H. Reidi females breathing rapidly (gilling)

tjdouglas

New member
Yesterday one of my female reidi seahorses started breathing much more rapidly. I gave her a 45 minute formalin bath and put her back in the display tank. Now a second female reidi is demonstrating the same symptoms. My male reidis seem unaffected at this time. All are still eating well. Anyone have any idea on how I should treat this? I thought this might be caused by gill flukes, but I have not been able to see any so far.

Thanks for your help!
 
First thing I would do would be to transfer them to the hospital tank with new water and same temperature, after first doing the 12 minute FW dip. Slowly drop the temperature to 68° so that whatever is affecting them at least won't make it worse by having a bacterial infestation.
I don't know that anyone can tell for sure the exact cause of the rapid respiration but in my case I do a fresh water dip for 12 minutes to see if parasites are evident.
If the seahorses thrash around when placed in the fresh water, it is usually a sign of parasites exiting from wherever and often you can see them in the water if you look close enough.
The dip is done at the same pH and temperature of the water they come from, and are left for 12 minutes, unless they become unresponsive to touching them.
Unfortunately I have had some that didn't show parasites and I didn't know what to treat for so next time if they don't show parasites, and don't have any sign of bacterial problem, I'm going to assume an internal problem and treat with diamox and see what happens.
 
Thanks so much Mtc1966 and Rayjay! Both females are looking a lot better today. Maybe they were just stressed out for some reason yesterday? I will do a major (50%) water change today, and if they start seriously gilling again I will place them in the hospital tank and follow the FW dip as Rayjay suggest.

Many thanks to both of you for the suggestions!
 
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