Sea Cucumbers

[N3m0]

I just bought a Sea cucumber because I heard they are great sand bed filters. The porblem is that I've heard after they die they can kill all the invertebrates and fish. I have a hard to thinking whether I should keep it, but at the same time I dont want my invertebrates to be at risk. I need some opinions or if you had a sea cucumber tell me your experiences.

[GaryZ]

I just bought a Sea cucumber because I heard they are great sand bed filters. The porblem is that I've heard after they die they can kill all the invertebrates and fish. I have a hard to thinking whether I should keep it, but at the same time I dont want my invertebrates to be at risk. I need some opinions or if you had a sea cucumber tell me your experiences.

I'm bran new to reefkeeping, but I have researched cucumbers and have found that they should be kept by experts. My cousin could never resist them, and when they died it was a major deal. I, for one, am gonna steer clear for awhile. Seems like there are plenty of other critters to tend to your sandbed without any kind of inherent risk. But like I said, I'm new.

[N3m0]

What other creatures would be good to clean the sandbed that doesnt release toxins when it dies?

[ricksreef]

sand mopping cukes of the genus Holothuria are questionable as
far as toxicity. i've squished'em, chopped them in pumps, or just
had'em disappear in a large tank and the worst that happened is i
ended up with two instead of one after getting chewed by a
pump. i keep holothuriads in all my set ups.
it's the filter feeding cukes that are highly toxic.

[Reefland]

Which makes the big question, which kind of cuke do you have?

There are other excellent sandbed cleaners. Conchs (in large tanks) are great with Diatoms, Nassarius snails are excellent for sand beds as are Cerith snails. None of htese will wipe our your fauna like a sand sifting star would either.

[#99]

I have a pink and green filter feeding cuke in 1 of my tanks,but I have no powerheads or pumps for him to get caught in.He does great,nothing picks on him and he just goes around the glass with his 5 tentacles out grabbing the phytoplankton.
Matt

[N3m0]

I've just talked to a guy at my local pet store and he said he had a sea apple died and they're the same as sea cucumber in his tank but nothing happend. He said nothing died not even his invertebrate. I dont know if he is really telling me the truth or maybe he wants me to keep that sea cucumber.

[ricksreef]

Sea Apples;

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...003/invert.htm

[My2heartboys]

Sea Apples;

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...003/invert.htm

OK, this brings up a question for me. I have a sand sifting snail and have not seen evidence of it in days. As soon as I put it into my tank it buried itself in the sand. For a few days after, I could see a groove in the sand grow in length. However, I have not seen evidence of this for quite a while. Should I start digging through my sandbed to find it?

Anne

[ricksreef]

what kind of snail? it varies between species, nassarius should pop out
when the tank is fed and conchs can stay buried for weeks without a problem.

[My2heartboys]

what kind of snail? it varies between species, nassarius should pop out
when the tank is fed and conchs can stay buried for weeks without a problem.

The snail has an orange shell and incomparison to other snails---IT IS HUGE. Yeah, I did not realize the nassarius snails buried themselves in the sand and it was a shock when I did see one of them do it!!! Right now I only have 2 and want to get a couple more--they are tiny little buggers though. I do see them come out when I throw shrimp pellets in for the crabs and well peppermint shrimp.

Anne

[ricksreef]

ya, even though nassarius are small, that's an advantage when that hunk of fishfood gets stuck in a crevice in the rockwork. all people that are still learning how much to feed should have some in their tank.
an orange shell *could* be a conch. if you try an image search on google or here on RL for Strombus, that should turn up some pix to compare yours to.
here's a link with pix to just about all known conch species to help out too.

http://www.gastropods.com/Taxon_pages/Group_Conch.html

[My2heartboys]

ya, even though nassarius are small, that's an advantage when that hunk of fishfood gets stuck in a crevice in the rockwork. all people that are still learning how much to feed should have some in their tank.
an orange shell *could* be a conch. if you try an image search on google or here on RL for Strombus, that should turn up some pix to compare yours to.
here's a link with pix to just about all known conch species to help out too.
__________________________________________________ _______________________________

OK, here are the pictures that come *close* to looking like it. The numbers are the pictures down and also, I bought it almost a month ago and haven't seen it since. It's been down under the sand.

3rd down on Dog/Yellow Conch
2nd or 3rd one on Widest Pacific Heavy Frog Conch
2nd one on Changeable Conch
3rd one down on Samar/Toothed Conch

Anne