Cucumber almost dead ???

[ninjamini]

I have a Tiger Tail Cucumber that has been hanging around the top of the glass for the last day and now its butt or is it its head has opened up and has well they look lite star polyps coming out.
Is that what it looks like when it spills its guts? Should I pull it out? I can put it in a temp tank that is getting taken down this week to watch it.

 

[fishfatty]

if the things look like branches then that is okay that means hes doing good I believe...

 

[ninjamini]

Here is a pic

 

[mudplayerx]

The tentacles coming out of the "butt" are most likely coming out of the head. I believe what you are seeing are the feeding tentacles. I am kind of confused as to why you haven't seen these before though.
How long have you had your cuke? How large is your tank? A sea cucumber needs 10 gallons per inch of cucumber and they will starve to death unless you have live sand with a maximum diameter of 1-2mm.

 

[ophiura]

I don't believe that is a tiger tail cucumber. The answers to the question above are very important.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
The tentacles coming out of the "butt" are most likely coming out of the head. I believe what you are seeing are the feeding tentacles. I am kind of confused as to why you haven't seen these before though.
How long have you had your cuke? How large is your tank? A sea cucumber needs 10 gallons per inch of cucumber and they will starve to death unless you have live sand with a maximum diameter of 1-2mm.

I agree. My cuke extends his feeding tentacles all the time.

 

[ophiura]

I will say that if there is a trigger in the background, I would be a bit concerned with having a cucumber. They are not the best mix. But the one you have is definitely not a sand sifter.,...it is a filter feeding cucumber, and therefor is likely behaving normally.

 

[candycane]

That picture makes me dizzy. Tiger tails and regular sea cucumbers will actually stir the sand when searching for food. However if the substrate is stirred up by something else, or a feeding of the tank has occured - they will climb in order to filter feed.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by candycane
That picture makes me dizzy. Tiger tails and regular sea cucumbers will actually stir the sand when searching for food. However if the substrate is stirred up by something else, or a feeding of the tank has occured - they will climb in order to filter feed.

I am afraid this is not true. Sand sifting cukes actually ingest sand, detritus, organic matter.... They are not affected by other sand sifters in any way IMO. They ingest the sand, and consume the bacterial coating/organic content on/in it. They do not have the physical ability to filter feed. Their feeding tentacles are TOTALLY different in form and function. A sand sifter may crawl on rocks or glass to "mop" the surface, but they can not physically filter feed.
Morphologically, that does not appear to be a sand sifting cucumber.

 

[candycane]

I am going off of Tiger Tails, which obviously that is not. If there was some other frame of reference, then I would say differently. However members of the Holothuria and Holothuria family are primarily sand bed feeders. But they also have the ability to capture particles out of the water by means of attaching a thin layer of sand to the outer part of their body. But we do not know what kind of cucumber that is. The only thing that I would venture to guess is a member of the Colochirus family from the blurred image. But that is only a guess. And those are primarily filter feeders.

 

[mudplayerx]

My impression is that it looks like a sand-sifter. Don't the filter feeding ones have the feathery tentacles on the dorsal side? I thought the filter feeding ones were generally brightly colored as well.
If it helps, my sand-sifting one climbed up to the waterline and stayed there for weeks before it eventually had to be removed from the tank for fear that it was dying. Gosh I miss that beautiful creature.

 

[candycane]

No, they vary pretty frequently in appearence (god I cant spell anymore - been a longggggggg day)

 

[ophiura]

It is somewhat tough to tell from that picture, which also makes me dizzy I must admit.
If the tentacles are tree like, feathery and just extended into the water --> filter feeder
If the tentacles are more mop like, and are basically mopped against the surface of the glass --> sand sifter.
It definitely does not appear to me to be a tiger tail for sure.

 

[ninjamini]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
How long have you had your cuke? How large is your tank? A sea cucumber needs 10 gallons per inch of cucumber and they will starve to death unless you have live sand with a maximum diameter of 1-2mm.

Wow that was a lot of responses. Ok here are some answers to the questions:
I have had it for about 6-7 months. I got it as part of a 55 gallon tank that I bought locally. He had it for about a year. It has since been moved into my 90 gallon. I rarely ever see it but for the last day or two it has been at the top of the glass sometimes half hanging on and half waving the the flow. I was trying to get a quick pic of the cuke with my phone. Sorry for the dizzy effect. Its defentally a Tiger tale. It looks just like the Tiger tale pictured here at swf.com. The pic is of its belly. IF he make a good appearance I will snap a pic of him from the top. I will even pull out the good camera.
The things coming out of its mouth look like feathers so I am guessing that its perfectly fine. He has since moved back into hiding. There are alot of good places to hide in my tank.
Also the blue throat trigger, I hope will leave him alone.

 

[mudplayerx]

Are the fealthery parts small in proportion to the rest of the tentacle? Are the fealthery parts just "tips" of an otherwise smooth tentacle?

 

[ophiura]

Do you ever see it on the sand? I know that it may disappear, but ideally you would see it on the sand now and then.

 

[ninjamini]

I have seen it on the sand. But never burrowing. He has disappeared again and I thin that it was just his mouth.