Crown Rot?

[tjdouglas]

Afraid that my H. Barbouri might have some sort of crown rot. The crown suddenly appeared white compared to the overall yellow color of her body yesterday. I gave her a 45 minute bath in Formalin and dabbed her crown with 10% povidone solution. I also changed 45 gallons of the tank water to reduce any pathogens and organics. She is eating quite well. Any ideas about what to do? The tank params are the following:
110 gallon tank
temp 72 F
SG 1.024
pH 8.1
KH 8
NO3 less than 5 ppm (API test)
PO4 0.00 (Hanna mini-checker)

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[rayjay]

TJ, it would be hard to get a definite diagnosis so soon after it occurred but the povidone and water change would probably do more good than the formalin bath because if it IS a real problem, I would think it is most likely due to bacterial influence rather than parasitic.
It would be an outside chance of coral sting but normally that would occur on the tail and sometimes the body.
Are any other seahorses affected or just one?
I'd be closely monitoring the situation which you probably already are, and if it remains, or if it spreads, I'd put it in a hospital tank and drop the temperature a bit more to 68° and treat with Furan II, ignoring the 4 day treatment mentioned on the package and continuing for a 10 day treatment.
Hopefully it will end up being just a temporary problem like a stress colour change.

 

[tjdouglas]

Dear Rayjay, thanks so much for the advice. So far none of the other seahorses seem to have a problem. I will place her in a hospital tank if things look worse. So I am guessing that should I place her in a hosptial tank you recommend the use of Furan II over a treatment of Kanamycin and TMP sulfa?

 

[rayjay]

I am now using Furan II after using Marine Maracyn and Maracyn II in my earlier years.
Basically I switched because of recommendations on the "org" as that is the treatment of choice for so many there.
Also, the Maracyns are gram negative for one and positive for the other and if you don't know what bacteria you are trying to kill off, you have to use both.
Furan II works on both gram negative and positive so it works out cheaper for me.
The Furan and the Maracyn's both worked for me but I haven't tried the Kanamycin or the TMP sulpha so I can't advise on that.
If we are lucky, Ann will see this thread and post.

 

[tjdouglas]

If you think Furan II is good then I should get some to have on hand. Still hoping not to have to put my Barbouri in a hospital tank, but will get some Furan II in case I need it.

 

[nanolover80]

HELP .... what do these guys have ?

HELP .... what do these guys have ?

rayjay, i have a hopefully small problem. My herd of ponies is dying off, they started out fine and as time goes on they have these black bots mainly along the back of the head all the way to the tail.

I know they have some sort of fungus, bacterial infection, or something going on. I treated them with pimafix & melafix, last night and shortly there after they just stop moving etc.

I removed them from that tank and placed them in another, they are back to normal now. So my question is what to treat this with, what the heck is it ??

Heres what i have on hand, furan-2, melafix & pimafix (im not going that route again), kanaplex .... help please.

 

[rayjay]

Well the picture isn't clear enough for me to determine anything.
I see fuzzy black dots but that is something I see on a lot of my seahorses, depending on species.
I've not heard of fungal disease with seahorses, and, in checking my "Working Notes"-A Guide to Seahorse Diseases, I can find nothing in there about fungus.
With bacterial problems where there is flesh erosion or tail rot I always use Furnan II, treated for ten days in a ten gallon tank, one pkt per day after 50% water change. Heavy aeration with open ended air line.
Until you have some confirmation though I wouldn't treat for this unless it was shown to be needed.
How many did you have and how many have you lost? What species are they?

 

[DanU]

Don't use either Primafix or Melafix with seahorses. It can interfere with their respirations. Their gill structure is different than most fish.

Dan

 

[nanolover80]

Thanks rayjay and Dan .. I know i have searched every forum and posted. Read most of the care tips and articles and still no answers.

rayjay, i started with 8 in a 3 gallon and they mated and had a bunch of fry. I removed the fry to there own grow out tank. They are (Hippocampus zosterae) and i lost all but 6 adults.

The fry at least seem ok, the adults and fry are eating live fresh hatched brine shrimp (half of the hatch ) then i added selcon to the rest of the BS and let them go for 12hrs and fed them with that.

So im at a loss here, no idea what they have, cant get a good picture of them, but thanks guys.

 

[nanolover80]

I have to say sorry to tjdouglas, sorry i didnt mean to hijack your thread, my apologies .

 

[TamiW]

Do you have a camera with a macro lens? Can you get one? If your phone takes pictures, they sell macro adapters for pretty cheap. I've got one similar to this. It's not fantastic, but it does the job.


As for your enrichment, selcon IMHO isn't very good, especially long term for dwarf seahorses. You really need something higher in DHA. Dan's Feed is a good option (from Seahorse Source). Variety is also important - adding live mysis gives them something to graze on, and copepods are also a welcome addition.

Fungus is pretty rare in syngnathids, but it does happen. Unfortunately it's black or brown, and you've got black spots. However without a clearer picture, I hesitate to say that might be it. Plus, funguses tend to be secondary infections to open wounds. If it is fungus, my treatment of choice is quick cure, which is malachite green and formalin. But it's tough on seahorses, so only use it if absolutely necessary. It has to be treated in a separate tank.

 

[nanolover80]

Tami, thanks for the response. I think things are under control .. cross finger and toes .. I will get back to you if things go south again.