24/7 lighting for a seahorse?

[JennyL]

Looser,
80F is NOT ok for any species of seahorse. Please lower the temp to at least the mid 70's for the sake of your seahorses. It may need to be even lower depending on what species you have.

Yes, it does make a differance that the temp is stable but at the "correct" temp. It's best not to vary the tank temp more than 2 degrees in a 24 hour period for seahorses.

Tank temps is only one of many reasons not to keep seahorses in a reef setup but rather in a tank dedicated to seahorses only.
Their keeping requirements are differant.

HTH

 

[ReefNutPA]

Agreed. 80F is too warm for seahorses....even tropicals.

Tom

 

[looser]

ok .... I will drop the temp to 77 until I can get a seahorse tank set up. I don't want to lower than that because it is primarly a reef set up.

But could someone please explain why the temp differance? I'm not doubting it, I just don't understand. Don't the seahorses and tropical fish come from basicaly the same areas like Hawaii? Isn't the natural water temp about the same?

 

[pledosophy]

The reason behind the lower temperatures is seahorses often carry a bacteria in there digestive system called vibrio. This bacteria grows faster and becomes more aggressive at higher temperatures. It is a more ideal environment for the bacteria to grow.

Through the necropsies of several seahorses Labdoc has found that many seahorses are asymptomatic carriers for the bacteria. Meaning that they can carry the bacteria for long periods of time (I purchased an adult WC reidi who I had for 5.5 years before ever shwoing any syptom) without ever showing any sign of illness.

If the bacteria gets to strong, or if the seahorse is in a weakend state the bacteria will be able to take over and cause an outbreak of vibriosis which can present itself in many different forms (tail rot, snout rot, sloughing of the skin, instant death, etc.)

At certain temperatures the different strains of vibrio become non factors. That is why often when you see treatment advice for vibrio related illnesses one of the first suggestions is to drop the tank temp down to 69F or below. The bacteria is far weaker at the lower temps, and easier to treat.

Different species of seahorses originate from different palces in the world. Most seahorses, with the exception of Ingens who can occasionally be found in waters with temps in the high 70's and low 80's, are found in waqters cooler then we typically keep our home aquariums. Some species of seahorses even need to be kept at temps in the 60's (some recommend 50'sF) to have long term succsess.

 

[looser]

pledosophy - Wow. . . thanks for the wealth of information!

 

[WaterKeeper]

And since a Seahorse has a limited digestive system then a case of cholera can be a major drawback. :eek1:

I won't dispute that Vibrio is a major pathogen but I see no conclusive proof that it is enteropathic to Seahorses.

Folks there is a lot of speculation into the pathogenic ability of the various Vibrio bacteria to cause the demise of Seahorses; yet colon analysis does'nt support this basically enteric pathogen as a major player in Seahorse disease. I would be hard pressed to declare it temperature dependant.

 

[lfduty]

Go to Wallmart and get you one of ther 20 g tanks and put it up and go frum ther with it if your like me you have Xparts laying a bout I know i have loooooooooooooooooots of parts.

 

[looser]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7774868#post7774868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lfduty
Go to Wallmart and get you one of ther 20 g tanks and put it up and go frum ther with it if your like me you have Xparts laying a bout I know i have loooooooooooooooooots of parts.

ifduty - Unfortunatly I just got rid of most of my extra parts, and the one thing I definetly don't have is an extra chiller. I just set up a geo thermal cooling system on my display tank. Looks like I might be setting up another one on a seahorse tank. Although it sounds like a seahorse tank might be a bit eaiser and less costly to set up than a reef. It sounds like at least less lighting and fewer pumps. Would I still need a skimmer?

 

[looser]

waterkeeper - sounds like the jury is still out on bacteria growth and the relationship to temp in seahorses, although based on my highschool biology class, maybe just a few years ago, (make that decades ago) bacteria do like warm places so I can see that there would be some logic to that. But in any case its not going to create a problem for me to drop the temp a few degrees so I might as well.

BTW - Its been about 4 days now since I put them in the fuge and they seem to be doing well so far. They are active and seem to be looking for food. Can't tell if they are finding any or not though. I'm concidering letting them loose in the fuge for a day just to be sure they are well fed at least once. I just don't want them to wipe out my pod population.

Do they eat none stop or just until they are full? My brother had a cold fresh water tank stocked with local fish once, including some small bass. Those things would litteraly be full of feeder fish until they where hanging out of their mouths, and they would still be chasing feeder fish around trying to eat them. If seahorses are anything like that my Pods would be wiped out in a day.

 

[TamiW]

Are you offering them any supplimental food? Frozen mysis? I doubt enough natural pods could be washed in to feed them enough.

 

[looser]

FishGrrl - no supplimental food yet. I'm going to pick up some frozen mysis tomorrow. In the meantime I think I'll let them loose in the fuge for overnight.

 

[looser]

Just let them loose in the fuge. Thier just hanging onto some algea looking around. No lack of food now though. Tons of pods and live mysis crawling/swimming around. I was hoping if they were hungry they would go right into eating mode. Maybe after they get used to the new environement they'll start, or maybe their just not hungry?

 

[looser]

well...looks like they are eating. Although I don't think I have anything to worry about as far as them eating all the pods in my 75 gal fuge. Unless of coarse all the pods decide to commit suicide and swim over to them and line up to be eaten. The seahorses basically just hang on to some algae and wait for the food to come to them. God forbid they actually have to let go of the algae to get the food. They'll stretch out a little bit to reach for a pod going by but that’s about it. Very interesting animals to watch, but I can see why they would have a very difficult time competing/surviving in my reef tank. I'm also a lot less worried about being in a rush to set up a seahorse tank. I think they would do just fine hanging around in my fuge waiting for pods to come by for a very long time. Although it is very difficult to watch them with the fuge under my display tank, behind my RO water barrel, with the fuge sides covered in algae, and tube worms, and what ever else is growing there. I'm thinking a seahorse tank would make a nice birthday present for my daughter this fall.

 

[DanU]

I see no conclusive proof that it is enteropathic to Seahorses.

Finding any conclusive proof on seahorses is difficult. Just not enough money for research.

Vibrio is commonly found in seahorses during necropsies. In many cases it is present even though it was not the cause of their demise. The speculation is that it can be present and a non issue in a healthy non stressed seahorse. But then, the same can be said with mycobacteria.

Dan

 

[WaterKeeper]

I agree Dan. Many pathogens are opportunistic and only manifest themselves as disease under the right conditions.

BTW Dan, and unrelated, as a breeder do you know of anyone who is actively breeding Leafy Seadragons? There is another thread that was asking about it and I really didn't know.

 

[DanU]

I know of a bunch that are trying. Virtually everyone that has them is trying. Seems to be a problem with egg transfers. There is a lot going on with them, especially with public aquariums but I don't know of any confirmed cases where they have been bred in captivity.

Dan

 

[WaterKeeper]

Thanks Dan. :thumbsup: