Fish died overnight.. corals were very swollen in am

Hi all. I have a 24 gal nano with a 150 Sun halide open top (sunpaq). I have 3 frogspawns, a brain, sunflower, small hammer, a few frags and 2 fish and one sea cucumber. . One Ocellaris Clownfish and one gamma. Last night I changed out about 5 gallons, added distilled water to top off. the sea cucumber was out of the water at the top for about 30-40 secs then pried him off the acrylic and put him on the bottom. I left the filter off and went to the store to get water. When I got back 1 1/2 hours later all was well but realized the pump was off, so I turned it back on. The sea cucumber had attached itself to the rotating power head. so I pried him off again, and then all was fine. Went to sleep. This am when I got up all my corals where VERY swollen. Both fish were dead! and my fire shrimp had shed his skin. HUH...?? I check this morning my ph 8.3 or so nitrates were less than 12, specific gravity was 1.0245 1.025.. What is up..?

I have heard that sea cucumbers can kill a tank..? is there anything I can do to keep from losing my corals..? are they in danger now...? Actually they looked really healthy all puffed up in the am except my toadstool leather frag that was really shrunken in his body.. Thanks for any help you can give..

 

Depending on what kind of cucumber it is, that could very well be what did your animals in. Are you running carbon and performing water changes? If not, it's time to start.

 

is the cucumber dead too?

 

Cucumbers can essentially expell their internal organs under stressful conditions. This could in fact cause a myriad of problems to your tank! I don't know if this is what happened to you or not as I have never witnessed this in my tank. When you removed your Cucumber from your powerhead, it wasn't dead or sucked up in it was it?

 

I would not suggest keeping sea cucumbers, much less in a 24 gal. It's too small of a tank. Cucumbers have a defense mechanism against predators that has been very effective at messing everything up. When you pried him off the surface he was on TWICE, he might of thought you were some huge predator and just skunked your water. In a big tank the effects are really bad... in a 24 gal nano... it's catastrophic.

Why are your corals swollen? Easy... if someone took a dump all over your house, you'd get pretty messed up too. ;D

What species of cuke was it?

By the way, the shrimp molted probably due to appropriate iodine levels in after the water change.

 

THANKS SO Much for all of your responses..!!

My favorite was the "if someone puked all over your house what would you do.." But seriously, thanks..

The cucumber is a pink and green one. specifically a Spiny Pink cucumber. Colochirus sp.. In any event, when I plucked it off twice (once from the acrylic and once from the rotating power head, it was alive. It is a bit thin, but I believe alive. Funny enough, the cuc itself had its tentacles inside but the very tip of them were sticking out of him.. To be sure I nuked him just the same.

Ill be interested to see what happens when I get home tonight.. Hopefully the corals are alive.. Again thanks all of you for your input. The only thing I could think of was the cuc...

thanks

Chuck

 

nuked?

 

You nuked the cuke?? Don't ever waste one of those. Try slicing it up real thin, and stir frying it with a little olive oil, portabella mushrooms, and some chopped shallots. Spoon that over some spinach fettuccine, and you've got a dish to die for.


(just kidding....in case someone were to actually try it) ;D

 

Oddly enough, while googling about sea cucumber the word delicacy kept popping up. Many recipes... and such. Not surprised by your remark, it's supposed to be very appetizing and nutricional, full of iodine. After reading this I wondered if it would be the cukes skunk mechanism that spiked iodine in the water to cause the shrimp to molt. Could be .... not sure.

BTW, to clear the air, I am not enticing anyone to eat their pets.

I actually caught a small fry while pod hunting in algae, he's grown in the fuge and I think I've got a positive ID on him. Yellow-tail snapper.

A perfectly useless fish for an aquarium. On many occasions I have been known to throw a yellow tail fillet into the deep frier but this little guy I just can't get rid of. He lives happily in my fuge. ;D