Sea Hare dead?

[JackerVenom]

Hello everyone so here is a question for everyone who has knowledge on Sea Hares!
I bought my friend a Sea Hare before the weekend and as of today it appears to have died but was expelling a white thing out of the blow hole? Is this a normal death? Or could something have caused this?
Strange it lasted almost a week with no ill signs until today. I unfortunately do not have parameters but as you can tell nitrates and phosphates are high because of the amount of hair algae.

 

[ScubaFish802]

I know sea hares need to eat A LOT. I believe they also expel waste out of their "blow hole"(?) Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can comment

 

[JumboShrimp]

I have had two die— the LFS said they aren’t known to last too long— each (in different tanks at different times) I’d say lasted 2-4 months.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Generally they are on the bottom and not moving and pale when dead and eventually start to bloat up

 

[RapidReefer]

life span of a sea hare is 1 year.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I paid about $12 each at my LFS; they are really cool, and are bang-up in the CUC department. If I had one last a year as @rapid says, it would be eating algae galore for less than 4-cents per day. Lol! Can’t beat that!

 

[RapidReefer]

yea thats if you get a newly baby sea hare !! that way you have the full life span!

 

[stanleo]

When mine died it designated rapidly. Only took a day to be completely gone. I think when stressed they can excrete ink that can be toxic in some species if I remember right. Have your friend run some carbon in the tank to get rid of it.

They are the best at clearing algae but if there isn't enough they deteriorate. You can supplement them on nori but you need a whole sheet of it a day. And they do only have a life span of 1 year. Mine was already big when I got it so it only lived for a month. As soon as it laid eggs, it died shortly after.

 

[RapidReefer]

When mine died it designated rapidly. Only took a day to be completely gone. I think when stressed they can excrete ink that can be toxic in some species if I remember right. Have your friend run some carbon in the tank to get rid of it.

They are the best at clearing algae but if there isn't enough they deteriorate. You can supplement them on nori but you need a whole sheet of it a day. And they do only have a life span of 1 year. Mine was already big when I got it so it only lived for a month. As soon as it laid eggs, it died shortly after.

do they need another sea hare to fertilize the eggs?

 

[stanleo]

do they need another sea hare to fertilize the eggs?

Yes they do but if I remember right (its been several years since I read up on them) the young have a larval stage that is impossible to survive in an aquarium.

 

[JackerVenom]

Thanks everyone! The Sea Hare was bigger so I’m assuming that it’s time was done. Thanks for the input!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Mine from the LSF were on the large-size, some to think of it. Not quite as big as my thumb.