Sea Apple, yes or no
- Thread starter kyle4201
- Start date
Mike Johnson
Well-Known Member
You do know that it is poisonous when stressed or dies? Potentially can wipe out your whole tank? Well, some people keep them, but that's why I don't.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+502+710&pcatid=710
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+502+710&pcatid=710
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
A very useful article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/3/inverts
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Hey Kyle, I saw your other post, great looking sea apple that you picked up. They are gorgeous creatures.
I looked into getting a sea apple as well, a while ago, and saved several links from the research that I did on how to take care of them. I ended up not picking one up b/c of their need to be fed phytoplankton daily. I found this link the most useful: http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showarticle.php?articleID=64 It is long, so here are a few highlights that you should find useful in taking care of your apple. Good Luck!
Stressed Behavior to look out for:
"...When a sea cucumber is stressed, it can react in a variety of ways. The cuke can react to stress by becoming flaccid and goopy, or by ejecting all the water from its system and becoming a small, hard turd-like lump. Either of these responses is typical of animals that have been harmlessly disturbed (e.g., poked with a finger or such) or moved from one tank to another. Another common response of an unhappy sea apple is for the animal to take on great deal of water and swell to an enormous size. This swelling allows them to ride currents and move into a different area (which will hopefully suit them better) much more quickly than if they were to crawl there themselves. The most drastic response a cucumber can make is to expels its Cuvierian tubules (a series of long, spaghetti-like tubes leading off the hindgut -- or colon equivalent -- at the base of the respiratory tree -- or the equivalent of gills) by rupturing the hindgut, because this is almost always accompanied with the release of a soup of defensive chemicals that are likely to seriously impact, and potentially wipe out an enclosed tank...."
What to do if it 'nukes' your tank:
"... However, in my experience, reports of “cuke nukes” often occur when the tank is small, runs a small (or no) skimmer, does not use or regularly replace carbon, or when the tank is not checked on a daily basis (such as when someone goes away for vacation and has a friend look after their tank). I have had some sea cucumbers (including sea apples) meet an unpleasant end in a powerhead in my aquarium over the years, and have never suffered a wipe out from these unfortunate events. I attribute this to catching it early, doing extensive water changes and increasing skimming and carbon use to remove the toxins as quickly as possible...."
It will not show signs that it is starving, so feed it often:
"...Sea cucumbers, like most marine invertebrates, require relatively little energy to sustain themselves, and are quite tolerant of starvation by our standards; a healthy, well-fed sea cucumber imported into an aquarium will likely take something on the order of 6-18 months to starve to death (depending on its size and reserves, and what, if anything it can pick up in the aquarium)...."
Feed it until you see it poop:
"...a good rule of thumb is that if you don’t see an animal poop, it’s most likely not eating enough!..."
"....unless you begin to add phytoplankton to your tank on a regular basis, there is a good chance that your sea apple will slowly starve to death over the period of a year or so...."
Behavior to look for to make sure it is eating:
"...when eating: once a tentacle becomes covered with phytoplankton, that tentacle is popped into the mouth and sucked clean (just like us using our fingers to eat from a honey jar) before being covered in mucus within that sac and deployed once again...."
Oh and one more little tidbit, they breathe through their butts!
I looked into getting a sea apple as well, a while ago, and saved several links from the research that I did on how to take care of them. I ended up not picking one up b/c of their need to be fed phytoplankton daily. I found this link the most useful: http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/Showarticle.php?articleID=64 It is long, so here are a few highlights that you should find useful in taking care of your apple. Good Luck!
Stressed Behavior to look out for:
"...When a sea cucumber is stressed, it can react in a variety of ways. The cuke can react to stress by becoming flaccid and goopy, or by ejecting all the water from its system and becoming a small, hard turd-like lump. Either of these responses is typical of animals that have been harmlessly disturbed (e.g., poked with a finger or such) or moved from one tank to another. Another common response of an unhappy sea apple is for the animal to take on great deal of water and swell to an enormous size. This swelling allows them to ride currents and move into a different area (which will hopefully suit them better) much more quickly than if they were to crawl there themselves. The most drastic response a cucumber can make is to expels its Cuvierian tubules (a series of long, spaghetti-like tubes leading off the hindgut -- or colon equivalent -- at the base of the respiratory tree -- or the equivalent of gills) by rupturing the hindgut, because this is almost always accompanied with the release of a soup of defensive chemicals that are likely to seriously impact, and potentially wipe out an enclosed tank...."
What to do if it 'nukes' your tank:
"... However, in my experience, reports of “cuke nukes” often occur when the tank is small, runs a small (or no) skimmer, does not use or regularly replace carbon, or when the tank is not checked on a daily basis (such as when someone goes away for vacation and has a friend look after their tank). I have had some sea cucumbers (including sea apples) meet an unpleasant end in a powerhead in my aquarium over the years, and have never suffered a wipe out from these unfortunate events. I attribute this to catching it early, doing extensive water changes and increasing skimming and carbon use to remove the toxins as quickly as possible...."
It will not show signs that it is starving, so feed it often:
"...Sea cucumbers, like most marine invertebrates, require relatively little energy to sustain themselves, and are quite tolerant of starvation by our standards; a healthy, well-fed sea cucumber imported into an aquarium will likely take something on the order of 6-18 months to starve to death (depending on its size and reserves, and what, if anything it can pick up in the aquarium)...."
Feed it until you see it poop:
"...a good rule of thumb is that if you don’t see an animal poop, it’s most likely not eating enough!..."
"....unless you begin to add phytoplankton to your tank on a regular basis, there is a good chance that your sea apple will slowly starve to death over the period of a year or so...."
Behavior to look for to make sure it is eating:
"...when eating: once a tentacle becomes covered with phytoplankton, that tentacle is popped into the mouth and sucked clean (just like us using our fingers to eat from a honey jar) before being covered in mucus within that sac and deployed once again...."
Oh and one more little tidbit, they breathe through their butts!