Newest addition to the tank

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Picked up a very strange new invert few weeks ago and man he looks cool.

 

[Tahoe61]

Indeed very cool!

If I did not have a small tank with sps I would consider one.

There is still a lot of room for debate regarding their toxicity upon death.

 

[noahw.]

Yeah I would remove him especially because it looked looks like you have a running reef system

 

[noahw.]

If he dies he'll kill everything in the tank

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Yeah fortunately I have a nice carbon reactor on my tank so in the event it does die I should be able to remove him in time and let the carbon filter out the rest.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

So I've read up a little more on this guy now...not gunna lie was an impulse buy when I was at the lfs. I just fed him phyto feast and he looked great; expanded a good inch and extended all his tentacles. I have a 150 gal tank with a good filtration system. I've lost a rose bubble and never found the body. It did not pollute the tank...im assuming because I ran carbon. I also lost a sebea but was able to pull him out. He smelled like a dead rat when I finally got him out but once again I never had any problems. Both of these incedences were well over a year ago. So in the event the sea apple does die do you think I'll be ok? He's been in my tank almost a month now with no problems. I use to feed him reef chili with what I believed to be a good response. Like a stated above I just fed phyto feast and he went crazy for it so I think I'll switch to that. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Aquarius]

Although they are quite beautiful and entertaining. IME the one I had started acting all sorts of weird. Thinning out, bloating, tentacles in, tentacles out. Pooped out a crab (possible molt)

Moving over there, coming back here. One day pointing up next day upside down

Weird dangly things.
Responding to phyto next day not.
Decided to take it back due to my lack of knowledge of the creature and my tank not being mature. Plus the possibility of it releasing toxins if it is extremely stressed. As long as your power heads are guarded and you don't have anything that will nip its feeding tentacles. You should be fine. The release of toxins are a last resort for the cucumber.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Although they are quite beautiful and entertaining. IME the one I had started acting all sorts of weird. Thinning out, bloating, tentacles in, tentacles out. Pooped out a crab (possible molt)

Moving over there, coming back here. One day pointing up next day upside down

Weird dangly things.
Responding to phyto next day not.
Decided to take it back due to my lack of knowledge of the creature and my tank not being mature. Plus the possibility of it releasing toxins if it is extremely stressed. As long as your power heads are guarded and you don't have anything that will nip its feeding tentacles. You should be fine. The release of toxins are a last resort for the cucumber.

Ok thanks, so far he's doing well and doesn't move all that much. His tentacles only come out during the evening and are back in about 30 minutes after the lights come on in the morning. I haven't had any problems with fish picking at him.

 

[Karie]

Well, I can tell you my experience for what its worth. I had one that I bought on impulse. He was beautiful. His tentacles would be out all the time. I loved to feed him and watch him grab the food and put it in his mouth. Supercool. I probably had him about 5 months without issue.

Then one day I had to remove a rock from my tank for some reason and I had to pick up my apple and relocate him out of the way. I didn't know it at the time but that made him mad!

That afternoon, I noticed my melanarus wrasse was going crazy in the tank. He was swimming up and down the side wall of the tank frantically. I still didn't figure it out. Later that night he jumped from the tank and and committed suicide. The next morning I woke up to 5 of my remaining 9 fish dead. By that time I could tell the apple was mad. He was skinnier than normal and no tentacles out. I immediately scooped him up and got him out of the tank. I scrambled and did as big a water change as possible to dilute the poison in the tank. I did about a 60-70% water change (my tank was 90 gallons). I keep 25 gallons on hand at all times and I bummed another 25-30 off my reefer neighbor. I still lost another 2 fish before it was all over but I had one clown that survived and another wrasse. At the moment I can't remember if I lost any corals. Not that I can think of. Its been several years ago that this happened.

Apples are beautiful and funky and cool and... dangerous. It is honestly just a matter of time before you have a disaster. Most people think they will be the one that can successfully keep an apple but you will end up learning the hard way - and the expensive way. Maybe if your tank is 300 gallons or bigger. I don't know.

I'm sorry to tell you my bad story and I wish you luck no matter what you choose to do.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

Well, I can tell you my experience for what its worth. I had one that I bought on impulse. He was beautiful. His tentacles would be out all the time. I loved to feed him and watch him grab the food and put it in his mouth. Supercool. I probably had him about 5 months without issue.

Then one day I had to remove a rock from my tank for some reason and I had to pick up my apple and relocate him out of the way. I didn't know it at the time but that made him mad!

That afternoon, I noticed my melanarus wrasse was going crazy in the tank. He was swimming up and down the side wall of the tank frantically. I still didn't figure it out. Later that night he jumped from the tank and and committed suicide. The next morning I woke up to 5 of my remaining 9 fish dead. By that time I could tell the apple was mad. He was skinnier than normal and no tentacles out. I immediately scooped him up and got him out of the tank. I scrambled and did as big a water change as possible to dilute the poison in the tank. I did about a 60-70% water change (my tank was 90 gallons). I keep 25 gallons on hand at all times and I bummed another 25-30 off my reefer neighbor. I still lost another 2 fish before it was all over but I had one clown that survived and another wrasse. At the moment I can't remember if I lost any corals. Not that I can think of. Its been several years ago that this happened.

Apples are beautiful and funky and cool and... dangerous. It is honestly just a matter of time before you have a disaster. Most people think they will be the one that can successfully keep an apple but you will end up learning the hard way - and the expensive way. Maybe if your tank is 300 gallons or bigger. I don't know.

I'm sorry to tell you my bad story and I wish you luck no matter what you choose to do.

Thanks for the great info, I'm currently looking for a new home for him. Taking him back to the fish store isn't an option at this point as that store is 5 hours away.

 

[noahw.]

Good luck

 

[c2l2parker]

It sounds like some have had bad experiences with these creatures. I had a good experience. I had mine for a couple years, and loved it. I can also say from my experience that if they die, it isn't a guaranteed disaster. Mine did eventually die in my 180 and none of my fish or corals seemed to be impacted...in fact I didn't even know it died for a while because I was traveling. I wish I knew why my experience was different, but I can't say. I asked the LFS, and they said it depends on what causes the death.

 

[Aquarius]

They only release the toxin when extremely stressed is what I have read, not necessarily when it dies. As karie said when they tried to move it. When they get ahold of a spot they like, they are difficult to move. Good luck with it. Keep it happy.

 

[AntarcticIkeelu]

I feed him phyto feast every other day, for now he stays in the same spot and eats like a pig when feed him. All my fish seem to keep their distance from him.