when urchins loose spikes do those spikes give off amonia?
 

my urchins are dying and their spikes are everywhere. do i need to pick those spikes out of the aquarium?

Are you sure your urchin is dying? I've got a Long spine a he "sheds" a few spines every once in awhile... I'd say you're ok to leave them, but wouldn't hurt to pull them out if you want.

Not much , However, i would worry about your water chemistry...
If urchin is dead (these guys are tough!) that means you are out of balance somwhere...
Few water changes is good way to start correcting this problem.
just m2cw.

yah what happened was i bought a copperband butterfly and it died. i couldnt find it then next thing i know all of the corals wont open for 3 days. so i did two water changes within two days about 25% each time, and now im going to do 10% every coupple days until its all good. i had 4 urchins. two died, thing long spine urchin looks like hes next. and the pencil urchin is nowhere to be seen :| half the corals are opened up but the the zoas are only half open. i think it will all turn out ok hopefully

Assuming your other parameters are okay(ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc) I would double check your salinity. In my experience they don't like a lower salinity.