IMO, the bubbles from equipment are NOT the cause of the bubble disease.
I think I have my terms mixed up, cavitation is the formation of bubbles, not caused by bubbles. It's been a while since I looked into it and the term escapes me.You mean like the mini power head that I have in each seahorse tank that sucks up bubbles from the rigid air line tube and spews out very fine bubbles?
I haven't had problems from them in any of my seahorse tanks.
I may be wrong but I believe I've seen a post by Dan Underwood saying that people at a public aquarium have discounted that as a cause.
Maybe he'll see this and give his opinion.
I have a pair on a 10g tank for around 9 months now. (I know a 10g is too small they are going to move to a 29 once he is over this issue). Tank has been up almost a year now.I have a small air driven skimmer in the tank but it's in a back compartment so there isn't really any micro bubbles in the main display part. I'll do a water change today yet and go from there. Also the bubbles are appearing on his tail.
ph is 8.0, s.g. is 1.024, temp is 78, nitrates are around 3. Don't really test for anything else in the system.
The chances of super saturation occurring in a hobbyist tank I consider to be slim to none.I think I have my terms mixed up, cavitation is the formation of bubbles, not caused by bubbles. It's been a while since I looked into it and the term escapes me.
But, the supersaturation I am thinking of is caused by bubbles going through a pump - but its not all bubbles. The bubbles have to be small enough, and the pump has to create the right type of low pressure that forces the gas into a liquid state. And then you must have inefficient off-gassing (example: surface agitation), to release the super saturated water.
This can cause gas bubble disease in all fishes, though seahorses, being more prone to gas bubble disease, are more likely to have it show up first.
I don't think its common in home aquariums, but there are circumstances it can occur. Especially if someone is trying to go with low flow and little surface agitation, but has a skimmer that "chops" bubbles or pump that is pulling air through the impeller (and a few other possible causes, but likely not in most home aquariums).
I'm not sure what you are "off-gassing but I don't know how a skimmer is going to do it. A skimmer actually doesn't do much in the way of gas exchange of CO2 and O2. The bubbles that are small enough to work a skimmer have a surface tension that the dissolved organics attach to, preventing and gas exchange of significance. A large disturbed surface area in contact with sufficient oxygen content in the air works immensely better.Though skimmers themselves also act as an off-gassing device, so it might just be a wash.
I can understand the need in public aquaria.I believe it's been ruled out as the sole cause, but many public aquariums now have off-gassing systems for their seahorses to compensate for gas supersaturation. I was surprised to learn somewhat recently that pubic aquariums still do struggle with gas bubble disease. Nowhere near as bad as the past, but it does still happen.
Yes, IMO, water quality is the biggest cause of problems and failures in the seahorse hobby.All that being said, water quality does seem to be a different but important cause of gas bubble disease. And that is probably what we see more in home aquariums. But without knowing what someone's system is, I prefer to check for all the possibilities.
Yeah, your tank is too small. I wouldn't wait to get your pair in the new tank, I'd do it sooner rather than later (cycling first, of course). Also, the temperature is too high, it should be no higher than 74 for tropical species, 72 for erectus. I wouldn't drop it down immediately, but a degree or two a day will help.
What other filtration are you using? And how often are you doing water changes now? A nitrate reading of 3 in that small of an aquarium makes me very suspicious and I can't help wondering if the test kit isn't bad. I'd also check for phosphates, if anything, high phosphates will indicate that the nitrates aren't necessarily testing true - either being used by microalgae or the test kit itself being wrong.