burping h. reidi air bubble. need help!

[dREEFd528]

my SH which is an h. reidi has been with me for about 8 months. his friend, another male, died from a huge bistle worm. yesterday i noticed that he was swimming funny and did some research. i am now about 95 percent sure he has an air bubble trapped in his pouch. i tried to massage it out but it did not work, then i tried using the bobby pin trick. he was not happy with me and kept squirming around and i could not get that to work either. i really do not want him to die because i just ordered him in a female and he has been such a good seahorse eating out of my hand and wrapping around m fingers when i went in the tank.
my question is, is there any other way to do this without puncturing him or getting the medicine ( i am not oppsed to either idea, its just i cant find a catheter that is thin enough and i do not think i would have time to order medicein and start treating) if anyone has any help or happens to have done this themselves, please lemme know and i will take any advice i can. i would even pay and drive out if someonelocal has done this before. hes a good SH and i want him to keep doing good. if it matters he is about 6.5 inches from head to tip of tail.
thanks
erik

 

[NanoLurker]

how is he "swimming funny"? if you hold him at the bottom of the tank and let go does he float to the surface? is he floating belly up? i'm trying to hand a handle on his symptoms. medicine (diamox) is generally called for if he has pouch emphysema or EGBD. this is a different condition than just air in his pouch which can normally be cured by doing a pouch evacuation.

 

[TamiW]

I am no where near you, so I couldn't actually give you a hands on demonstration. I tried video taping it just now but my comptuer crashed when I tried to export the file. I would say try to get a catheter; a vet should have one and you should be able to get one small enough. A 20 gauge or smaller is ideal. I've almost always had to tease the pouch open; it just takes too much pressure to do it without any tools to get the pouch open for me to feel comfortable.

Also, if it takes a few days to get what you need, I wouldn't worry too much. It will tire him out and he may not be able to feed, but if he was healthy before he should make it through just fine. You may need to help him hitch, and even put hitching posts near the top of the tank for the time being.

 

[pledosophy]

Your being humble Tami.

Click here

 

[dREEFd528]

he swimming more horizontile than vertical and you can tell he is exerting a little more energy into swimming than previously. hes usually fairly active for a SH but now he just hangs on to his gorgonian all day long. i am going to go to the vets after work today and see if i can get a catheter. ill let you guys know how it all works out and thanks for your help.

pledosophy--thanks for the website, i actually had found that earlier on someone elses thread and i think it is one of the better explanations of how to do it. thanks

 

[Nano-Nag]

dReefd528...

If it's any consolation, it took four people to perform a pouch evacuation at my place.

One teenager to hold the seahorse, one to shout out "helpful" instructions and tell remaining teenager on the side to shut up, one seven year old to retrieve flashlight and glasses, and one Mom with a bobby-pin.

Fortunately (for the seahorse), we didn't have to deploy catheter.

Shay