Help! Mysterious white spot found on the side of my seahorse.

[lmroger3]

Help! This morning one of my two seahorses seemed like he/she was struggling to swim. It stayed down at the bottom of the tank for a while and wasn't being very active. Still alert and moving, but not eating right now.

Upon closer inspection, we found this large white spot on one if his/her sides. There's no sign of infection or disease on the other seahorse or any of the other fishes, so it seems to be isolated to this one. Could it be some kind of wound or an injury? I started to go down the Google rabbit hole, and thought someone here might have more concrete advice. This is the first time I've seen anything like this, and I've had this guy for about a year and a half now.

Water chemistry levels are within normal ranges of everything and the water temperature is around 72 degrees.

 

[griss]

@vlangel you know seahorses, correct?

 

[vlangel]

Help! This morning one of my two seahorses seemed like he/she was struggling to swim. It stayed down at the bottom of the tank for a while and wasn't being very active. Still alert and moving, but not eating right now.

Upon closer inspection, we found this large white spot on one if his/her sides. There's no sign of infection or disease on the other seahorse or any of the other fishes, so it seems to be isolated to this one. Could it be some kind of wound or an injury? I started to go down the Google rabbit hole, and thought someone here might have more concrete advice. This is the first time I've seen anything like this, and I've had this guy for about a year and a half now.

Water chemistry levels are within normal ranges of everything and the water temperature is around 72 degrees.

I have had erectus seahorses and that looks like a skin infection to me. If you can get Furan 2 or Triple Sulfa I would begin treatment in a hospital tank immediately. I have even used a 5 gallon salt bucket with an open airline for aeration for a HT. Follow the direction on the package. I heard that any sort of animal antibiotics are no longer being sold but hopefully that is only a rumor. Best of luck with treatment.

For your tank and other ponies, as far as water parameters, seahorses are different than other fish. All your normal parameters can be good but the thing that attacks seahorses is pathogenic bacteria and there are not test kits available to the aquarist that measure vibrio bacteria. Because of the mysis shrimp that seahorses eat and the fact that they are extremely wasteful, vibrio can get a foothold and build up very quickly in a seahorse tank without the aquarist being aware of it. The only way for aquarists to combat pathogenic bacteria is 1. Keep the temperature within 72- 74°F (as the bacteria grows slower in cooler water). 2. Use an oversized skimmer. 3. Do consistent large water changes and syphon out any detritus. I hope this is helpful.