Help! Seahorse won't eat!

[larocqjs193]

Hello. I am somewhat new to having a saltwater tank and seahorses. I have had my two seahorses for a few weeks. I also have a scooter blenny. When I first got the seahorses they would go on and off not eating, which I assumed was from the stress of the transition. So when one seemed sluggish and didn't eat, I wasn't too alarmed but it is on the second day of not eating and not moving much. I've been trying to do some searching on what it could be and how to get it better, but I'm at a loss as to what to do. I see no signs of parasites or discoloration. Any help would be great!

 

[rayjay]

Well there could be a lot of different reasons but it can be very hard to find out the real cause most times. If it is parasitic in nature, a 12 minute fresh water dip matching pH and temperature can give an indication and possibly some relief to the seahorses. If the seahorse thrashes around when placed in the dip, it usually indicates the emergence of parasites as they exit the seahorse and die, and indeed, you can often see them dead in the water.
If there is no thrashing it would indicate the problem in not likely to be external parasites.
Are you keeping the tank temperature between the recommended 68° and 74°F?
Are they wild caught, tank raised, or true captive bred?
What species and how big are they? What size is the tank?
Seahorses are often put off their feeding by the stress of movement by other fish in the tank.
Make sure there is no trace of ammonia in the water.
You can find some of the basic needs of seahorses by reading the links at the BOTTOM of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping", written by experience keepers and by perhaps the most helpful breeder in the US.

 

[larocqjs193]

As far as I know, they are captive bred seahorses. I have tested the water and nothing is out of the norm. I was not keeping the water below 75 and that could be something, but the store they were bought at kept the temperature at around 78. They are the lined or kelloggi seahorse and are only about 6cm. The tank is 29 gal(I know, on the edge). I was considering a parasite to be the problem but I had not tried the FW dip because I was worried what it might do to the seahorse, I don't have any experience with a FW dip.

 

[rayjay]

There is a BIG difference between a kelloggi seahorse and a lined (erectus) seahorse. That tank would be too small for a pair of kelloggi.
At 6cm, it's not likely that they are true captive bred, but rather tank raised, as I know of no true captive bred breeder selling off the stock before they are sexually mature and about 9 or 10 cm long.
Temperature of 78 would not be the problem in this short of a term, but could possibly be a problem down the road, even though there are some that do succeed at that temperature.
At this point the most likely possibilities for the problem are parasites picked up in the breeding facility and from the system the store kept them in, as well as possible pathogen transfer from the blennie; stress created by the movements of the blennie.

 

[noy]

I have a similar issue. I had my Erectus seahorses (RB - about 3 inches in size) for about 3 months now. I have 1 male and 2 females. All were very active and ate regularly and quite eagerly. They actually recognize the feeder (Julian's thing) and will come to it.

However, one of the females has not eaten for 2 days now and does not seem very interested in food generally. I don't really see any discoloration or anything like that. I don't see any parasites or any scratching behaviour. She is a bit lethargic but still moving about in the tank.

The tank is a 60 gallon cube - with a lot of nps (gorgonians). PH is 8. Temperature is 74-76. The last few days it got up to 77-78 during the day - I run the fan constant to keep it at around 74. NO3 and PO4 are higher than in a reef (probably around 10ppm and 0.08 ppm).

I just tried a fresh water dip - she thrashed about a bit. To be honest - I really don't think the thrashing was due to any parasites - she was just anxious to get back to her spot from the breeding box I did the fw dip in. I freshwater dip all my new acquisitions so I'm fairly familiar with routine. From what I know fw dips are only effective vs. marine ich (debatable), black ich and velvet. I really don't see any signs of these parasites.

I was going to let her rest tonight and see how things are. In the event she still doesn't eat - what would you suggest? I have bacterial meds (Paraguard, melafix). I also have prazipro. I was going to set up a small qt and a med bath in it. What meds would people recommend?

 

[rayjay]

IMO, if the seahorse did any thrashing, it has parasites of at least one type even though I can't tell you what they are.
Cilates can be a problem with seahorses and lead to non eating, but many other things can too.
I seldom know what is negatively affecting my seahorses at any given time other than when there is bacterial damage visible.
Did you leave the seahorse in for the full 12 minutes? Even so, FWDs don't usually have success on endoparasites.
If you had checked the water with magnification, sometimes just a magnifying glass is sufficient, you would likely see the exploded parasite remnants.
In lieu of evidence leading to definitive diagnoses I end up guessing what treatments to use, and treatment method depends on a hobbyists previous experience, or what they have read on the matter.
First thing I would do is be prepared for tube feeding and get a syringe and cannula so that you can make a food mush that will go through the cannula and be deposited PAST THE GILLS of the seahorse, if the seahorse continues not eating. Waiting MORE than 4 days may be too long to get the seahorse to start eating again even if the original problem has been remedied.
My biggest problem is that I don't know which meds are safe to treat at the same time, as time is often the leading reason for success/failure I believe.
I would love to treat with Diamox for the internal organ problems, along with an antibacterial treatment, and an added parasitic medicine.
I have used Diamox with Furan II together the last time I treated, but it was after treating with metronidazole which was my first guess for treatment of internal parasites, and I ended up loosing the seahorse anyway. Maybe if I had use a combination to start, I might have been successful.
When I had done the freshwater dip, there was no thrashing at all, and there were no visible signs of a problem, so I went with treatment for internal parasites first.
Unless you can see a wound/damage on the seahorse, I wouldn't start with the melafix. The prazipro will handle many kinds of parasites, but maybe start with your paraguard first as it is supposed to be for treatment of parasites and bacterial problems so it would at least cover some of two possible problems. If you could determine whether or not it could be used along with Diamox, then I would do the two treatments together.
It has always been my choice to treat in a 10g hospital tank and reduce the temperature to 68°F.

 

[noy]

Going to try paraguard dips per the directions.

Will see how that works out.

I bought some Furan II - but the directions seem to suggest its more for external bacterial infections and I don't see any signs of that. Will try that after the Paraguard regiment.

Not really liking the force feeding idea but will do it if required. I have a recipe for pulverized Mysis that I have been testing on gorgonians anyways.

 

[larocqjs193]

I'm not really sure about any type of medications. Unfortunately, the seahorse didn't make it, and long story short, I think depression has been the cause. Either one has been the odd SH out, or their friend has died. They start by hiding in what I now call "The ship of death" and stop eating all together. I don't know if medicine will help that, if it is even the problem. I don't even know if buying another SH would help at all. I'm on my second attempt at keeping them, and if it ends the same way, I think I'm done. I have no other solutions.