Gas bubble disease. Help. (Maybe)

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afm32607

Member
I've had the seahorses for four or five months. It's the black one in the video. Is it sick or is it a male? (All are captive bread and supposedly female. They all eat, even the sick one)

I feed them daily mysis. And use phosban, purigen, and chemipure in filter. Also have a HOB skimmer by aquamax and a HOB refuge more for food that anything else.

I've attached a picture to the thread. The spot I'm looking at is the bottom of the seahorses belly. Non of the other have that and I asked for females only. Other than the swollen belly part. It seems fine. It's eating normally and not swimming any more than usual, or than any of the others.

Sg 35 ppt
Nitrate <20ppm (just bought seachem test and it's terrible so it could be as low as 5 or as high as 25ppm)
Ammo and nitrite 0

Thank you for your time
 

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Problem is that when you buy from someone who isn't the breeder you often get immature specimens and sex cannot be determined yet.
All seahorses look like females until they reach sexual maturity.
That one in the picture does look like it's developing it's pouch now.
Unfortunately the majority of seahorses sold in stores are tank raised, not true captive bred ones. Usually these are a bit cheaper than the true captive bred ones.
 
these were $79 to $99 a seahorse, two supposedly have cooler patterns though only one seems to have developed a nice saddle pattern, from southwatchseahorse.com. All i got were good reviews about the place, I thought they were the breeder.

So in the event that oneis a male, I'm going to assume it was an accident, do I have to buy more males? (i.e. do they need a 1:1 male to female ratio?) Or should I trade him in and buy a few more females down the road?

I am not interested in breeding them. I don't think I have the patience to raise the young and I don't want to have the tank crash if they pair up and start breeding.

If I wait to see what happens and then trade in the male I will have an odd one out. Is that something else to worry about?
 
As far as I know Southwatch is only selling captive bred so that part is OK.
However, they must have sold them a bit early so they couldn't be absolutely sure of what they sent.
You don't need any specific ratio, and, even though you have a male, that doesn't mean it will pair and produce fry for sure. I have a LOT of seahorses and none of them are producing right now.
They won't crash a tank if they do breed and you don't remove the fry, they will just get caught up in whatever mechanical filtration you use and you just clean it out.
 
Hi,
I have two females and two males one of my males has been trying to get pregnant for over eighteen months and still hasnt.

If your females wont mate with him dont worry, if they do just do what rayjay said do.

Hope you enjoy your sh just like the rest of us do.
 
So the male seahorse is now swimming upside down. It is still eating and hitching fine.
Nitrates are at 5 ppm
Phosphates are undetectable

I do biweekly waterchanges of 10-20% and gravel vac all the sand I can get to.

Only thing I have changed is the addition of chemipure to the power filter and a reduction of gfo used.

I do have lots of micro bubbles but the reports of that as an issue seem iffy.

While I don't test ca or alk for this tank I have been treating my new water with alk buffer for the past month or so to keep the alkalinity up in my reef tanks. Could the increased alk in the new water be a problem?

I tried to tip it on its back and get the bubbles out but my first attemp was not successful as nothing came out. I'm hoping I didn't hurt it. (Though its eating now 020 mins after i grabbed it).

I read,from one of your posts rayjay, that using a plastic pipette or something similar can be more effective.

Does anyone have any specific directions, or better a video, on how this is done?

If there are any suggestions on better maintenance routine or equipment let me know. Only think I can't do is change water more often right now, though I can change more at cleaning time.
 
For water flow I have 2 koralia 550 Evos hooked up to a 'wavemaker' set to run one at a time. Bought it for the feed mode as the plugs are not safe to touch with wet hands.

Should I buy another two?
 
A seahorse swimming upside down is normally a sign of pouch emphysema.
In the picture, the pouch doesn't look large enough to be a problem.
However, you will have to check closely near the anal opening to find a pouch opening.
If there, use a rubber tipped bobby pin to gently open the pouch while holding the seahorse upright and under the water. By opening the pouch, the gas inside should escape and that will allow for normal swimming again.
If the problem returns, flush the pouch with new salt water matching the ph, s.g. and temperature of the tank water.
For persistent emphysema you may have to flush with a solution of Diamox in water.
The flushing is normally done using a cannula on a syringe.
There is still a chance that this is a female and there will be no pouch opening, and what looks like the start of a pouch is a gas bubble.
In that case, you need to place the seahorse in a 10g hospital tank and treat with Diamox. You need to have hitching near the top so the seahorse can hold on to it.
Pouch emphysema, like gas bubble disease is normally caused by water conditions, even though the water may look clean.
IMO, a seahorse tank needs 25% water changes weekly to prevent a gradual build up of "dirty" water that can cause this and many other problems.
 
hey guys i would like to chime in, i have had my male and my female have some wierd thing going on where the eyes are getting puffed up with oxygen maybe and its like a bubble eye goldfish. and i have had them in my QT bathing in furan 2 ( advised by seahorsecorral) and the male died and the female is still alive but doing very bad. she has buoyancy issues and is not eating. i guess its popeye not gas bubble from my research. hopefully someone knows what i can do before its too late if not its ok maybe it can help.someone else later. thanks in advanced.


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Popeye can be a manifestation of gas bubble disease, or a distinct illness. It tends to be secondary to something else. Are you keeping the tank with the furan 2 darkened? Furan II breaks down in light. Also, have you dropped the tank temperature to 68F? If not, I'd do that over a period of a few hours.

If she has buoyancy issues it could be internal gas bubble disease or the swim bladder malfunctioning. Unfortunately, the bouyancy issues aren't diagnostic either. Can you start your own thread and post pictures, along with a little more history?
 
When I made first post it was right side up. The upside down part is new.

I did like u suggested and found a pouch but it won't open. Maybe I'm not pushing hard enough with the hair pin(with the rubber tip) or not in the right spot. When u say tease the opening do you mean move it left and right as if I wanted to push the pin inside the seahorse or that by massaging the pouch it will open on its own?

It's very squishy though and seems to have gotten bigger.
 
I will definitely cut back in the eating and ill look into another skimmer rated or a larger tank. I will try changing the water weekly as well.
 
Any recommendations as to how I get diamox? My dog vet can't help, my doctor won't do it, the fish vet transferred me to the animal hospital who then told me to call back later she was going to lunch and when I called bak they wanted me to bring it in to them in a bag... No joke
 
If it is a pouch, you will still have to open it to flush with fresh salt water, or eventually with Diamox.
Don't treat with Diamox until you have exhausted other means.
It's not uncommon to have a vet say to bring the fish in for them to see.
Years ago when I first had to do a pouch evacuation it took me a while to be able to succeed as I was so afraid of doing damage.
Eventually I was able to succeed with much wiggling around of the bobby pin, and it has always been easier since then.
Did you open the bobby pin up so only one tip is at the pouch opening?
 
Well one side is longer than the other so it's just one pokin around. I guess I'm worried that by physically opening the pouch I will hurt the openings muscles.
 
Ok. Just to follow up with my story. The problem has worked it self out. I never found how to pop the seahorse and have thus far been unable to find diamox.

If anyone is interested in speculating on a cause I did two possible things to fix the problem. The first was a big 35% water change. Most people suggested that as a solution long term and maybe it helped.

The second thing I did was cut the heaters power and forget to turn it back on for 6 hours. This caused a temperature drop from 76 down to about 70ish.

I appreciate all the help and advice you guys gave me. Thank you.
 
The lowest my heater seems to want to go is 75. The box says it should go to 65 but there is a lock that stops it. Its an eheim so maybe i'm just slow...
 
I don't have any heaters in any of my seahorse tanks as they never get below 68° due to room temperature.
In fact, many seahorse keepers need chillers to maintain the temperature range recommended.
 
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