sea hare vs. lettuce sea slug

king7 · 01/15/2006, 08:04 PM

i have some hair algae problem in my nano tank. Doing some research, i have come across two slugs that can get rid of them for me. However, i found that both can give out a chemical that can kill the fish/coral inside the tank. Since this is going inside a nano tank, if they do release the chemicals, it might kill everything inside the tank.

Has anyone ever had any experinces with sea hare or lettuce sea slug?? which one do you recommend me to try??

Any help would be much appreciated.

shinny · 01/15/2006, 08:21 PM

I have had 2 lettuce sea slugs. They do not release toxins. They do not live long in captivity though. Mine have yet to do any damage to my hair algae either. They do like to clean the glass though. I have heard the the sea hare is the way to go for hair algae. The problem with them in a nano is they are big and get big quickly. You could always sell it back to LFS if it got too big.

andynyc · 01/15/2006, 09:17 PM

I wouldn't advise keeping a sea hare in a nano unless you're in COMPLETE control of the conditions of your tank. Fluctuations in temperature and salinity, ph, etc. you name it can happen FAST in a nano tank. If your sea hare becomes stressed or dies (due to the changing conditions) it will release toxins in your tank which will be disasterous to all your inhabitatants.

king7 · 01/15/2006, 11:52 PM

thanks for the help everyone

just curious, has anyone lost fish or corals due to the sea hare's toxins??

king7 · 01/16/2006, 04:00 PM

bumping it up one more time just to see if anyone have an experiences with the sea hare

I really want to get ride of my hair algae

reefmutts · 01/16/2006, 04:27 PM

I have had Sea Hares in the past and they do graze the HA. I bought a total of 3 at differnet times since they do a pretty good job. The problem is they did not live long couple months and rather than killing a 4th I stopped buying them and concentrating on better maintenance.

Once they died I found no ill effects to my tank. This is only my experience. I have SPS and LPS and Clams

01/15/2006, 08:04 PM	#1
king7 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: bay area, ca Posts: 67	sea hare vs. lettuce sea slug i have some hair algae problem in my nano tank. Doing some research, i have come across two slugs that can get rid of them for me. However, i found that both can give out a chemical that can kill the fish/coral inside the tank. Since this is going inside a nano tank, if they do release the chemicals, it might kill everything inside the tank. Has anyone ever had any experinces with sea hare or lettuce sea slug?? which one do you recommend me to try?? Any help would be much appreciated.

01/15/2006, 08:21 PM	#2
shinny Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 161	I have had 2 lettuce sea slugs. They do not release toxins. They do not live long in captivity though. Mine have yet to do any damage to my hair algae either. They do like to clean the glass though. I have heard the the sea hare is the way to go for hair algae. The problem with them in a nano is they are big and get big quickly. You could always sell it back to LFS if it got too big.

01/15/2006, 09:17 PM	#3
andynyc Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 216	I wouldn't advise keeping a sea hare in a nano unless you're in COMPLETE control of the conditions of your tank. Fluctuations in temperature and salinity, ph, etc. you name it can happen FAST in a nano tank. If your sea hare becomes stressed or dies (due to the changing conditions) it will release toxins in your tank which will be disasterous to all your inhabitatants.

01/15/2006, 11:52 PM	#4
king7 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: bay area, ca Posts: 67	thanks for the help everyone just curious, has anyone lost fish or corals due to the sea hare's toxins??

01/16/2006, 04:00 PM	#5
king7 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: bay area, ca Posts: 67	bumping it up one more time just to see if anyone have an experiences with the sea hare I really want to get ride of my hair algae

01/16/2006, 04:27 PM	#6
reefmutts Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hood River, OR Posts: 200 Blog Entries: 1	I have had Sea Hares in the past and they do graze the HA. I bought a total of 3 at differnet times since they do a pretty good job. The problem is they did not live long couple months and rather than killing a 4th I stopped buying them and concentrating on better maintenance. Once they died I found no ill effects to my tank. This is only my experience. I have SPS and LPS and Clams