Sea cucumber tentacle dangling

Lerequin

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Hello sea cucumber owners

I brought home a small Holuturia Edulis 3 days ago to clean up the sand.

It is a sand sifter type.
He began eating sand the minute he touched the bottom and he hovered some fish pelets leftovers.
This morning I found it with a bit of digestive filament dangling from it's butt hole.
5C2C2920-7535-45B6-9648-24AF0043C530.jpeg

He hasn't pooped sand pellets yet.
He's not been under any threat.
He's moving faster so it seems he is doing ok so far.

Should I be concerned?
Do your cucumbers do this?
How often do they poop?

Nitrite and Amonia 0
Nitrate 5mg/L
Ph 8.2
Kh 8
 
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CanuckReefer

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Hello sea cucumber owners

I brought home a small Holuturia Edulis 3 days ago to clean up the sand.

It is a sand sifter type.
He began eating sand the minute he touched the bottom and he hovered some fish pelets leftovers.
This morning I found it with a bit of digestive filament dangling from it's butt hole.
5C2C2920-7535-45B6-9648-24AF0043C530.jpeg

He hasn't pooped sand pellets yet.
He's not been under any threat.

Should I be concerned?
Do your cucs do this?
How often do your cucs poop?

Nitrite and Amonia 0
Nitrate 5mg/L
Ph 8.2
Kh 8
Hard to tell from pic but mine (15 years strong Tiger Cuc) does poop daily, or at least every othera clearer pic if you can get it would confirm all is ok. Params seem good, my 'gut' feeling is it's ok.... may still be acclimating
 
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Lerequin

Lerequin

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Thanks @CanuckReefer I’ll post better pictures if I can, it moves mostly at night.
I found this interesting article in DORIS, an excellent database of marine sea life (french): « Its integuments (internal tissues) contain low-toxic substances. Indeed, after accidental grinding of this sea cucumber by pumps in aquariums, no other inhabitant seemed to suffer from the products released into the water, while sea cucumbers are often very toxic. »

It seems that Edulis is not toxic as it’s name indicates (edible). That is reassuring.
Maybe mine squeezed itself too much between rocks and some cuverian tubules got loose…
 
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CanuckReefer

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Thanks @CanuckReefer I’ll post better pictures if I can, it moves mostly at night.
I found this interesting article in DORIS, an excellent database of marine sea life (french): « Its integuments (internal tissues) contain low-toxic substances. Indeed, after accidental grinding of this sea cucumber by pumps in aquariums, no other inhabitant seemed to suffer from the products released into the water, while sea cucumbers are often very toxic. »

It seems that Edulis is not toxic as it’s name indicates (edible). That is reassuring.
Maybe mine squeezed itself too much between rocks and some cuverian tubules got loose…
Wow, this is interesting indeed....did not know this species was lower in toxins?

On a side note, I thought mine was dead, legitimately couldn't find it about 4 years ago for months looking, which made me worry of toxins, all of a sudden it appeared again one day. Must have been buried well beneath rock and substrate for some reason...
 
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Lerequin

Lerequin

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Yes, they move sooo slowly. Today I managed to get a glimpse of my Cuc from the rear side, it looks normal. Also I found a pellet, so it poops! Hurray.

From what I observed, when there is a lot of flow, my H. Edulis shrinks and stays attached to rocks. When I turned off the wave makers last night it ventured on the sand.
 
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Lerequin

Lerequin

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I did a bit of research and found that most holothuriae have anal teeth or appendages around their cloaca to prevent parasitic fish to enter.
This picture shows H. Actinopygia‘s appendixes with a similar texture as the appendix my Edulis let out.
D854A2E0-5E5D-4D1C-9A9B-29FA0F209C34.jpeg

(Wikipedia)
A00A0BF4-FCAD-46D6-BF98-FA09ABA974E2.jpeg


Anyhow, these animals are more complex than they look.
 
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CanuckReefer

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I did a bit of research and found that most holothuriae have anal teeth or appendages around their cloaca to prevent parasitic fish to enter.
This picture shows H. Actinopygia‘s appendixes with a similar texture as the appendix my Edulis let out.
D854A2E0-5E5D-4D1C-9A9B-29FA0F209C34.jpeg

(Wikipedia)
A00A0BF4-FCAD-46D6-BF98-FA09ABA974E2.jpeg


Anyhow, these animals are more complex than they look.
Oh 100%. Very complex! And very valuable members of your CUC in my opinion. If you want some depressing news, they are being grossly overharvested in SE Asia, not the same species usually that we have in our aquaria however.
 
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Saltyanimals

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wait wait wait. I just added a pink and black in expecting it to eat dirty sand and out comes beautiful clean sand. Are we saying I'm going to have black cucumber poop everywhere in my white sand? lol
 
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CanuckReefer

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wait wait wait. I just added a pink and black in expecting it to eat dirty sand and out comes beautiful clean sand. Are we saying I'm going to have black cucumber poop everywhere in my white sand? lol
Nah, you good. Congrats on the latest purchase. They are all stars in cleaning stuff up.
 
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