How to feed a malnourished seahorse

[Daenerys]

I have taken him out of an abandoned by tenant tank - cold and dark, I nagged the house owner to sell it to me so I could save some fish (Cowfish went to the LFS who know me).
I couldn't find out how long the tank was left in this condition - not for the lack of trying.
I drove 110 miles on Thu & Sat, and I don't have the tank & stand I bought yet as I need a moving help, planning on THU.

I fed him first in a transport bucket -frozen mysis shrimp, he was picking it from the surface.

He is in my 20g now with Remora skimmer and Fluval 105.
He moves about tank, mostly between a heater & thermometer which are at the opposite corners of the tank. I think he has tested most of the rocks already. He is very shy and I try not to look at him too often or too close.

Feeding seemed quite messy so I want to put another filter
Fluval 305. What materials do I put it ?
I have Purigen, some Phosphate remover, sponge.

I couldn't see in the dark tank how skinny he was, I only saw at home and was shocked. He is a black seahorse, like h.comes. He is long too.

Do I feed him 1 or 2 daily?
What should I enrich food with???
I turn off pumps for feeding.

Please don't be angry with me for trying.
Thank you

 

[madeyemary]

How is it looking? Skinny? Can you see the flesh between the spines sinking in? Maybe a picture would help.

I feed mine twice a day and I target feed with tweezers by dropping the food where the seahorse is clearly looking; they're not too fast so you want to make sure it doesn't blow away before they can eat. Some people set up feeding stations. For your little guy, I would offer food more often, maybe 3x a day to give him some extra nutrition. It's a really good sign that he's eating frozen, means he's already trained on it and you don't have to deal with finding live food in case it's a wild seahorse. Oh, I enrich the mysis in Selcon. The breeder I got mine from (Southwatch) enriches with Vitachem.

Nobody will be mad at you; I couldn't leave an abandoned horsey to die either. Good on you for trying.

 

[JLynn]

You mentioned that you had rocks in the tank, but do you have hitching posts? Hitching posts are basically anything a seahorse can wrap their tail around and hang on to, and they let seahorses take a break from swimming. If you don't have hitching posts, a few fake plants/corals from a LFS will work just fine. Also, seahorses are best kept in tanks of 72-74 F, so the heater is unecessary. This is done because it has been shown that pathogens reproduce exponentially more quickly in temperatures of 75+ F. Anyways, good luck! I hope he recovers!

 

[Daenerys]

Thank you for understanding.
yes, he is skinny, there are indentations between his spines...like when you suck in your stomach, but it's everywhere. I have some corner rocks but I'll add a few plastic plastic plants.
I don't know what the temp will be without the heater, the room is 70-71, but it's winter.
I will reduce it to 74 per your advice.
He hid in the cave for the night.
He has a very sad face.
How do you set up a feeding station?

 

[TamiW]

If you're able to get PE mysis, I would add that to his diet, it's very high in fat, a good way to bulk up your seahorse. If not, try enriching live brine shrimp with Dan's Feed from Seahorse Source. Or do both.

Good job on the rescue AND noticing how malnourished he is - this is something many people miss.

I'd get the temperature to 72; because he's weekend, he may be more prone to bacterial infections. If you do notice any infections, reduce even lower to 68 degrees. And make sure the heater is covered - seahorses can burn themselves on heaters.

I agree with feeding 3x a day until he starts to bulk up. Heck, even 4 times a day if you're able to swing it. Just very small feedings. He may not be able to handle large feedings right now.

Good luck!

 

[Daenerys]

I was very lucky as I found a clear wide tube from my FW tank that is 2" longer than the height of the SW tank, so I put the mysis cube in the water inside it. The tube is lodged into a glass bowl on the bottom.
He immediately noticed it and i was lifting the tube up and releasing a few shrimps for him to catch.

He has eaten twice today. 9am and 1pm. 2 more to go.
I will put 2 flute glasses for him to hitch onto. I will put the feeding tube inside and release the food where it won't be moved as much.
My rocks do have narrow edges.

I will check the diseases pics to see if he is healthy otherwise.

I'll try to move his original tank tomorrow.
How do I post pics on here?

 

[Daenerys]

I think he is H. erectus now

I think he is H. erectus now

he is swimming around the tank in search of shrimp.
He can bend backwards and look up for food too.
I had no idea how hard it it for a seahorse to swim with 2 tiny fins on head and a dorsal. Whenever I saw one in the aquarium it'd always be hitched on something. How do the survive in the ocean...
He looks OK, fins look clean, no spots.
I think he is erectus as he has a few lighter spots on his tail.
Someone on here had the photo of a similar horse.

 

[Daenerys]

prettyfishy76 has his photo in avatar

prettyfishy76 has his photo in avatar

prettyfishy76 avatar photo - who is he?

My seahorse looks better since Sat : his tail is smooth , he is brown and not black. got 2 lighter spots on tail too.
He has a lot of white beads where are the edges of his skeleton.
I signed up for Tapatak but not sure how to post pics &videos. Please HELP!

 

[Daenerys]

I think he is Lined seahorse

I think he is Lined seahorse

Since he got some different color to him today, I am sure he is a Lined seahorse.They all got mixed up in my head.
They have such huge bellies when pregnant(never occurred to me to look for images before as I wasn't planning on getting them).
And I thought my belly was enormous with my sons :lol2:

 

[prettyfishy76]

prettyfishy76 avatar photo - who is he?

My seahorse looks better since Sat : his tail is smooth , he is brown and not black. got 2 lighter spots on tail too.
He has a lot of white beads where are the edges of his skeleton.
I signed up for Tapatak but not sure how to post pics &videos. Please HELP!

The seahorse in my avatar photo is a female h. erectus. When I originally ordered her she was light yellow. Then, she turned very dark, almost black with lighter saddle markings. Then, when the photo was taken, she turned a burnt dark orange.

 

[madeyemary]

Hope you and the horsey are doing well still! To post pictures, you may have to do it from a computer. You have to create an album in your profile and then upload them there. You have to copy+paste the link when you are making a post, click on the little picture icon (the yellow w/ mountain) and paste the link there. Hope that helps.

 

[Daenerys]

Thank you for asking!
He is eating well. he recognizes me as his friend now- less afraid.

His pouch is showing now.it wasn't half-round *at all*.
My pics are too big, need to re-size them.

 

[JLynn]

Glad to hear he is doing better!

 

[Daenerys]

I obtained some cheato algae 2 days ago and the seahorse gave me quite a scare as I found him sitting on the sand next to the algae...
Upon closer look : he's picking something off the sand that I can't see.
Maybe I should buy some copepods and amphipods for him to graze on ???

 

[madeyemary]

You don't have to, but most tanks eventually have a population of pods, mostly from any macro or sometimes live rock that goes in. It's not crucial to the health of your seahorses, so I would spend my $ on something else pretty to go in the tank!