Save My Sea Hare?

[Dave D]

Hi all,

This is my third sea hare in five years or so and, like the rest, he's now showing a small hole on his back after a week or two in my 250-gal reef. At present, the hole is similar in size and shape to his rectal opening - very prominent on a sea hare - and hasn't grown much in the last 24 hours. But if I let things go, I expect that the opening will expand and he'll split open and die in a week or so. Is there any way to prevent this? Quarantine? Medical dip? Why does this keep happening to me? My reef is stable, has good chem values and has TONS of green algae, which the sea hare is happily devouring, even now.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Dave

 

[Donya]

Not sure what you mean by a small hole. Dolabella sea hares usually exhibit both a hole in front and a hole in back: http/www.wetwebmedia.com/MolluscPIX/Gastropods/Opistobranchs%20Sea%20Slugs/Anaspidea%20Sea%20Hares/Dolabella%20wwm.jpg

I think you probably need to post up more info before anyone can have a guess at what's going on. It would be useful to establish why your other sea hares died as well.
- How long did you have your sea hares for (past and present), and were there any behavior changes before death?
- What species sea hare have you kept?
- What else is in the tank, or do you have another thread somewhere with your stocking listed?

If there are actually open sores on the sea hare other than just the usual openings, something probably bit it, which can lead to an infection. I'm not aware of any meds that would be safe to use on a sea hare that would combat an infection. At any rate, if there is evidence that something is picking at the sea hare, get it into a QT tank ASAP. It may be able to recover if isolated, but even if it doesn't recover, in a tank that large you'll want it out of there while you can still find it.

However, my more optimistic guess is that you may just be seeing natural deaths. Some Dolabella sea hares are commonly sold as adults and are short lived species anyway (2-3 years in the wild), so quite a bit less than that in captivity(sometimes no more than a year) isn't unusual before old age visibly sets in. Some species live longer, but reliable reports are hard to come by. Signs of old age are slowing down, little or no continued growth, spending an unusual amount of time resting, and decrease in food consumption despite abundant food and an appropriate diet (this separates natural aging from starvation). These changes occur over a few months and are common to pretty much every other gastropod species I've seen, both sw and fw. Sometimes when Dolabella sea hares are either almost or completely dead, the flaps covering the internal cavity and shell separate as the body contracts, which is the closest thing I can think of to the "splitting" you mentioned.