Dying Seahorses - help!

[freund]

I have a 55 gallon seahorse designated tank with 4 mated pairs of seahorses. It is professionally maintained with an RODI water system. I've had the seahorses for 2 months - they came from a very reputable source. They were doing great - eating well then about 3 days ago one of them stated hyperventilating but his eyes were still bright, there was nothing on his body and he continued to eat well. But his body started to almost "deform" for lack of a better word. Last night he was curled up on the bottom of the tank and this morning he's dead. About two years ago, I experienced this same problem with another set of seahorses in a nano tank. Within 4 days one died and the remaining two got the same symptoms and were dead within a week. I searched last time this happened and I couldnt' find anybody to tell me what happened and how to cure it. Can anybody help me?

gfreund5@aol.com

 

[redhorse]

Try going to Seahorse.org. There are very knowlegable people there. Some visit here too. Good Luck

 

[cmsargent]

When you say "deform" is the body blowing up like he's bloated? If so this my be internal gas bubble disease. Although with that they often float and have swimming issues. Hard to say for sure. It could also be some sort of internal bacterial disease. Both of these can be treated. I'm not an expert though. I'd get help from the folks at seahorse.org. They have a disease forum and helpful people who can walk you through treatments.

Do you have a hospital or QT tank? If you need to give them drugs (and you likely will) you'll need a QT tank as most of them will kill the biofilter in your main tank. I'd make up a bunch of extra water and get a QT tank ready.

Also many of the bacterial infections spread faster in warmer waters. For that reason most folks recommend keeping seahorse tanks at around 74 and lower them to as little as 68 when treating a disease. I don't know what you keep your tank at but you might consider lowering the temp.

Also what species do you have? 8 seahorses seem a bit many for a 55. What are the water parameters?

IF this is IGBD you need diamox to treat. If it's bacterial you'll want baytril, neomycin, and/or triple sulfa. Diamox and baytril you'll need to get from a vet. Neomycin is a livestock drug that you can find in feed and farm stores. Triple sulfa you can usually find in LFS.

I'd look into finding these drugs (its a good idea to have them on hand anyway), get a QT tank ready, and talk to the folks on seahorse.org to get more info.

Good luck and don't give up. I just finished treating a bacterial infection in one of my horses and he came though it just fine.