Cucumber or nassarius snails?

[drillsar]

My sand bed is a little dirty and has some algae on it and in middle of sand. Currently I have like 6 nassarius snails, so Im either thinking of getting a Tiger tail cucumber or 10 more nassarius snails,

If I get a cucumber I should get the hermits out, correct?

Whats the difference between a cucumber and nassarius? what does a better job?

[epstein]

I vote snails and hermits...Id even say a choc chip. Dont do cucumbers if they stress or die they will release toxins and wipe out your tank

[drillsar]

Another ? would a bristle star eat a peppermint shrimp? or is it something else, also my emerald crab is missing.

[greenbean36191]

Well the biggest difference is cucumbers are echinoderms and Nassarius are snails. ;) Seriously though, they fill two entirely different roles in the tank. Nassarius feed on carrion, which is dead animals and leftover food. They don't eat algae or detritus. Cucumbers are deposit feeders so they eat mostly detritus and the bacteria and algae coating the sand they mop up. While most cucumbers are toxic to some degree, most of the sand sifting species rank pretty low on the scale and pose very little threat of nuking a tank.

I would suggest getting rid of the hermits anyway, but many people with cucumbers keep the little reef terrorists too.

Yes, a brittle star might eat a peppermint shrimp or an emerald crab, especially if they were dead. It wouldn't be my first suspect though.

[epstein]

there was recently a post and a pic of a brittle that ate a whole snail. So Iwouldnt compltetly rule him out

[drillsar]

ok so if I have a algae and detritus problem, cucumbers are the way to go right?

well I seen my brittle star attack a snail before that fell over. Im thinking of getting rid of it.

[drillsar]

Anybody?

[rjsilvers]

I've read dozens of threads about cucumbers being horrible...
But are they _all_ bad?

Like on drmaccorals.com, they have one and say this about it:

"Cucumbers are good for mopping up the top of sand beds. They do well in reef aquariums with a sand bed and this common Caribbean variety do not pose any threat."

Does this mean it won't get stressed and wipe out my tank?

Anybody know?

[drillsar]

I read that the sand sifting ones are ok the others not.

[JoeMomma]

I would just go with a half a dozen large nassarius snails. The ones that are 1.5" or more. The little ones don't make a difference but the big ones will really mix the sand up after a couple weeks.

Choc chip star will eat corals, sand sifting stars will starve to death and cucumbers look like big wieners in your tank... :)

[Nanz]

Nassarius are not going to clean the diatom but Cerith Snails will. Nassarius are good for moving the sand in the bed but not eating algea. I can't answer the question about Cucumbers I'm still debating getting one myself.

[drillsar]

Well I got the cucumber, I will tell you how its going, I think they hide for a couple days, correct?

[spazthecat]

I think you are fine with the cucumber. I've always had them in my tanks and have never had a problem. I have two in my 75 gallon now and they are fine. The black and red one I've had for about 3 year years. I recently added the second and it's doing fine as well.

I believe greenbean36191 is correct. The sand bed cucs pose little threat. The filter feeding variety are a little different and could be more toxic.

Andy

[drillsar]

I cant tell but the cucumber looks like he spilled his guts, hes in between the rocks and looked like brittle star was on top of him, was it possible that brittle star attacked him? Im nervous now.

[spazthecat]

The brittle star could have attacked it. Cucumbers will expel their internals when attacked as a defense mechanism. In the wild, I believe they can recover but I don't think that will occur in an aquarium.

At this point, I'd start running carbon and change it every couple of days for the rest of the week. I'd also scoop up the cucumber and get rid of it.

Sorry,

Andy

[drillsar]

I checked on him, hes moving but brittle star is on top of him, is this normal?

[spazthecat]

Do you have a digital camera? Could you post a picture of the cuc and what it expelled?

Do you have a sump where you could put the cuc or the star until this gets sorted out and you know if the cuc is OK?

If the brittle star is on it, it may be dying or injured. IME brittle stars are iffy. I've had them kill fish while they sleep. I don't think I'd have one in another one of my tanks. But, I've read plenty of reports of brittle stars being fine and not harming other tank inhabitants.

Andy

[drillsar]

I just put the star in the sump. Thanks