Black sea cucumber burn   2/10/06 Dear Mr. Fenner,     While reading your article at wwm.com re: sea cucumber, you mention masking the heater to prevent disturbing them.  Could you be a little more specific? <Yes... mostly the use of "sleeving"... at the simplest, plastic pipe over the unit/s, that is/has been drilled with numerous holes> Our black sea cucumber recently burned itself on the Visi-Therm heater and eviscerated ( we believe ). <Yikes...> There were sticky strings in the water and a brown patch on the Cuke that later came off.  None of our other livestock were harmed.   <Fortunate> I believe the Cuke is regenerating, and I would like to prevent any further harm to it.  I have looked on the web and called my local store regarding some form of heater guard without success.  My husband is handy if given some direction.  Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter. Respectfully, Amy Smith <Mmm, folks/companies have made these over the years, but they were never very popular... log sorts of designs principally... I'd fashion your own if you can't remote these heaters... as to a tied-in (plumbed) sump/refugium. Bob Fenner>

Tiger Tail cucumber and Crushed Coral: nope 5/10/04 I understand tiger-tail cucumbers tend to pass substrate through their system.   <this how they eat/survive my friend... and do know that these cucumbers have an adult size over 6' when stretched  out. They really only belong in enormous tanks with very old, deep, fine sand.> I have a substrate of approx 70/30 sand/cc (respectively).  Do you think the CC would present a problem for the cucumber, tearing its innards and what not?   <or worse... the animal would simply starve to death for being kept on such an unnatural substrate> Also, out of morbid curiosity, what do you believe would happen to my rust-colored flatworms when they are consequentially passed through its gut? <the same thing that happens to me after I eat fast Mexican food> Thanks for your constant help to the community. <best regards, Anthony>

Cuke moving Hey everyone. I have a question concerning my "pink" sea Cuke Pentaca anceps. It lives in a 90 gal reef with mostly LPS corals, mixed inverts and half a dozen small to medium fish. I noticed someone else posted a similar problem. It has attached near the top of the tank in front of one of the filter outputs. This is a problem because I cannot change any water without exposing it to the air. << Unfortunately you do not have a sump huh?  If so, you wouldn't have to worry about the tank water height. >> Any suggestions on moving it without causing undue irritation? I was going to try slowly prying it of with a credit card....Worried about it releasing toxins though. << I don't think that is a bad idea.  The other idea is to aim a powerhead at it for a while, so that it doesn't like where it is at and moves down on its own. >> It "Cuke nuked" the bag that I brought it home in, with some kind of milky fluid, to such a degree that you couldn't see the animal. Thanks for your time, Simon     << Not much else I can suggest. >> <<  Adam Blundell  >> Simon Luffman

Cucumber thank you so much for the info, I really appreciate it and I'm sure the future additions do too! <You're so right> But another question about the cucumber, after acclimation should I put him in quarantine tank or go ahead and place in main tank, I'm kind of worried about catching him later after quarantine and moving into main tank. Really appreciate the help : ) ! Thanks again, Carla. >> <I'd just place it in your main system unless it looks, smells, very poor... Put it directly in your display> Bob Fenner

Sea Apple I have a sea apple (purple with yellow tube feet). It has been OK the first few months I have had it but over the last two weeks, it has developed a small area of discoloration (paleness) and is not feeding as well and looks smaller. Should I worry? <Maybe... Sea Cucumbers can be trouble... larger ones, the few sold as this species in particular... Please read over the section on these echinoderms posted on the www.WetWebMedia.com site> What might be wrong and do you have any suggestions for me as to what I can do for it? <It may be wasting away... perhaps there is something not to its liking in your system... maybe it is succumbing to some sort/s of internal parasitic, infectious complaint/s...> At first I was feeding marine invertebrate smorgasbord liquid) and frozen brine shrimp but I have changed her food to liquid phytoplankton lately as the store I frequent has been sold out of the invert smorgasbord. Am I feeding him/her properly? How often should I feed? <Mainly detritivorous, sorting and sifting out the surface of the substrate for foodstuffs/micro-organisms... don't be too fastidious about vacuuming... keeping the tank "clean"... do keep offering other "bottom" foods.> I have it in a 20 gallon tank with a spotted green mandarin and a brittle star. <This is way too small a system for this species... If this specimen is a four or more inches in length you may be in for a very unpleasant surprise... Do read over the WWM site. Bob Fenner> Any help would be appreciated. What might the discoloration indicate? <Likely "something" wrong...>
THANK YOU! Stephanie