Cuke vs. Powerhead & lived to tell the tale?, pics

Pandora · 01/26/2006, 04:55 PM

I got home from work today, and right away, I noticed that one of the powerheads appeared to be working at half capacity. Upon closer inspection, I realised this might be one of my worst nightmares... my black cucumber had his business end (head) caught in the intake! I ordinarily have a sponge or diffuser on all the PH intakes, but this one had fallen off. Panicking, I shut the power strip off, pulled it out of the water and tried to pull him out. He was stuck good and tight, and it took me a minute; was afraid that I'd find a mess I *really* did not want to see once I got him.

I think I've been fortunate, but I finally managed to work him out, and it wasn't as bad as it looked. The area around the mouth was all scrunched up like it had been sucked out of shape (dont' know how long he was stuck that way, poor thing!), but the intake opening appeared to only be about the size of half a pinky nail. I didn't take any pics during the whole ordeal but I took one of him shortly afterwards showing a little puckering:

And one a minute after removal, amazingly, he is now crawling on the glass and appears to be not too much harm done:

And the nasty powerhead now has its sponge attached tighter, with a rubber band:

A reminder of why it's important to have guards on powerheads!

Anyone else have survival stories of animals that got caught in powerheads and "lived to talk about it"? I'm still a little worried about this guy, and would hate to have something happen to him, he is the best sand sifter/tank cleaner I've ever had, and love watching him munch his way through the LS & poop out aragonite pellets.

PS: In case anyone is curious, I'm not worried about them being dangerous to the tank when stressed, done the research, and this is mostly a myth for these kinds of black edible cucumbers. Some do spit out their guts when stressed, but there are few cukes besides sea apples for which there should be real concern over toxicity.

conda · 01/26/2006, 06:06 PM

I've had my BTA caught in my powerhead once and my canister filter intake twice. I just pulled him out of the filter intake last week and it is still alive, but half of him is damaged. My clowns are very upset.

Pandora · 01/26/2006, 06:41 PM

So it's been one week since it happened? Hopefully he'll be ok, I'd like to hear that, I have a BTA also

No wonder I'm paranoid about the guards, usually. I could just imagine the clowns pacing nervously.

On my cuke, I guess he's a survivor, at least I'm hoping at this point. He seems a little traumatized, climbed up the glass and has been hanging out by the waterline, whereas he normally moves around a lot (albeit very slowly).

Anyone else have survival stories? Most of the ones I've read about X vs. powerhead were sad & morbid...

cdraughon · 01/26/2006, 06:50 PM

My RBTA has been in my overflow once, and in the grate on my Tunze Stream twice! It has also survived the hurricane outages in 2004 - was without lights and cool water for 5 days. My wife and I cant believe what all it has been through.

Pandora · 01/27/2006, 06:54 PM

cdraughon, that's great, seems like he has 9 lives.

Has anyone had this happen to a *cucumber* and had it survive? Could use some encouragement, because I couldn't find him in the tank today (I do have a lot of rockwork, and some days he does go in there for a while, so not panicking yet...)

cdraughon · 01/28/2006, 12:27 PM

I forgot...once my cuke got into my overflow and down into my sump. I found it in the intake to my skimmer pump. Granted, it was in the part before the venturi so there was no contact with the blades. He made it and has been fine. That was a few years ago.

01/26/2006, 04:55 PM	#1
Pandora Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Maryland near DC Posts: 1,706	Cuke vs. Powerhead & lived to tell the tale?, pics I got home from work today, and right away, I noticed that one of the powerheads appeared to be working at half capacity. Upon closer inspection, I realised this might be one of my worst nightmares... my black cucumber had his business end (head) caught in the intake! I ordinarily have a sponge or diffuser on all the PH intakes, but this one had fallen off. Panicking, I shut the power strip off, pulled it out of the water and tried to pull him out. He was stuck good and tight, and it took me a minute; was afraid that I'd find a mess I really did not want to see once I got him. I think I've been fortunate, but I finally managed to work him out, and it wasn't as bad as it looked. The area around the mouth was all scrunched up like it had been sucked out of shape (dont' know how long he was stuck that way, poor thing!), but the intake opening appeared to only be about the size of half a pinky nail. I didn't take any pics during the whole ordeal but I took one of him shortly afterwards showing a little puckering: And one a minute after removal, amazingly, he is now crawling on the glass and appears to be not too much harm done: And the nasty powerhead now has its sponge attached tighter, with a rubber band: A reminder of why it's important to have guards on powerheads! Anyone else have survival stories of animals that got caught in powerheads and "lived to talk about it"? I'm still a little worried about this guy, and would hate to have something happen to him, he is the best sand sifter/tank cleaner I've ever had, and love watching him munch his way through the LS & poop out aragonite pellets. PS: In case anyone is curious, I'm not worried about them being dangerous to the tank when stressed, done the research, and this is mostly a myth for these kinds of black edible cucumbers. Some do spit out their guts when stressed, but there are few cukes besides sea apples for which there should be real concern over toxicity. __________________ Where are we going... And why am I in this handbasket? Current Tank Info: 75gal reef tank, 30 gal octopus tank, Other: 75gal planted Amazon tank

01/26/2006, 06:41 PM	#3
Pandora Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Maryland near DC Posts: 1,706	So it's been one week since it happened? Hopefully he'll be ok, I'd like to hear that, I have a BTA also No wonder I'm paranoid about the guards, usually. I could just imagine the clowns pacing nervously. On my cuke, I guess he's a survivor, at least I'm hoping at this point. He seems a little traumatized, climbed up the glass and has been hanging out by the waterline, whereas he normally moves around a lot (albeit very slowly). Anyone else have survival stories? Most of the ones I've read about X vs. powerhead were sad & morbid... __________________ Where are we going... And why am I in this handbasket? Current Tank Info: 75gal reef tank, 30 gal octopus tank, Other: 75gal planted Amazon tank

01/27/2006, 06:54 PM	#5
Pandora Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Maryland near DC Posts: 1,706	cdraughon, that's great, seems like he has 9 lives. Has anyone had this happen to a cucumber and had it survive? Could use some encouragement, because I couldn't find him in the tank today (I do have a lot of rockwork, and some days he does go in there for a while, so not panicking yet...) __________________ Where are we going... And why am I in this handbasket? Current Tank Info: 75gal reef tank, 30 gal octopus tank, Other: 75gal planted Amazon tank

01/26/2006, 06:06 PM	#2
conda Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Birchrunville, Pennsylvania Posts: 538	I've had my BTA caught in my powerhead once and my canister filter intake twice. I just pulled him out of the filter intake last week and it is still alive, but half of him is damaged. My clowns are very upset.

01/26/2006, 06:50 PM	#4
cdraughon Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 201	My RBTA has been in my overflow once, and in the grate on my Tunze Stream twice! It has also survived the hurricane outages in 2004 - was without lights and cool water for 5 days. My wife and I cant believe what all it has been through.

01/28/2006, 12:27 PM	#6
cdraughon Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Florida Posts: 201	I forgot...once my cuke got into my overflow and down into my sump. I found it in the intake to my skimmer pump. Granted, it was in the part before the venturi so there was no contact with the blades. He made it and has been fine. That was a few years ago.