Cucumber nuked my tank

[ScottF]

My Apex was disconnected from my wifi today. So I power cycled it. This of course turned off everything plugged into the EB832 including my return pump for a few minutes. What I didn't notice was my beloved medusa worm getting sucked down one of my return nozzles as water siphoned into my sump. When the pump turned back on, it ground up the medusa worm (legless cucumber) a spit it back out into the tank.

At first I didn't know what the gunk was floating in the tank or where it came from. Then I noticed my Morish Idol laying in the sand. Didn''t take long to figure out what happened. I caught the fish that weren't already dead and put them in a 5 gallon bucket of clean salt water with an air stone. My orange spot rabbitfish is still barely holding on. As is one of my purple tangs, one of my mocha storm clowns and a citron goby. I doubt that they will make it to morning though.

The rest of the fish are dead. Midas blenny, purple tang, morish idol, circus goby... So far the snails seem OK. As does the urchin. The leather corals have their polyps out and the BTAs look normal. Mostly softies in this tank. Thank god this wasn't my big tank. I saw two out of three garden eels peeking out of the sand. I have hope for them.

I did a 90% water change and put a giant bag of carbon across the baffle in my sump in front of the return pump chamber. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[ScottF]

And would ozone help to break down the toxin? I could temporarily take the O3 generator from my big tank and hook it up to the skimmer in this tank.

 

[Cdub925]

Those things wreck have even if you have a 205 like my last tank I don’t know if was age or what but I had it for 4 and half maybe 5 years and didn’t know it was that when I woke up to see corals looking like doo doo and a maculiceps tang dead but when they are alive they do so much good imo

 

[Cdub925]

I apologize for not having a answer to your question just sympathizing

 

[ScottF]

I apologize for not having a answer to your question just sympathizing

No problem. I loved that dang medusa worm. It was always trying to get into trouble. It used to get itself stuck in the overflow comb when it was in the 15 gal nano before I upgraded that tank to a 90. I thought I had everything "baby proofed" for it. Never thought about it getting sucked down a return nozzle and into the return pump.

It took a lot of abuse early on before I figured out weaving sponge through the bottom of the overflow combs. Never caused a problem until it got chewed up and spit out by my return pump.

Really going to miss Jimbo the Morish Idol and Rob the Orange Spotted Rabbitfish. Coco and Joe the Mocha Storm clowns. Jenny the Midas Blenny. Down Town Julie Brown the Citron Clown Goby. Haze and Nurple the Purple Tangs.

And RIP Shai-hulud. The two foot long Medusa Worm.

 

[ScottF]

Those things wreck have even if you have a 205

I'm just glad it was my 90 gallon tank and not my 250 gallon SPS tank. I would cry actual tears if my Achilles Tang "Jake" got nuked. Not to mention my acros...

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I believe @littlefoxx dealt with this and might be able to give you some pointers!

 

[Subsea]

My Apex was disconnected from my wifi today. So I power cycled it. This of course turned off everything plugged into the EB832 including my return pump for a few minutes. What I didn't notice was my beloved medusa worm getting sucked down one of my return nozzles as water siphoned into my sump. When the pump turned back on, it ground up the medusa worm (legless cucumber) a spit it back out into the tank.

At first I didn't know what the gunk was floating in the tank or where it came from. Then I noticed my Morish Idol laying in the sand. Didn''t take long to figure out what happened. I caught the fish that weren't already dead and put them in a 5 gallon bucket of clean salt water with an air stone. My orange spot rabbitfish is still barely holding on. As is one of my purple tangs, one of my mocha storm clowns and a citron goby. I doubt that they will make it to morning though.

The rest of the fish are dead. Midas blenny, purple tang, morish idol, circus goby... So far the snails seem OK. As does the urchin. The leather corals have their polyps out and the BTAs look normal. Mostly softies in this tank. Thank god this wasn't my big tank. I saw two out of three garden eels peeking out of the sand. I have hope for them.

I did a 90% water change and put a giant bag of carbon across the baffle in my sump in front of the return pump chamber. Is there anything else I can do?

You have done everything to assist in recovery. Focus on gas exchange as fish die fastest to low oxygen.

It was difficult for me to understand the impact of Medusa worm toxicity on your system, because of my non lethal experiences with Sea Apple death in 55G tank. However, when you said it was 2’ long, I was taken aback and better understand your scenario.

 

[ScottF]

You have done everything to assist in recovery. Focus on gas exchange as fish die fastest to low oxygen.

It was difficult for me to understand the impact of Medusa worm toxicity on your system, because of my non lethal experiences with Sea Apple death in 55G tank. However, when you said it was 2’ long, I was taken aback and better understand your scenario.

It wasn't just that it died. It was ground into a paste by my return pump.

 

[ScottF]

So I just woke up and checked my bucket of fish. Everything was dead except for the Citron Clown Goby. Now my problem is that I don't know if it's safe to put it back in the tank.

I did the 90% water change last night and put a bunch of carbon in the sump. I can''t keep this fish in a bucket forever. I suppose I could put it in the sump of my other tank, but I'm trying to keep this mess as far from that tank as possible.

 

[ScottF]

A little good news. At least two of my three Garden Eels are still alive. Shaquille The Eel and Eel Patrick Harris. Not sure about James Eel Jones. Also, my circus goby that I couldn't find last night is still alive.

I figure if the circus goby is ok then it's probably OK to put the citron clown back in the tank.

 

[ScottF]

I just saw James Eel Jones sticking out of the sand. So it looks like all three garden eels are alive.

 

[Marine Betta]

My Apex was disconnected from my wifi today. So I power cycled it. This of course turned off everything plugged into the EB832 including my return pump for a few minutes. What I didn't notice was my beloved medusa worm getting sucked down one of my return nozzles as water siphoned into my sump. When the pump turned back on, it ground up the medusa worm (legless cucumber) a spit it back out into the tank.

At first I didn't know what the gunk was floating in the tank or where it came from. Then I noticed my Morish Idol laying in the sand. Didn''t take long to figure out what happened. I caught the fish that weren't already dead and put them in a 5 gallon bucket of clean salt water with an air stone. My orange spot rabbitfish is still barely holding on. As is one of my purple tangs, one of my mocha storm clowns and a citron goby. I doubt that they will make it to morning though.

The rest of the fish are dead. Midas blenny, purple tang, morish idol, circus goby... So far the snails seem OK. As does the urchin. The leather corals have their polyps out and the BTAs look normal. Mostly softies in this tank. Thank god this wasn't my big tank. I saw two out of three garden eels peeking out of the sand. I have hope for them.

I did a 90% water change and put a giant bag of carbon across the baffle in my sump in front of the return pump chamber. Is there anything else I can do?

Really sorry that this happened. It sounds like you’re doing everything right. I would consider adding a polyfilter. It does a really good job of sucking up toxins out of the water.

 

[vlangel]

I am really sorry that you went thru this. I have a regular Atlantic cucumber and also have tried to cuke proof the tank with sponge filters on powerheads. Carla the cucumber rarely leaves the safety of the rockwork but Karl my last cuke would crawl all the way up the glass. He did get stuck on the cage of one of my powerheads but it didn't break his skin. Still the area suffered trauma and he died from it. That is when I switched from cages to sponge filter covers for on the powerheads. Its really sad but I am happy that the garden feels are ok.

 

[HELLCO]

When you can, put check valves on your returns to keep that from happening in the future.

 

[ScottF]

When you can, put check valves on your returns to keep that from happening in the future.

I can honestly say that I never thought about the possibility of my medusa worm getting siphoned down a return nozzle.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Just curious. Downtown Julie Brown. Is that a reference to Downtown Freddie Brown of the Sonics back in the '70's?

 

[ScottF]

Just curious. Downtown Julie Brown. Is that a reference to Downtown Freddie Brown of the Sonics back in the '70's?

Down town Julie Brown was a MTV VJ in the 80's. Back when MTV was mostly music videos.

 

[spsick]

OP, sorry this happened to you. I clicked your thread thinking you meant a holothurid.

This may give others alarm so please clarify you mean a 2 foot Medusa worm

 

[ScottF]

OP, sorry this happened to you. I clicked your thread thinking you meant a holothurid.

This may give others alarm so please clarify you mean a 2 foot Medusa worm

I am not referring to spaghetti worms if that is what you are thinking. My medusa worm was:

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Class:	Holothuroidea
Order:	Apodida
Family:	Synaptidae