colored short spine urchin. I’ve had coral about two weeks now. My urchin is setting right next to a damaged coral. Coincidence?