disease help

[Allmost]

okay so I made a stupid move, and bought a WILD caught seahorse thinking I can save it :S well, I think I'm prety stupid !

took me a week to train it to eat, its eating but last night I noticed white spot by its eye :S could the peppermint shrimp have done that ? is that a disease ? I have no Idea ! he is black, and around his one left eye its white and looks like black skin is gone :S

I have no Idea, help please !!!!
this morning I get up, to see one of my old seahorses (the tiniest of all my old 4) is on the sand, and a peppermint shrimp over it (eating it ? ) and again same thing, part of its skin missing :S

I took the dead one out and left to work. please advice what I can do :S what ever it is, I dont want it to spread :S

my other 3 seahorses are fine, healthy, they are yellow not black in color, eat very well, and one is preggo.

any help/ advice is appreciated (Ray, u told me so ) but I think its the new addition and my stupid mistake of not QTing first


another change has been change of food, I used to offer them PE mysis, but last 2 weeks Ive been giving them hikari mysis since they are smaller in size and seahorses take them easier, but I guess less proteins in the hickary ? I'm gonna switch back to PE tonight.

would it be wise to leave work for a bit and just take the new guy with a white eye out ? is there a chance for him ?

lol sorry, just kinda too nervous.

 

[namxas]

yeah...you did indeed transgress on two cardinal sins of SH keeping there: not QT-ing and mixing WC and CB, which pretty much NEVER ends well.

Sounds like vibriosis to me. You'll need to pull the sick SH, get them into a 68* QT and start treating them immediately with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. IIRC, Furan 2 is the current med of choice for vibrio infections.

GL

 

[Allmost]

yeah...you did indeed transgress on two cardinal sins of SH keeping there: not QT-ing and mixing WC and CB, which pretty much NEVER ends well.

Sounds like vibriosis to me. You'll need to pull the sick SH, get them into a 68* QT and start treating them immediately with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. IIRC, Furan 2 is the current med of choice for vibrio infections.

GL

I know ! wow it was a dumb thing to do.

okay I will get a 10G after work, put the sick seahorse in there and see what medication (antibiotic I can find) would freshwater dip work ?

meanwhile, Im worried about my 3 remaining Reidis. they look fine they are yellow in color (they would turn black if stressed usually) they eat well and hitch well and .... . what can I do to be sure these guys stay healthy and not let this hurt them ? Ias I posted my 4th reidi died the other day ! but that one female was the most picky one and the most skinny one, so .... I have no Idea. should I grab a bottel of DT's copepods on my way home and feed the 3 reidis a bottel of pods ? just to give them strenght to fight what ever it is they are fighting ? any advice for them ?


I appreciate your help, indeed a stupid move, I just hope I can save my 3 reidis remaining, and one is preggo, so I guess I HAVE to raise their babies this time

 

[timinnl]

I think you need to tell everyone the temp you normally keep them in. I know you & Rayjay have discuss this before. It could be a factor in keeping the rest of the H. reidi alive.

 

[Allmost]

I think you need to tell everyone the temp you normally keep them in. I know you & Rayjay have discuss this before. It could be a factor in keeping the rest of the H. reidi alive.

Temp in tank is at 80.0

that's why I'm waiting for Rayjay to say "I told you so"

lol

BUT
the WC seahorse most probably brought the bad bacteria ! no garantee that it would not spread in lower temps. I checked with seahorse.org, at higher temps, they spread faster. I agree.

I used ZeoZym this past week as an experiment, its a steroid for bacteria, so I'm guessing now that well, the bad bacteria used the enzymes and spread faster.

both my stupidity, but still, I kinda have an explanation now.


now the other Reidis are doing fine, I'm gonna perform a couple of big water changes to see if it helps reduce the bacteria, feed them well and hope for the best.

on the same note, I AM in the process of upgrading my reef tank and seperating the Seahorse tank. but need advice from you guys, should I invest in a chiller ? or just let the temp be ? Ray, do you use any heaters or chillers ?

 

[namxas]

The temp was likely a contributor, as bacteria multiply much faster above 75*F.

If you can't cool your tank with fans, I'd recommend a chiller. I used to dread summer, but once we invested in chillers, it's one less thing to worry about. In fact, we have a coolwater lionfish that we keep at 63*F, which we'd never be able to keep alive were it not for the chiller on its tank.

The peace of mind is WELL worth the cost. I dunno what they're running these days, but check out "you-know-what"-Bay for factory refurbished Current Prime Chillers...we bought a handful of them when they first started selling them and they work fine.

 

[Allmost]

thanks Greg,

I hope they survive till Xmas, I'm gonna start cycling another tank now and let it cycle till Xmas. that's when I plan to upgrade my reef as well.


PS. where can one find pics of your tanks ? every pic I see from your set ups amaze me, would love to see more cold water lionfish !!!

 

[rayjay]

I'm sorry to hear of the loss you are experiencing as I've gone through it many times in my almost 5 yrs of keeping seahorses.
I've done a lot of stupid things in my earlier years so I know the feeling you get when you finally realize you shouldn't have done something.
I agree with the diagnosis and treatment in a hospital tank with the furan 2.
Do 50% water changes daily, replacing the correct amount of furan 2 for the water you remove.
I also use Bio-Bandage on any obvious spots of flesh erosion.
Just pat dry the area of the seahorse with a paper towel and apply the bandage to the affected area.
I don't remember which seahorses you got, but if it's the ones from Seahorse Sanctuary we will not be able to get them any more as they have ceased production as of this month.
However, I am happy with the ones from Aquamarine International although they only have the reidis.

 

[Allmost]

appreciate the kind words and advice Ray

now about the 3 remaining Reidis which are still in my tank,

would u say I should do huge water changes tonight and tomorrow in the main tank for them to not catch anything ? or would that just be useless ?

anything else u can think of for me to do to be sure the other 3 reidis wont die ?

I got mine from SEAUMARINE in Markham, Ken, but for 150 a piece ! yap, not a good day
lol

thanks all and dont mix WC with CB :S I tried to save a horse and killed a healthy CB !

 

[rayjay]

First off, I forgot to reply on the heaters/chillers question.
I have no heaters in any of my seahorse tanks.
I have too many set ups, four active and 4 sitting waiting for the occupants. (government paperwork the delay) and can't afford chillers for them so I bought a floor A/C that I hooked to the tubes to a window between two of the tanks and then hung plastic curtains to section off the area that has five of the tanks in order to keep them cool.
Only one of the three remaining tanks outside the curtain has livestock in it and I'm using two large fans blowing on it to keep it cool.
I haven't figured out what I'll use on the other two yet, especially the 90g.

Now, as for doing 50% water changes on your original system, I personally feel it will be a waste of water as the bacteria remaining are going to be multiplying so fast at your system temperature. To be effective, you may have to be continually doing those large water changes and that isn't practical.
I can't see a reasonable answer for you other than to set up a seahorse specific tank with NO water from the original system.
Sea U Marine is where I purchased both my Seahorse Sanctuary seahorses, and the Aquamarine International seahorses.

 

[Peka]

You could get away with setting up a small seahorse specific tank for your reidi by using some of the instant cycling sand and dosing with stability. Just keep an eye on the parameters. If I were you, I would really remove the reidi from the 80 degree tank... even if they don't have problems now, they will most likely in the future at that temp...

PM me if you need more info on that instant cycling sand....

 

[Allmost]

thank you all

I will be setting up the new tank over the weekend, planted to make it easier.

as of the seahorses, I think I have found the most important factor ! again my stupidity lol so I started feeding them for last 2 weeks with Hickari mysis instead of PE and Im sure they have starved and got weak and .... :S I reviewed the ingredients and it shows clearly how much extra proteins and ... PE has more. guess that played a big role as well, so switched to PE for now with a tropic marine oil fish food enrichment, which actually makes its way into the frozen food unlike selcon !

thanks all again I'm glad I at least have some explanation now.

 

[rayjay]

I don't buy that argument for the problem.
I feed my seahorses a mix of frozen Sally's San Fran brine shrimp and Hikari frozen mysis so that is no where near as nutritious as PE but most of my seahorse won't eat PE so I don't bother with it any more as I always have to siphon it out of the tanks.
I raised seahorse fry up to 4 months of age just on frozen brine after I got them off of live brine and then fed them Hikari frozen mysis untill they were sold at 9 months of age up to 14 months of age.
In any case, it would take a lot longer than two weeks for any deaths due to low nutrition.

 

[Allmost]

hmm thanks Ray, but you feed them multiple times a day, I only have time to feed them once or twice at max ! so why I thought its the food !

probably a combination of things lol

on that same note, you were right about copepods as well, latest batch of seahorse fry did not have good results on pods. I only cultured it for a month, then split it and fed them the older part, ran out withing days lol

there are still pods in the nursery, but they are on the glass while the fry are going round and round lol

so the new seahorse tank will have a Brine shrimp hatchery and grow out place, I also placed an order of Dan's powder thingi as well, hopefully I;ll have better chance this time, I think this round (I have a praggo seahorse which is about to pop again) I may choose like 10 healthy fry and just stick with those, could that increase my chances ? lol

I hate killing fry, but if I leave it they die too so at least I'm experimenting, so far, 3 batches, 7 days were the record :S maybe I should send them to u lol

 

[rayjay]

When I first started keeping seahorses I only fed twice a day on weekdays but three times a day on weekends and had no problem.
Now I'm retired I feed three times a day unless I'm away for an afternoon or evening.
I really don't think the feeding has any part in the death.
Don't buy a hatcher but instead use 2L pop bottles.
Cut the bottom off of one and then take another bottle and cut the top off, just a little above the point you cut the bottom off the other.
You want to cut this second one a little at a time until the inverted bottle fits nicely in the second and the neck of the inverted one sits firmly on the bottom which could now be called the base for the hatcher. 2L POP BOTTLE HATCHER

As far as the fry, using only ten will not really make a difference IMO as the method will work for large numbers if it works for small numbers.
It took me until my tenth try to find the right method for me to succeed.
I would dearly love to have any fry you won't use but I would be unable to do so until the 24th of August as I'll be away.
If at that time you have fry born and are not going to use I would really like to drive there and pick them up the same day they are born.
I think you already have my e-mail address so you could e-mail me and let me know if that situation arises.

 

[Allmost]

When I first started keeping seahorses I only fed twice a day on weekdays but three times a day on weekends and had no problem.
Now I'm retired I feed three times a day unless I'm away for an afternoon or evening.
I really don't think the feeding has any part in the death.
Don't buy a hatcher but instead use 2L pop bottles.
Cut the bottom off of one and then take another bottle and cut the top off, just a little above the point you cut the bottom off the other.
You want to cut this second one a little at a time until the inverted bottle fits nicely in the second and the neck of the inverted one sits firmly on the bottom which could now be called the base for the hatcher. 2L POP BOTTLE HATCHER

As far as the fry, using only ten will not really make a difference IMO as the method will work for large numbers if it works for small numbers.
It took me until my tenth try to find the right method for me to succeed.
I would dearly love to have any fry you won't use but I would be unable to do so until the 24th of August as I'll be away.
If at that time you have fry born and are not going to use I would really like to drive there and pick them up the same day they are born.
I think you already have my e-mail address so you could e-mail me and let me know if that situation arises.

will do for sure, thanks Ray

 

[ScooterTDI]

thank you all
I started feeding them for last 2 weeks with Hickari mysis instead of PE and Im sure they have starved and got weak and .... :S I reviewed the ingredients and it shows clearly how much extra proteins and ... PE has more. guess that played a big role as well, so switched to PE for now with a tropic marine oil fish food enrichment, which actually makes its way into the frozen food unlike selcon !

I agree with ray the diet change shouldn't have been a problem even with once a day feedings. The difference between the protein and fat content of Hikari and PE is much smaller than you may think based upon the numbers on the packaging. PE puts dry weight percent numbers on their packaging while hikari uses wet weight percent. You can't directly compare those numbers without conversion.

Scott