Sea Hair caught in maxi jet

[tg1119]

I had a sea hair and it got caught in my maxi jet and was cut very badly. Got it out but a small about of the purple blood/ink got in the tank and quickly disappeared. Should I do a large water changer? Is this going to cause any problems in my tank? Also how long will my hand be purple?

Thanks
Todd

[JimD]

Id do a water change just to be safe...

If your slugs started to produce ink then they were a group of slugs we call Sea Hares (http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=seahares). If you go to the General Topics Index you will see a list of Fact Sheets on these animals including one on their inking behaviour (http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=seahatac) and one on their mating behaviour (http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=seahmat). All sea slugs are hermaphrodite, which means they are fully functional males and females.
Sea Hares are not usually considered poisonous, although it is probably not good to eat them. There is a large species in Western Australia however that has been known to kill dogs. Have a look at the messages listed under the Fact Sheet (http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=aplygiga) on Aplysia gigantea for reports of dog poisoning.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jan 5). Comment on Are sea slugs poisonous? by Tess. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=19115

[tg1119]

Well I just got home from class and everything looks just fine. I am going to do a 5 gallon water change on a 30 gallon tank. Thanks for the help. I will make sure I keep my dog away from the bucket just to be safe.

[apedroza]

That happened to mine a couple of days ago and I didn't spot it until a few days afterwards. No i'll affects to the tank but I did a water change anyways and ran my skimmer wet.

[crossxfire2]

sea hares produce toxins that are poisonous to other animals in the tank when they are stressed.

[emac]

i thought that they only produced toxins if they eat toxic algea like Bryopsis? i had one get caught once but he was dead when i found him in the morning