My pinky cuke dissapeared!

[Picasso]

Last time I saw him he was trying to crawl under a rock. He hasn't been out in a day, should I worry? Could he have crawled out of my tank? I took the hood off yesterday? If he dies in there would it be a problem?

thanks,
Catherine

 

[d.french]

i have a big 12" pink and black cuke and it disappears for days sometimes before it crawls back out, give it time.

 

[Picasso]

Thanks!

 

[naperenterprise]

I have a yellow cuke that I just found 2 nights ago... I haven't seen it for at least 7 months prior...

 

[d.french]

some say if cukes die it can reek havoc on tank but i have had a few die with no ill effects in past, i think that is just a caution to those with inadequate filtration since alot of newbies will throw tons of fish and inverts in a tank at once. good filtration from a good skimmer live rock and carbon once i awhile will take care of it.

 

[Picasso]

Thanks for clearing that up. I had heard it would throw things off. As it turns out, he dug a tunnel under my big rock. I didn't think he could do that because I put the LR in first so now I get to watch the rock shift and squish him. Glad I don't have fish yet!

Catherine

 

[Bifferwine]

I am one of those people that had a tiger cuke die in my tank. It raised the nitrates to 150+ because I couldn't find the body. Be prepared to do some big water changes if your water starts testing wonky. This is why I don't recommend cukes for new tanks; they are sensitive inverts and a lot of them have toxins that they release into the water when they kick the bucket.

 

[Picasso]

Oh, my sympathies on your loss and nitrate issue! Right now there aren't a lot of hiding places and my sand isn't super thick so I can dig around if I need to. I was thinking about setting up a 10 gallon "rock curing- quarantine" tank so if I get corals or fish maybe I'll move him. Thanks!

Catherine

 

[Stupidsreef]

I have 3 tigertail cukes now. 1 is big and out all the time, 2 are very small and I rarly see them, but I do. I've never had one die on me tho. I too have heard the warning's about them. Then again I also have a Long Horned Cowfish too. Not brite I guess.