HELP New Seahorses Not Eating and Laying on Bottom of Tank

[Horse]

I have an erectus male and female pair in a 15 Gallon QT tank. They just arrived this morning from Seahorse Source. I had them in the tank by 11:30 AM. They haven't eaten at all. I tried spot feeding them with syringe right in front of them a several times and they refuse to eat. The Mysis shrimp are at the bottom of the tank with them now but they still will not eat. Heavy breathing. Snout and belly down. They look like they are suffering. It doesnt seem like they will make it. They've been this way since I first introduced them. I was hoping they were just getting acclimated but it seems something is very, very wrong. I've been running back and forth to Petsmart and the grocery store about 4 times today. (more RO water, new test kits, thermometer, salt, Seachem, .) Im rushing and very stressed. They are in a 15 gallon bare bottom Hybrid QT tank. BioBalls from display tank and filter running creating lots of bubbles. I dosed the tank with 10 mL of Seachem starter bacteria.

Ammonia 0.00 PPM
Nitrite 0.00 PPM
Nitrate
Ph 8.2
Hydrometer 1.022
Temp 71 degrees fahrenheit


What can I do? The male is swimming well now and fluttering around, but still hasn't ate. The female seems to be doing worse. She is practically huddled into a ball. Snout and belly down. They will be right on top of the Mysis but not eat.


Should I add in live rock from my display tank? 120 gallon. I'm hesitant to because I've discovered something that looks like white hair algae in that tank and I need to go to the store again and get more RO water for another water change. Nitrates are too high and its showing low levels of ammonia. Don't have the stats of the display tank on hand now.




Photos will not upload. But their abdomens look a bit caved in from starvation I think

Please help ASAP

 

[rayjay]

First of all it is completely normal to possibly have such stresses seahorses when they first arrive.
I would never expect them to eat right off the bat although many do so.
While they maybe do have some problems, it's also possible that this is normal for them considering what they may have been put through in their journey to get to your tank.
I never have a hospital/Q-tank with biofilter as many times I will have to use a medication that will kill off the biofilter, or, a med that will require large water changes daily or every other day perhaps, and this helps to ensure that I vacuum up any detritus/uneaten food daily.
I provide hitching in the tank of aged salt water, with OPEN ENDED air lines for heavy aeration and some water movement (without small bubbles produced by air stones), and do 50% water changes daily. (my hospital tanks are 10g)
You don't mention the breeding source of these seahorses so I don't know if they are wild caught, tank raised, or true captive bred. Hopefully you have purchased from one of the recognized better seahorse breeders as that at least gives the seahorses better odds of surviving, IMO.
Sometimes seahorses that are shipped to you will suffer from ammonia produced in the bag, that upon opening the bag becomes much more potent with the changing pH. It's usually best to get them into new water as soon as possible, matching s.g. and temperature as best you can without the time consuming habit of floating the bag in the new water.
Did the breeder give you acclimation instructions?
At this time you can't do much for them other than to keep the tank heavily aerated and clean of any debris. Keeping the temperature down as you have is also a plus, but you can go down a bit more to 68° if any signs of bacteria show on the seahorses.
What size tank are the seahorses going into and what water movement and filtration methods are you going to use?
I would NOT add anything from another tank as that will increase the chances of introducing pathogens that they aren't already exposed to.

 

[redhorse]

I see they are from seahorsesource. Have you contacted Dan? He has great seahorses, I know this because I have some of his Captive bred ponies. Sometimes the stress from delivery can cause issues. I personally don't QT dan's seahorses because of the way he raises them (but everyone has their own opinion on the subject).
Keep us updated.
They should be eating/swimming fine by now.