Word Of Warning - Please Read

robn

robn

Member
Just want to warn people of this so that they don't have to go thru what I'm going thru tonight.....
It's 3:45 AM Christmas Day and I've been up for about 4 hours, pulling dead fish out of my tank......
DO NOT EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER PUT A CUCUMBER IN A TANK!!!!!!!
I found my pink/black cucumber in my sump tonight, dead. It has completely poisoned my tank. So far I have lost:
5" Vlamingi Tang
4" Harlequin Tusk
2" Pajama Cardinal
4" Red Sea Sailfin Tang
4" HiFin Snapper
4" Blue Regal Tang
I have a 4" Purple Tang that is highly unlikely to make it also, in QT.
My 7" Miniatus Grouper is very sick also but may pull thru, groupers are very tough.
My Harlequin Sweetlips will unlikely survive the night also.
The remaining inhabitants can't really be removed due to size or inability to remove them....they are:
14" Jeweled Eel
24" Zebra Eel
23" Horn Shark
10" across disk BlueSpot Ray
I hope they make it.......
So please, don't risk putting in a cucumber......just not worth it. If someone listens to this, I'll at least not think this night has been completely in vain......
By the way, don't think just because you have a large tank that this can't happen to you.....my tank is a 480gal with a 100gal sump.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
ugh, that's a lot of life lost from one animal. no carbon?
same thing goes for these sea apples.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Oh man, I'm really sorry to hear that. I can only imagine how losing my tank would ruin my Christmas. And with LFSs closed....

Good luck to you and I hope you can salvage your holiday.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
I am extremely sorry to hear about your crash, it couldnt happen at a worse time. I'm sorry. I hope your tougher fish pull through. Best of luck.
 
howardj

howardj

Active Member
that sucks,
sorry for you losses, robn
Hope the rest pull through!
try to have a good Christmas :)
 
apos

apos

Member
Cukes seem like they are in that class of animals that can be kept, but require very special tank precautions and maybe even a tank set up mostly to cater to their particular habits and dangers.
It must be horrifying to have so many fish go all at once, condolences. Have you been able to do massive water changes and carbon?
 
robn

robn

Member
Lost the other 2 pajama cardinals.
Lost the purple tang.
Lost the miniatus grouper.
Thanks for the kind words, and burch2006, that makes me feel better that you have learned from my mistake.
So far my eels, ray, and shark seem to be doing OK.....the ray and shark have a different osmotic makeup than bony fish, so maybe they will do OK. I was already running carbon but I put in some fresh stuff last night......I can't really water change because I don't have any salt and everything is closed for the holiday. I just tested for ammonia and there is none.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Is this true of all cucumbers? I have some greenish/brown sand sifting cucumber. Had him for awhile and always fun to watch, or search for. But I don't won't to deal with this.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
usually only the really really bright cucumbers are insanely poisionous. it's a way to tell predators "hey, don't eat me cause you'll probably end up dying as well, and i'll take out your kids and the rest of your family at the same time"
sea hares, IIRC are not poisonous. sea apples are a death trap to any tank.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
I believe you are talking about nudibranchs, not cucumbers.... no?
Not all species are this poisonis, or even at all...
sorry you got one that was though. Good luck with it and im sorry something like this had to happen :(
 
mach03infront

mach03infront

Member
i heard of this before but i can't believe that it has knocked out your whole tank even for a big tank like yours!.... sorry for loss.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
usually only the really really bright cucumbers are insanely poisionous. it's a way to tell predators "hey, don't eat me cause you'll probably end up dying as well, and i'll take out your kids and the rest of your family at the same time"
sea hares, IIRC are not poisonous. sea apples are a death trap to any tank.
So what's ur recomendation? Mine is not brightly colored, it's dark brownish/greenish with spikes all over him. It wouldn't be a prob. to take him out. Is there any chance this could happen to me? I like 'em, but don't won't this to happin'
 
drksniper

drksniper

Member
only brightly colored cukes are the ones to watch out for. the rest are perfectly fine and provide a minimal risk to your tank. tigertails sandsifters like the ones swf.com sells are fine. if they do die they will release a minimal amount if any toxin. this would only play a devastating effect in smaller tanks say 30-40 gallons or smaller. carbon works wonders at taking it out but in larger tanks a skimmer will remove it fast enough.
-justin
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
I am so sorry to hear about all of your loss. I truly hope you do not lose anything else.
This is the exact reason why I will never personally own many species of cucumbers, sea apple, boxfish, cowfish, etc. There is just too big of a risk.
To show you that this will not be in vain, I am putting a link to this thread in my archived thread in the new hobbyist section. This post can be found under "selecting the right fish for your tank. A link to my archived thread is below:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/264597/a-list-of-extremely-helpful-threads-for-all-hobbyists#post_2067258
 
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