Pink Cucumber poisonous?!?! How bad??

[Machupicchu]

Hey there,

So i just set up my DIY external refuge on my nano and during the process kicked up quite a bit of sand and debris. Also, the weather here in beautiful California has been quite unpredictable lately and has been throwing my temp all over the place(76 to 80 to 74 to 82 and so on) (damn nanos), anyway, i expected to see some stress from my corals and did, however it has been a couple days and have noticed that my yellow polyps, large polyp montipora, and half my fire and ice zoos, and a kenya tree frag are still not opening. I have a large colony of daisy polyps and a large colony of green zoos that are open and look fine and also have a plate coral that i fed 10 minutes ago, and i don't understand what the deal is. I thought it might have something to do with my pink cucumber getting stressed as i have heard they are slightly poisonous to the tank when stressed or dead(he is fine and eating now). Anyone have any info on these guys or maybe why half my tank is stressed and the other half fine? Thanks

PH 8.2
AMM0
NAT0
NIT0
SAL.024
ALK11

Also, hermit crabs have been slowly dying......hmmmm

 

[aerie2008]

Hi Machupicchu,

Sorry to read this. As far as I know, the sea cucumbers are only poisonous to fish (e.g. if they get injured, die, or spawn). And not just "slightly", either.
Other animals should have no problem with cucumbers.

If I´m wrong, I´d ask the more experienced reefers here to correct me.

 

[Machupicchu]

hmmm ok. thanks for that info. that makes me wonder harder why some of my corals are closed up. my water tested perfect. ill post some pics tomoro

 

[Guygettnby]

usually the cucumbers are only toxic if they expell a part of their internal organs. they do this when they feel threatened, harassed too much or they die off. if yours did not do this then i would look into something else causing your problems. i have had many cucumbers and this was the only time i ever noticed a problem thru the years.

exactly how big is your nano? the smaller the water volume the more of an impact the toxin would have if it was released. typicly i would not advise to have a cucumber in anything less then say 30g but even that is kinda small. i also recomend and every book that i have read says to have a well established tank with a nice sized sand bed. the filter feeders are almost impossible to keep long term without a very well established tank of a decent size and require phytoplankton feeding to help stay alive as most slowly die off from starvation.

 

[mmenz22779]

Machupicchu, I too am in sacto, I have a 29BC as well. My corals are all super happy but I seem to having the worst luch with fish. Not sure if it is the temp swings or not. I have changed to only damels for now until summer is over. I dont want to get a chiller if i dont have to.

I think u might have something else going on? have you checked phosphates?

 

[Machupicchu]

i havent checked phosphates in awhile but when i did i had none, and i use RO when i do water changes. i also have a ton of macro in the fuge i just put on. theres literally no algae in there but the red pink and green coraline. i also have this weird colony of algae that almost looks like a soft coral growing out of one of my larger patches of red. yesterday they started perring out a little bit so im just being patient. i added carbon a few days ago, and just got my skimmer today. its a 12 gal jbj btw.

 

[mmenz22779]

Lost a damsal. I am now down to 2 from 5. Water Param are good, even the LFS is not sure as they also tested. Maybe i just got a bad batch. I am going to attempt to put in 5-10 more damsels this weekend or next weekend. on average 1-3 will be lost. Only the strongest will survive I guess.

 

[Machupicchu]

If your water is good its probly the temp swings. i put a desk fan aimed at my tank with the lid cracked about an inch and it kept it at 74 -76, almost too cold. but difinantly helpful. it was a hot one today. plus im in a loft with no ac

 

[Guygettnby]

IMO a 12g tank is too small to keep a cucumber and actually support its needs.

 

[Machupicchu]

It gets fed Oyster Feast and Phyto Feast twice a week. Hes planted himself up on my overflow because of the massive flow there and i dont alwayse see him eating. i think hes pretty content. I put the fuge on specifically so i could feed quite a bit of reef nutrition.