Word Of Warning - Please Read
 

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

UPDATE from this morning at 11:00 AM:
Lost 4" Purple Tang
Lost 7" Miniatus Grouper
Lost the 2 remaining Pajama Cardinals

My Harlequin Sweetlips will die later today.

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.

wow...sorry to hear bud...hope your okay...

Cucumbers, sea apples, boxfish, any more that can take down a tank?

sorry, that really sucks..

Wow..thats a major loss..I got one of these when i bought some LR off a guy..I didnt know what it was, but I did some research and I made sure i got rid of it the next day!!...Sorry to hear about the loss...

Yup, lost 13 Erectus seahorses to a cuke nuke about 8 months ago. Corals still aren't quite the same.

I'm running lots of carbon.....guess I need to do a big water change also?

Definitely.
Sorry for your losses

Sorry to hear. Did it get stuck in a pump or just die for some odd reason? Did it just decide to release toxin for some unexplained reason?

That's awful! I was considering ordering one but now I won't for sure!

Terrible expierance to say the least...sorry fro your loss....i had a similar incident with my fully stocked reef and lost every coral:(

how did it get to your sump??? tigertail cucumbers generally dont nue tanks when they die (they just slowly get eaten by the clean up crew) I wasn't aware that pink hotdogs would destroy a tank... Did it make the water cloudy and did it stink??

that sucks on christmas... Sorry to hear :(

Really sucks, especially on Christmas holidays... not very cheerful at all.

I did several water changes over a couple of days, ran the skimmer heavy (typically didn't run the skimmer on the pony tank) and added a HOB filter to run carbon. 3 of our seahorses were on the bottom of the tank...among the other dead ones... breathing very slowly and looking very weak. I moved them to another tank and a few hours later they were swimming around again.

Didn't notice any difference in the water as far as smell or color goes. Looked fine on first glance, then I noticed all of the horses laying on the bottom in a mass grave... depressing.

Cucumbers should be boycotted IMO.

zemuron114,
Well, the only way is over the overflow, into the durso and down......quite a trek. Water was not cloudy but it doesn't smell good....

Animal Mother,
Agreed.....no one should buy one......guarantee you I never will :mad:

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11454455#post11454455 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed [/i]
[B]Sorry to hear. Did it get stuck in a pump or just die for some odd reason? Did it just decide to release toxin for some unexplained reason? [/B][/QUOTE]

Freed,

Not sure....I found it in my sump next to the bulkhead that runs to my skimmer.....also, my skimmer was off.......took the cuke out and turned my skimmer pump back on, everything looked fine and it came on.....I don't know, maybe it got sucked into my skimmer pump and stopped the pump...then floated back out when the pump stopped?

I just hope I got all of it out......

Just had a feeding....the shark/ray/eels all ate very eagerly....the sharks respiration rate looks normal......hope they make it, they look just fine....

I will do a 100gal water change tomorrow.....couldn't do one today because I didn't have much salt and the stores are closed for the holidays.......

Hope your remaining fish pull through.

I'm so sad for you, what an awful experience - and on Christmas, of all the days!

I knew sea apples were potential bombs, but until I read this I didn't realize pink cukes could cause this kind of damage. I've considered getting one in the past (probably a tiger tail) but never got around to it. Now, I want you to know I'll never buy a cucumber, specifically because of this thread. I'm glad you took the time and energy to post about what happened - I'm sure this will help quite a few people, if that's any consolation.

I hope your tank recovers quickly, I'm so sorry for all your losses. I hope the rest pull through.

Yeah, I didn't write this thread to illicit any sympathy, though I do appreciate it. I just want to warn people that there could be a disaster waiting for them, and maybe if they listen then my loss will not have been in vain.

Thanks ACBlinky

This is now the second or third time I've seen a thread about a terrible cucumber incident like this, where practically a whole tank gets wiped out. Just out of curiosity, why does anyone get cukes? Is it just that some people are unfortunately unaware of this danger, or is there some benefit that is thought (by some) to override the risk? (If all they do is clean detritus, etc., there are clearly much safer animals to do that.)

Mr. Wilson, if you take a look at his stocklist, the regular clean up crew of snails, shrimps, and hermits would get eaten in no time. I know that's why I got a cucumber at least... Everything except the cucumber and urchins are on the menu. I've had my tiger tail cucumber for two years, but after reading this thread I think I'm going to remove him...

tigertail and pink cukes are probably the best detritus and clean up crew you can get... 1 tigertail will maintain a 75-100 gallon tank (depending on size)

there are drawbacks of course.... some can gamble. It just seems odd that 1 pink cuke could wipe out a 480 gallon tank... are you sure there isn't anything else??

tiger tails wont release posions

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11457050#post11457050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by temec_luver [/i]
[B]tiger tails wont release posions [/B][/QUOTE]

[url=http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=712&N=0]Tiger Tails[/URL]

Taken straight off LA's website about Tiger Tails:

"Caution: Cucumbers must be maintained with peaceful tank mates to avoid potential accidents. Although this species does not have tubules of Culvier, if attacked by aggressive fish or injured by unsecured pump intakes, it will expel its internal organs, which may be toxic to fish."

From what I have seen this one is the best to have in your system IF you are going to have one but you are still running a risk.

Rod

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11455354#post11455354 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zemuron114 [/i]
[B]how did it get to your sump??? tigertail cucumbers generally dont nue tanks when they die (they just slowly get eaten by the clean up crew) I wasn't aware that pink hotdogs would destroy a tank... Did it make the water cloudy and did it stink??

that sucks on christmas... Sorry to hear :( [/B][/QUOTE]

FWIW, I had a sea apple nuke a tank many many years ago. No cloudiness, no smell. Water and inverts look normal. Just dead gasping fish within a half hour. And this sea apple was only 1-2" diameter...tiny.