ISO:Sea Hare
- Thread starter kjonulak
- Start date
kjonulak
New member
Sometime back I picked up a couple of sea lettuces from Studio Blue. Is that what you got? They didn't eat the algae I have which is Caulerpa verticillate. I was reading that I need sea hares.
Jayreefer
New member
I have more of a hair algae. No branches or structure to it. more like thick grass turf.
I have never had luck with lettuce nudi's. Every one I have every bought just slowly wasted away or went in to never be seen again.
Where as these sea hair's, with the bunny ears, I have had lots of success with over the years eating all types of algae. Here is a link to what they look like. I usually get them at 1"-2" and I have had them get 3+ over a year or so.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sou...aw3Ym9syBYzSSPoOS7cCspez&ust=1531872953831320
I have never had luck with lettuce nudi's. Every one I have every bought just slowly wasted away or went in to never be seen again.
Where as these sea hair's, with the bunny ears, I have had lots of success with over the years eating all types of algae. Here is a link to what they look like. I usually get them at 1"-2" and I have had them get 3+ over a year or so.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sou...aw3Ym9syBYzSSPoOS7cCspez&ust=1531872953831320
kjonulak
New member
Thanks everyone. Studio Blue didn’t have the species I was looking for. Discount was out of them, but is getting more in tomorrow. Reef Monsters had the species I needed. So I went to reef monsters and picked one up. I was told to just float the bag for 20 minutes and then put the sea hare on the algae. It was amazing, it went to town chowing down on the algae. I was amazed at how quickly it is removing the algae.
Jose Mayo, he’s the marine biologist from South America that discovered that fluconazole kills Bryopsis. He identified my algae and indicated that the fluconazole would kill it but it might take a couple of treatments. I had done 2 fluconazole treatments 21 days apart, and I thought the algae was gone. 6-8 weeks later, bam it is back with a vengeance. I thought about running 3 more treatments, but I also have an ATS, so the fluconazole will kill the algae on the screen and I would have to take it offline again like I did with the first set of treatments. So I’m hoping the sea hare will take care of it. The algae has a root like structure that allows it to creep across the rocks and sand. I’m thinking that the root structure survived the fluconazole treatment. I’m hoping the sea hare will scrape the root structures off the rocks and eat them with the green parts.
Jose Mayo, he’s the marine biologist from South America that discovered that fluconazole kills Bryopsis. He identified my algae and indicated that the fluconazole would kill it but it might take a couple of treatments. I had done 2 fluconazole treatments 21 days apart, and I thought the algae was gone. 6-8 weeks later, bam it is back with a vengeance. I thought about running 3 more treatments, but I also have an ATS, so the fluconazole will kill the algae on the screen and I would have to take it offline again like I did with the first set of treatments. So I’m hoping the sea hare will take care of it. The algae has a root like structure that allows it to creep across the rocks and sand. I’m thinking that the root structure survived the fluconazole treatment. I’m hoping the sea hare will scrape the root structures off the rocks and eat them with the green parts.
kjonulak
New member
I was looking for an Aplysia species, and I specifically asked each shop for that species. Apparently I ended up with a Dolabella auricularia either way it is eating my specific algae so it doesn't really matter. It is hard to get a good picture, so I am using the one from saltwater fish. The sea hare isn't pretty, but I don't care. Reef Monsters didn't have any little ones, which would have been preferable since they only live about a year. The one I got was about 3" long when stretched out so it is a bit older. Who knows how long it will live. When it finishes in my tanks maybe I will try putting it in my ATS. I could then have the first self cleaning ATS lol.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/product-dolabella-sea-hare
