I'd like to ask for any available suggestions on what could be wrong with my female H. Barbouri, as well as possible solutions. I will upload an iPhone pic in my next post.
She has been in my seahorse tank (approx 50g) since March/April along with a male (who is currently pregnant). She has always been the most active of the pair, always coming over to see people as they walk by, sit on the couch, etc. She's always been a fantastic eater; yesterday she was 100% fine as far as I can tell.
Today, around noon when the lights came on, I happened to be home and fed her and the male. She didn't seem as interested in food as usual, and here is what happened: suddenly, she started spasming and jerking left/right, left/right about 4-5 times, then she stopped, looked up at me, and proceeded to swim around a bit. She ate maybe 1-2 mysis. The male ate like 10 mysis, although he's sulking in the shadow of his favorite branch-rock.
I went to class, came home, and found her tail stuck in the slits in the outflow area in my Biocube 29g. (It's drilled, has a sump, big skimmer, closed-loop, etc). I reached down (GENTLY) to check if she had her spines caught in the slits (she is an H. Barbouri, so she has large "spikes" along her body and tail). She seemed to release herself from the slits on her own. Then, she started SPASMING again! Again, it was 4-5 times, doing a left/right motion with her tail and body. Like she was doing ab-crunches exercising her obliques (if she were a human). She's been very very slowly puttering around listlessly since then (about 20 mins). She hasn't shown any interest in food.
Her eyes are responsive and will follow my feeding tongs around when I move them. She slowly swam up to the front corner of the glass where she always begs for food when I'm in the room. Then she looked at me and man, did I feel awful!!! My tank parameters are as follows:
1.024 - specific gravity
0-ammonia
0-nitrates
8.3 pH
~74.5 degrees (this is the highest the temp ever goes; usually around 73)
She shares the tank with her male, a pair of dragon-faced pipefish that seem quite healthy and have been in the tank for a couple of months without showing any sign of illness. Also, a Yasha goby, similarly healthy and a long-term tank companion. There are a few bristleworms (small), many snails and a couple hermits. Corals (non-stinging), and a clam that I'm about to remove.
She shows no sign of physical "broken-ness", at least none externally that I can see. However, she does seem unusually pale/translucent in her abdominal region! This is the only physically different thing about her appearance that I can detect. Normally she isn't remotely translucent like this. Her flesh in between her anal fin and her esophagus (sp?) is whiter, a little pinker, and more translucent.
The only recent live addition to the tank has been some home-brewed baby brine shrimp (BBS) that I've been culturing since the male showed signs of a permanently-distended pouch. I've been adding them to the tank daily since the pipefish relish them. I have made a newbish attempt at decapsulating them; I'm not sure if the eggs were successfully decap'd or not. (they didn't turn orange when in the bleach solution).
I do a 20% water change each weekend.
Specifically, has anyone ever noticed the following:
1-SPASMING left/right, as if a hermit crab were crawling on her tail and she wanted it to get off
2-listless
3-translucent/pale abdomen (this may be merely from not eating in 24 hours)
I'll post the pic in a bit.
Thanks!
Lee
She has been in my seahorse tank (approx 50g) since March/April along with a male (who is currently pregnant). She has always been the most active of the pair, always coming over to see people as they walk by, sit on the couch, etc. She's always been a fantastic eater; yesterday she was 100% fine as far as I can tell.
Today, around noon when the lights came on, I happened to be home and fed her and the male. She didn't seem as interested in food as usual, and here is what happened: suddenly, she started spasming and jerking left/right, left/right about 4-5 times, then she stopped, looked up at me, and proceeded to swim around a bit. She ate maybe 1-2 mysis. The male ate like 10 mysis, although he's sulking in the shadow of his favorite branch-rock.
I went to class, came home, and found her tail stuck in the slits in the outflow area in my Biocube 29g. (It's drilled, has a sump, big skimmer, closed-loop, etc). I reached down (GENTLY) to check if she had her spines caught in the slits (she is an H. Barbouri, so she has large "spikes" along her body and tail). She seemed to release herself from the slits on her own. Then, she started SPASMING again! Again, it was 4-5 times, doing a left/right motion with her tail and body. Like she was doing ab-crunches exercising her obliques (if she were a human). She's been very very slowly puttering around listlessly since then (about 20 mins). She hasn't shown any interest in food.
Her eyes are responsive and will follow my feeding tongs around when I move them. She slowly swam up to the front corner of the glass where she always begs for food when I'm in the room. Then she looked at me and man, did I feel awful!!! My tank parameters are as follows:
1.024 - specific gravity
0-ammonia
0-nitrates
8.3 pH
~74.5 degrees (this is the highest the temp ever goes; usually around 73)
She shares the tank with her male, a pair of dragon-faced pipefish that seem quite healthy and have been in the tank for a couple of months without showing any sign of illness. Also, a Yasha goby, similarly healthy and a long-term tank companion. There are a few bristleworms (small), many snails and a couple hermits. Corals (non-stinging), and a clam that I'm about to remove.
She shows no sign of physical "broken-ness", at least none externally that I can see. However, she does seem unusually pale/translucent in her abdominal region! This is the only physically different thing about her appearance that I can detect. Normally she isn't remotely translucent like this. Her flesh in between her anal fin and her esophagus (sp?) is whiter, a little pinker, and more translucent.
The only recent live addition to the tank has been some home-brewed baby brine shrimp (BBS) that I've been culturing since the male showed signs of a permanently-distended pouch. I've been adding them to the tank daily since the pipefish relish them. I have made a newbish attempt at decapsulating them; I'm not sure if the eggs were successfully decap'd or not. (they didn't turn orange when in the bleach solution).
I do a 20% water change each weekend.
Specifically, has anyone ever noticed the following:
1-SPASMING left/right, as if a hermit crab were crawling on her tail and she wanted it to get off
2-listless
3-translucent/pale abdomen (this may be merely from not eating in 24 hours)
I'll post the pic in a bit.
Thanks!
Lee
