Sea Hare Died!!!

[sagwala]

Ok, my tank is about 2 months old and i had loads of hair algae, i know that it probally would have gone away on its own as its still new but my friend wanted a sea hare in his tank so i thought i could have it first for a bit to give my tank a helping hand in getting rid of the stuff.

Well it lasted 12 hours

All my parameters are good or were good, zero in everything that should be zero. i acclimated it for 1 hour for temp then dripped it for anouther 2 hours.

It ate loads last night before i went to bed and looked really happy but when i got up it was all crusty and disintegrating, even more so when i tried to get the thing out, it crumbled in my fingers. Shame cos it did such a good job in the 12 hours i had the thing, even named it "Ugly!!!"

Anyone got any ideas as to what happened? There is nothing in the tank except some snails and small blue legged hermits!!!

 

[K9]

Sea Hare's usually don't do well in captivity and should be left in the ocean. Also, they're very sensitive to high nitrates.

How did you go about acclimating it to your tank? If you just floated the bag then cut it loose, it may have been killed by the shock of differences in the water.

 

[mfh_anderson]

I had one that lasted about a 2 weeks, did a awesome job eating red algea, after it was gone and i had my green bloom, he died less than a week later. he ate none stop on the red algea, and i didnt see him eat again after it was gone.

sorry for your loss, i liked mine, its name was Moo Moo.

 

[sagwala]

I Acclimated it by dripping in water for 2 hours and my nitrates are zero. Argghh why did he die. Can they eat too much, cos he really did go to town in the time he was in there?

 

[sagwala]

Ok now this is really freaky.

My Sea Hare is alive!!!!! I've just seen him munching on my algae. So what the hell did i remove from my tank earlier?????

Do Sea Hares Molt or Shed thier outer skin???

Either that or he's learnt to clone himself.

Im confused!!!!

 

[coast2coast7390]

firstly you did a great job acclimating...i usually poke a few holes in the bag and release after 20 min...
this is weird i was reading and was thinking how sad after 3 hours of acclimating it died within 12 hours...maybe he ate to much...and then i got to your last post and was like W.T.F !!!
IDK what you removed maybe they spin a protective "cocoon" like wrasses
but congrats

 

[gistsc]

Keep us updated if you find out what it was.

thx

 

[mfh_anderson]

now im looking in my tank to see if mine is still there...

 

[Shagsbeard]

Sea hares expell their entire digestive system if shocked or stressed and then regrow a new one. They literally puke their guts out. You probably removed the sea hare's guts... it crawls off to hide for a day or two while it grows a new digestive tract.

 

[zma21]

I've heard that if a sea hare dies in your tank, it will pollute the water terribly.

Let me know, because i have a hair algea problem that is ruining my lifeeeeeee!

 

[WI Reef Lover]

Well this is a freaky story, glad to hear your little guy is alive and well. I have a couple of these and I love them although mine seems to be more obsessed with the glass rather than the rock which is where I'd like them to eat more. At least where they have worked on the rock doesn't seem to grow back in a day or 2 like it was when i tried to scrub it off. i tossed in a couple of mexican turbo snails to give them a hand at this point there doesn't seem to be any lack of food source to keep them all going.

ZMA21, I feel you're pain, my hair algae problem is running my life too. It's choking off a really nice cluster of zoos that it seems to like growing between and got a nice stronghold on one of my open brain corals edges. Brain Coral still seems to be doing all right but the hair algae has a nice hold on a couple of spots on the edges. God I hate hair algae!!!!

 

[sagwala]

They puke thier Guts up!!!! Nice.

I hope that doesn't hurt the poor little ugly guy? Will he be ok.

Also, if i acclimated it for 3 hours what would have shocked him that much! Just the whole ordeal of changing tanks or the ride from the LFS?

Cheers for everybodys help and comments.

 

[92cg60]

We've had one for about 6 months... did an excellent job cleaning any kind of algae. Did such a good job I eventually wondered if there was much left for him to eat, even in our established 135g. So.. as of last week he was still pigging out at my LFS as a permanent resident in there huge refugium packed full of algae. Family and freinds called him "the turd" and were bummed out when they found out he was gone.