Pink cucumber (Holothuria edulis) DoA?

cloggins · Feb 14, 2019

Is this cucumber DoA?

I bought a pink cucumber from Liveaquaria. It arrived yesterday, was drip acclimated, and added to the tank. The bag water had a strong smell similar to burnt tires.

The cucumber has shown almost no movement since being added to the tank. It has not moved in the past 5 hours. It's in the same spot, and it's the same shape it has been during that time. I cannot turn on my pumps, because it just floats around. It's in the spot it is now, because water currents carried it there (my pumps were on for about 30 seconds).

Ron Reefman · Feb 14, 2019

It doesn't look good to me. IMHO it should have moved within a few minutes to half an hour.

I'd consider setting up a small Tupperware container and put it in that rather than your tank. If you do a 100% water change every 12 hours and it's alive, you'd be OK. I collect wild specimens in the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico. I often keep risky critters in a small bowl for as long as 2 weeks just tossing old water and refilling with tank water.

cloggins · Feb 14, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
It doesn't look good to me. IMHO it should have moved within a few minutes to half an hour.

I'd consider setting up a small Tupperware container and put it in that rather than your tank. If you do a 100% water change every 12 hours and it's alive, you'd be OK. I collect wild specimens in the Florida Keys and the Gulf of Mexico. I often keep risky critters in a small bowl for as long as 2 weeks just tossing old water and refilling with tank water.

Thanks for the response. I am in the process of isolating it now.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 14, 2019

These are tough creatures to sustain in a tank and water quality and food source is of importance for thriving as they often sift for plankton
They require a bit of detrious in the sand bed for thriving which is not desirable by most aquarists

Ron Reefman · Feb 15, 2019

vetteguy53081 said:
These are tough creatures to sustain in a tank and water quality and food source is of importance for thriving as they often sift for plankton
They require a bit of detrious in the sand bed for thriving which is not desirable by most aquarists

Which is probably why mine have always been fat, happy and long lived! I never clean the sand. I live that to those who live in the tank!