Can Cucumber Kill?

[smithrc]

This is a bit of a nasty one... over the last 2 days we have lost over half of our latest bristle nose fry.

The water was fine when we removed 4 dead... It was fine when 8 had died.
It was still fine when we finally decommisiond the tank and moved the survivours into a breeding net in the 50 (we've since lost 3 more).

however the cucumber that had only been in there a day was floating (it had swolen up and lifted the plant weight that holds it down) and it fell apart and STANK when i pulled it out.

it is the only thing we can think of.

We threw out the rest of the cucumber and removed it from out other tanks where most had not been eaten (very unusal).

It felt firm when we cut it up but went bad really quickly - any ideas.

(good grief I can go on, can't I!)

 

[Nidge]

I feed my pleco's cucumber all the time and it has never stank, Did it stink when you put it in?
It sounds like there was something wrong with it for sure because cucumber shouldn't stink from been in the water.

 

[scottminot]

How long do you leave the cucumber in your tanks? I leave mine in there until my plec eats all the softer center area out then I remove the rest. I also wash it and peel the skin off before I put it in the tank. Maybe the cucumber is starting to rot or something and it's bad for the fish. I don't know? Maybe if it wasn't washed good enough there might have been some pesticides on the cucumber. Just some guesses. I'm no expert but I'd like to know why they died also because cucumber is my plec's main diet. My silver dollars like to eat the seeds too.

 

[!guppy!]

i feeed my fish cucumber 247, theres never NOT cucumber in the tank! its great stuff

 

[kent]

I leave mine for two days.. The fishes won't touch it until it gets all soggy..They eat everything even the skin.

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

The warmth of your tank coupled with the water, has expedited the decomposition process. Given a short of length of time even a fresh chunk of cucumber can go off.

If you're feeding fry, perhaps it'd be best to feed them smaller slices/chunks of cucumber, pre-boiled to kill off any dangerous bacterium, or dispel possible toxins.

Now in English, I boil my slices down for a couple of minutes, and then place within my tanks. All my bottom/mid-level fishes love cucumber, especially my Kribs who guard it jealously. Greedy so'n'so's! The cucumber slice/s normally disappear by the next day.

 

[Arfie]

How thick do you cut the slices?

I put some in my tank of about 1cm thick and all my fish ignored it day 1 then day 2 the Gibbicep sucked all the colour off the skin (he's pooing bright green now ) and a tiny bit of the center, by day 3 it was furry so I removed it. Neon Tetra's, Harlequin Rasbora and Peppered Corys never seemed in the slightest bit interested.

I blanched it before putting it in and weighted it down.

Put some more in today and it's been ignored for 6 hours now!

Should I cut it thinner? or take the skin off? Or do I just have odd fish?

Arfie

PS sorry about your losses smithrc, I hope the rest pull through for you .

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

The slices I cut normally range from between 3-5mm's, so pretty thin. Generally, I'm not too fussed about the thickness. It's the floppiness of the slices that count towards edibility. (oo-er, missus!). )

Your tetras and raspora's are, what I term, top-level fishes so haven't got the right mouth design to feed on cucumber. The Peppered Corydoras are bottom feeders, so should. My P.C.'s eat the slices I leave for them, as do my Kribs (mid-level), Oto's (bottom), Yo-Yo's (bottom), SAE's (bottom) and Bala Shark (mid-level).

The higher the 'up-turned mouth', the higher level the fish is. From my experience, these fishes won't touch anything that's 'down below' them.

I hope this helps.

 

[yhbae]

I susually cut them about an inch in length, but cut each pieces in half and remove the core so that seeds don't end up spreading all over the tank.

I never need to take them out as my bristlenoses finish them completely.

smithrc, I also have constant spawn of bristlenose fries. It seems normal to loose some of them. Initially, I kept them in the same community tank where they breed but recently, I started catching them and put them in a smaller (established) tank, hoping for better luck. In this tank, I am planning to do more frequent (but lesser volume) water change, and I plan to feed more frequently and less quantity each time.

Good luck!

 

[njnauticalnut]

The higher the 'up-turned mouth', the higher level the fish is. From my experience, these fishes won't touch anything that's 'down below' them.

My dwarf powder blue gourami eats everything from the top to the bottom. He joined in with the corys eating the algae wafer that I put in for the plecos. I have never tried cucumber, but will have to do that.

I think that I read where someone said that they attach it to a rock with a rubber band, do the rubber bands ever come lose? I just wouldn't want a rubber band floating around the tank if I could help it.

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

I don't use cucumber coz my fish all ignore it but just another thought on the fish dying thing - my lfs told me when they first put me onto it that you should use young/small cucumbers coz if they're too old/big they can have a toxin in them that builds up & can harm the fish. Otherwise yeah maybe it was already on the verge of going bad when you put it in.....

Goodluck with the survivors

 

[Angry_Platy]

I have always fed my fish cucumber....the plecs anyway....the other fish still eat it though

I buy the continental cucumbers (long and thin and more expensive).....cut them in half cross wise then wrap one half and put it back in the fridge...with the other half, I peel the skin off (to get rid of possible pesticides etc.), chop it in half lengthwise then add it to my tanks....they fry in my tanks love it!!! They get this at least 4-5 times per week.....i know when its time to remove when there is no soft bit left....and/or when it is floating.....usually I have to shake the bnose fry off it (the little guys have awesome suction power for something that small).....

I have been doing this for 6 months and have not had any problems.....

 

[smithrc]

I've never had a problem in the past with cucumber... bother than this one... my last lot of bristles were fine on it too.

I think it was just bad and in concentrated amounts, eg the small fish eating it, it's gone toxic

the ones left seem ok now - maybe they didn't get a gut full of rotten cucumber

I had cut it as I normaly do - 2-3mm dor the fry and cgunks for the other tanks.
The other tanks cucumber hadn't been eaten - a clear indication that something was wrong with it.

I think I'm going to feed them organic from now on (better than we eat )

roll on the next batch - I'm sure we'll get the hang of this soon (sooner would be good)

 

[!guppy!]

well heres my imput...

i have cucumber in 247, i never take out cos its eaten or if not its into the pump.. and people am talking this happens in 36 hours max, my fish eat!!!!!!

also they are generally any size, sometimes i get to fat, sometimes to thin, the still eat it fine.... sometimes they even start eating when its ice cold out of fridge!!!

!!! I THINK THERE ADDICTED !!!!