A sad day in our house

[ade]

Last week my wife and I took the trip down the tha Atlanta Aquarium and left our tanks in the hand of the in-laws. After a great w-end we came home to see that the tank with the SH had a temp of close to 80. We had 4 TR kuda's which were doing great. We had a call on the Sat from the inlaws saying that they could only find 3, we didn't think much about it because they like to hide once in a while. Well we came home to one mising and one with half his tail rotting off and the other two not hiching but feeding fine. done a 20% wc and unplugged the heater and cooled the tank back down to 75. Treated them with what I had on hand which was Maracyn. One with the rotten tail lasted another day or two. Then the other two showed signs of somthing that was not normal. well we lost another today and the last female is holding one. But I hate to see her suffer. She pick at food but just lay's on the bottem of the hospital tank. Breathing is slow and she is not hitching.
I knew that temp was a main factor but didn't think that it would do that much damage so fast.
They all acted different. Could they have had different problems?
After this lost I don't know if I can bring myself to get more. It is like a member of your family dying.
So I guess to all of you that are looking at keeping SH be ready for anything and read all you can.

 

[Wink]

I'm so sorry. I know the pain you're feeling and a couple of times I have sworn I would never get more horses because it just hurts so much if you lose one.. let alone three.

 

[luvabunny]

Temp was probably not your main factor. A temp near 80 is not recommended, but definitely not a quick killer like you had.

Lots of questions : You say tank raised. This means different things to different people. Please clarify if these were horses ever subject to any WC fish or diseases.

How long have you had them? Where did you get them from? Did you get all 4 at the same time from the same place?

What are the other inhabitants of the tank? Any WC fish? Are any missing? What size tank are they in?

It sounds to me like the temp may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back. Tail rot doesn't come on within a day or two. It takes some time. My thoughts are that your horses were suffering from some bacterial disease (possibly vibrio) which just manifested itself when the heat got too high.

I'm sorry about your loss. Good luck in saving your remaining horse. Whether she lives or not, I wouldn't add any more horses to that tank for at least 6 weeks.

 

[sloshesv]

What a bummer. Sorry, buddy.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I lost my 3 year old Reidi and Barb to a horsesitting mishap. Very sad indeed. Sorry for your loss.

 

[ade]

Well to try and answer the ? asked. The SH came from Sea Dwelling Creatures via LFS. I got one one week then another 3 the next. They sai8d that they were tank raised and ate right out of the bag.Frozen mysys. They were about an 1.5" and I placed them in a 25gal tank. They were all doing great eating like pigs. The tank had ben set up for going on 3 years just as a Zoa and mushroom tank. There had been fish in that tank but had been placed to larger aquariums. They were about 3-4 months old befor we took a road trip. I had been doing a 5 gal water change every week. The remaining SH is holding her own and is eating again so I am x-ing my fingers.