I keep killing sea hares. What am I doing wrong?

[The_Skrimp]

Hi folks.
So I’ve been battling hair algae for months now and I decided to get a dolabella sea hare. The first one I temp acclimated for 15 mins and drip acclimated for 45 minutes. The second I temp acclimated for 30 mins and let it drip acclimate for a whole hour. Both were dead within two days of putting them into my tank. Is it possible my pistol shrimp is killing them or am I doing something wrong in acclimating them to my tank? My LFS keeps their salinity super low (1.019) and I keep my tank at 1.026. Alk is 8.5, calcium 450, nitrate 2.5, phos 0.03, temp 78, mag 1500, ph 8.15. I really want one of these guys to help me with this hair algae problem but I can’t seem to keep them alive. Any advice would be appreciated. I definitely don’t want to kill another one.

 

[IKD]

The problem is you keep buying them! Only joking!

Two of my thoughts.

You could source from another vendor that matches salinity more closely. Keeping sea hares at 1.019 seems like a bad idea for an invert

I had a similar issue and the acclimation time that worked for me was several (4+) hours with heated/aerated water. The other option is to set up a tank at the store’s salinity and let evaporation happen over several days to get to the right level but not many people have the patience to do that.

Best of luck and keep us updated on what you decide and how it works.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I agree with the above post, Ive lost inverts a day or two later by rushing the drip method. The more time you give your inverts to adjust to higher salinity the better.

 

[The_Skrimp]

Thanks for the responses. I was definitely a little surprised when I measured the salinity in the bag water to find it was that low and I’ve never acclimated a critter this sensitive. I’ll definitely give it some thought before trying again.

 

[stacksoner]

I feel like these things are hit or miss. I had one that lived over 2 years and made it through every major tank catastrophe I had. Others have died within days of entering the tank.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Have you used Vibrant or Algaefix?

 

[Miami Reef]

Are they on the powerhead? They might just be getting sucked in.

 

[BryznNguyen]

Is the store telling you theyre keeping it at 1.019 or is it what youre measuring? If you havent already you should recalibrate your salinity checker if youre using a refractometer. It could be that your tank has a much higher salinity than what you currently have either way like the post above you should drip acclimate longer if the salinity is far apart

 

[Hallowhead]

Have you used Vibrant or Algaefix?

Is this a known reason for death ?

 

[sfin52]

The problems with seahares is they are starving by the time you buy one. I try to grab them with in a day or two being in the lfs. Even better if they never make it to a lfs tank.

The second thing is they have relatively short life span. 2-4 years. Since they are often wild caught the bigger ones are older and even shorter life span left. The bigger they are the easier they are to find.

Go for smaller ones and don't left them hit the lfs water.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Karen00]

Is this a known reason for death ?

Algaecides are harmful to inverts so is a possible reason for death but you would most likely see a bunch of invert deaths, not just sea hares although from everything I read about sea hares they are quite sensitive to water quality.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Is this a known reason for death ?

It is suspected. "Known" would be an overstatement. It has to do with the algaecide in Algaefix, which has been shown to be the same in Vibrant. Before the contents were known, I lost quite a few snails and a Sea Hare that I had for a long time while dosing Vibrant. I can't prove the Vibrant caused the deaths, but I think it did.

 

[DaJMasta]

The problems with seahares is they are starving by the time you buy one. I try to grab them with in a day or two being in the lfs. Even better if they never make it to a lfs tank.

The second thing is they have relatively short life span. 2-4 years. Since they are often wild caught the bigger ones are older and even shorter life span left. The bigger they are the easier they are to find.

Go for smaller ones and don't left them hit the lfs water.
Just my thoughts.

And if you know the LFS runs low salinity, even if they aren't starving, they could be dying from salinity shock after they get introduced to their system and transferring them to yours, while closer to their normal, isn't sufficient to keep them from dying. To be sure, though, have you checked the salinity of water from their invert system? A wise LFS that runs low salinity in a fish system would still keep their invert and coral systems at a more normal salinity.

Worth mentioning that powerheads can also be killers of them, make sure your flow is not too high and you have anemone guards in place on powerheads where appropriate.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Acclimation is super important and should be well over an hour and they do poorly with changes in:
Nitrates - ph- salinity - temperature

 

[The_Skrimp]

You know, now that I think of it, I was using vibrant back then. I was definitely losing snails while dosing it but I figured it was because there was less algae for them to eat. I still haven’t tried another sea hare since losing my last one but vibrant being the culprit would make sense.

 

[ReefGeezer]

You know, now that I think of it, I was using vibrant back then. I was definitely losing snails while dosing it but I figured it was because there was less algae for them to eat. I still haven’t tried another sea hare since losing my last one but vibrant being the culprit would make sense.

I have not tried another since mine died. There is some discussion about how long the ingredient in Vibrant is active. I'm going to try an Urchin first.