air bubbles around eyes

Gandolfe

Gandolfe

New member
My male seahorse had bubbles under his skin around his eyes. He seems to be eating still and has had them for over 2 weeks and he still gets around tank fine. Any suggestions as to what I can do to help him? I don't want to use the needle thing to pop them! It seems like to much stress even though I have bought very small needles and used them once but they came back. I didn't feel comfortable popping the bubbles and medication where he has to ingest it is pretty much out of the question. the female id fine with no signs. I can't see where the tank is getting any micro bubbles. Any advice would be most appreciated. They are in a 40 gallon breeder with a full load of macro algae. the algae has doubled since in the pic
 

Attachments

  • Macro tank 6172013.jpg
    Macro tank 6172013.jpg
    63.9 KB · Views: 2
I've not experienced anything like that.
I think it best to post this on the "org" where the chance of getting the problem solved would be best, just in case time is a factor.
 
Like I said I know about Diamox but there is no way to get him to ingest it. I never even see them eat the frozen food I put in every day. They have to be eating because there is no way they are living solely of the pods in my macro tank. Today I looked at him and almost all the bubbles are gone...go figure. I'm gonna hook a UV light up on the supply line running from the sump to the macro tank as another precaution. The LFS sells the seahorses for $19.99 and I just wanted to give them a better home then the tank they were in. Maybe I should have left them for someone else. These are not internal bubbles, but bubbles under the skin, so Diamox probably wouldn't help.
 
The bubbles under the skin don't come from bubbles in the tank. Sadly, I would disregard the article on gas bubble disease on eHow. It is very poorly written.

Diamox (Acetazolamide) works as a bath therapy and does not have to be ingested. It is given 250 mg per 10 gallons daily for 3 to 5 days to reduce the bubbles. This works very well for superficial bubbles around the eyes or tail. It does not treat the underlying cause of the bubbles however.

Gas bubble disease is poorly understood in seahorses. In most fish, it is caused by supersaturation of gas in the water. In seahorses however, they can get it without the supersaturation. While we don't know the exact mechanism, we have learned over the last 10 years that reducing the organic load in the tank helps prevent it from re-occuring. This means running a very good protein skimmer on the tank, having substrate that doesn't build up with detritis, making sure canister filters are cleaned frequently, increasing flow in low flow systems, very good mechanical filtration, probiotics and a review of the stocking denisity. Doesn't always mean every one of this things have to be done but each should be considered and evaluated based on the current system.

We have pretty much eliminated gas bubble disease in our systems despite having very high numbers of seahorses on hand and have a 98 % or high success rate helping customers eliminate the issue.

BTW, the UV light can be helpful but if the water is not prefiltered down to the micron level prior to the light, the efficiency drops and will give a false sense of security. Money would be better spent adding or upgrading the protein skimmer.

Dan
 
thank you for the response but alas he was dead this morning. I am considering taking the female back to the LFS to find a good home for her so she doesn't end up dead too. I will not attempt a seahorse tank again until I have my water levels pristine! or it is a stand alone tank just for them. As for filtration I have a canister filter running just carbon and fluval pellets. I also have a phosphate reactor and a bio-pellets reactor. My skimmer is rated for a 200 gallon tank on a 125 with a total water volume of less then 200(maybe 160). As for flow I have 2 closed loops running, 1 is 1200gph and the other is 1000 gph, I also have 3 400 GPH powerheads in the DT for added flow. in the macro tank I have a 290 GPH powerhead at one end and the pump supplying the water to the tank is a 650 GPH at the other end and they point at each other in opposite corners. The macro tank dumps into the DT and I have a 10 gallon Mangrove tank with 11 mangroves as well. I put a sea cuc in the macro tank to help with detritus build up as well as a coral shrimp, snails and now it has a good supply of bristle worms for clean-up too.
 
I probably shouldn't have but I just bought a male to replace the one that died from a LFS wholesale store... $15 plus the mangrove pod it was hitched to and it's pregnant
 
Gandolfe said:
I probably shouldn't have but I just bought a male to replace the one that died from a LFS wholesale store... $15 plus the mangrove pod it was hitched to and it's pregnant
Click to expand...

You are 100% correct, you shouldn't have. Do you have everything on hands if things goes wrong?

Kind Regards,

Tim
 
The price is the tell tale that the seahorse is NOT true captive bred and as such it is best to deworm it because of pathogens that are likely to present problems.
Also, as you haven't rectified the water conditions that caused the original problem, it is most likely to happen again.
The least I would have on hand is Diamox, as it is too hard to get in a hurry when needed, and Furan II for the often found bacterial problems that occur, also due to water conditions usually.
For the deworming, the protocol is a 3 drug, 9 week affair, done in a hospital tank, and can be found here
 
I already said it was wild caught, the tank it was in had2 other seahorses in it, one with tail rot and the other looked as if it was dead. I was buying it more to save it from that tank then the bargain it was. I would rather have it be happy in my macro tank if it is indeed going to die then die in a tank that had dead fish in it as well as a single mangrove pod floating for a hitching post! Hopefully I can get a few if not all the babies to survive!
 
MY bad I thought I did, it was on another site, sorry. They are erectus and in the tank they are in there are numerous copepods and amphipods already due to the massive amount of macro. I have Cyclops and will get some rotifers today, as well as spirilina enriched brine shrimp and Mysis shrimp. I squirt some in through a baster about 3 times a day and I have a feeding station set up too. I will get some live brine the day they hatch.
 
Any pod life forms that they would have an interest in will be quickly decimated while the others will keep their populations healthy.
You shouldn't need the rotifers for erectus fry, and the Cyclops will be OK once you have weened the fry onto non live foods.
The mysis shrimp is excellent for the adults, even better than the spirulina enhanced BS.
If you feed them enriched live adult brine shrimp once or twice a week, they should have sufficient nutrition to live a long life if the tank conditions are right.
When the erectus fry are born, you have to have live enriched baby brine shrimp for them to feed on as they won't eat enough non live to survive, if indeed they do feed on non live food at all.
You sterilize or decap brine shrimp cysts and hatch out for a day and then rinse well and place in new water for another day. After that day, add enrichment in small doses as too much can wipe them out, and after 12 hours of enrichment, change the water and add new enrichment for a second 12 hour stage.
At this point you are ready to rinse them and feed them to the fry.
 
I set up a 10 gallon tank with a corner filter, air stone and a fake plant for anchoring too. I used a tank divider to separate the filter from the rest of the tank so the fry won't get suck into it! Just waiting for daddy to poop them out...LOL
 
I personally use open ended air lines for water movement, and don't use filtration. I change the water every 48 hours and clean all surfaces including hitching because the fry are quickly decimated by bacterial infections. Hitches need to be skinny as the fry won't be any larger than adult brine shrimp when born.
I would be experimenting with hatching the brine shrimp ahead of time because it can be a bit much starting out at the same time as the birthing.
Besides, you don't want to have to wait a day or two before feeding them if you only start the hatching at birth.
 
It looks like he had them last night but I can't see any anywhere in the macro tank. I put him in the 10 gallon to see if he still had more in him but his pouch looks almost empty and he was a different color too Could it have been something else besides pregnant? Or could the babies have been eaten by bristle worms already or just hiding in the macro
 
Sometimes a male just inflates his pouch, posturing to attract a female.
Colours change at the whim of the seahorse as they change according to mood or surroundings.
IME, the bristle worms don't eat the babies unless they're dead already. Also, as the bristle worms don't swim much, and the babies stay in the water column, especially attracted towards light, they don't come in contact much anyway.
Until you get to see fry in your tank, it is easy to miss them when you don't know what they actually look like, being so small, and some can be almost colorless, while others may be black.
If you suspect they are in the macro, shut off flow and put a strong light source near a clear spot in the tank, and the fry will swim to it.
It's also possible they were born and swept into the filtration.
 
I guess time will tell. Crossing fingers but his pouch was inflated before I bought him and stayed that way every since. The store owner said she got him in a couple of days before I bought him and that was on Monday. so it's been at least 7 days. I'll try the light thing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Bristletooth chasing butterfly
Replies
1
Views
274
Reefing102
Reefing102
L
Help! Mysterious white spot found on the side of my seahorse.
Replies
2
Views
699
vlangel
vlangel
NancyT3
Appropriate light for anenomes and sea star
Replies
7
Views
744
NancyT3
NancyT3
H
High ammonia in 24 year old tank
Replies
15
Views
1K
brandon429
brandon429
Itchy Trigger
DC Pump Recommendations Needed
Replies
5
Views
372
Itchy Trigger
Itchy Trigger
Back
Top