Can a mushroom kill a cucumber?

[porkbullet]

Ok, ever since I bought my tiger-tail cucumber I have been constantly stressed about it. I bought it without knowing that they release deadly toxins when/if they die. So ever since I found that out, I have been keeping a close eye on it.

Earlier today, I saw the cucumber crawl underneath a purple mushroom I have and stay there for quite a while. I know that mushrooms have a mild sting that can affect other corals, etc. But can this sting affect the cucumber?

Finally after about 30 minutes of being motionless under the mushroom I reached in and brushed the cucumber back onto the substrate. Is this something I am going to need to watch for in the future? Or am I just over-reacting?

[Entropy]

I don't think a mushroom has the stinging power to kill a cucumber, but if this little critter is going to continue to concern you, it might be best to just remove it. Unless you are totally in love with the cucumber why add the grief and worry?

[phil519]

Well porkbullet,

Tiger-tails I believe are sand-deposit feeders. While I cannot state blanketly that all tiger tails are non-toxic, one can also not state the reverse to be 100% true either. So whoever told you that when they die they are toxic - either wasn't aware of this or somehow you misinterpreted that advice. Here's a very good article on cukes:

Advanced Aquarist (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/invert.htm)

It's rather long - but here's brief blurb:


The dreaded ‘Cuke Nuke’

Well, as I’ve said now several times, there is simply too much variability for me to make any realistic generalizations about the risk of any specific sea cucumber. The best generalization that I can make is that for most drab deposit-feeding sand cucumbers the risk of a tank wipe-out is quite low (although there are certainly some drab cucumbers, such as H. atra, that possess particularly nasty toxins). In fact, even with the most toxic species of sea cucumbers, the risk of having a serious episode in your reef aquarium is relatively low as long as you take certain precautions to prevent the animal meeting an unpleasant end. Why is that? Well, as I explained above, the sea cucumbers do not release their defensive chemicals on a whim - they must be pretty threatened or stressed to react in that manner. If you take responsibility for the safety of your animals, and properly cucumber-proof your tank, then there is no reason that any cucumber should ever be in a sufficiently stressful situation that it would release those defensive chemicals. Furthermore, cucumber-proofing your tank is relatively simply, and we have no excuse for not doing so. For example, properly protecting pump intakes and overflows before adding any crawling animal (such as a sea cucumber) seems like a pretty reasonable request for our tanks, and in my opinion this should never be viewed as a downside to keeping such animals. I would argue that it is simply our responsibility to provide an adequate home for any animal that we purchase. The same precautions ought to be taken prior to adding an anemone, snails or any other animals that crawl actively around the aquarium and could blunder into the intake of an unprotected pump. If you plan to keep motile animals in your tank, it is your responsibility to take adequate precautions that they cannot wander into what amounts to a blender for them. by ROB TOONEN, Ph.D

[SoonerBolt]

All I know is rock beats scissor, paper beats rock and scissors beats paper.

[porkbullet]

Wow Phil, what an awesome article! I am not nearly as freaked out anymore.

I think this is one of my favorite blurbs:

"In fact, many soft corals, sponges and tunicates kept in reef aquaria are actually much more toxic than are these sea cucumbers, but because these other species are not crawling around and potentially hitting unguarded powerheads, they pose less of a threat than do sea cucumbers. That is why I usually tell people that the biggest danger of keeping sea cucumbers in our tanks comes from our own negligence rather than from the sea cucumber itself..."

Thanks for the link

[horkn]

i dunno, but my money is on the cuke...

[prsguy]

Originally posted by horkn
i dunno, but my money is on the cuke...



Has to be the best thread title I have ever seen.

Only on RC baby!

And in our next issue of vegetable wars, the much anticipated “Romaine vs. Iceberg II"

[horkn]

:lol:

iceberg, i mean the name is even more formidable. what sunk the unsinkable titanic? and iceberg;)

[prsguy]

Originally posted by horkn
:lol:

iceberg, i mean the name is even more formidable. what sunk the unsinkable titanic? and iceberg;)


LOL, great end to a night of reading on RC...thanks, very funny stuff!

[horkn]

i try;)

[DgenR8]

I have a black cuke that regularly rubs against my green carpet Anemone. That carpet is probably the most dangerous animal in my tank as far as potency of sting, and my cuke is just fine.