how to treat a seahorse

jeffscustomcage

New member
i woke up today and looked at my tank raised kellogi seahorses from a lfs. one has a small patch of skin coming off i am getting the meds today but not sure what to treat with . i have a 10 gal hospt tank i am going to use. the seahorses have been in the tank for 2 weeks 29g 74deg i do a .5-1gal water change daily. what are the best meds and how much to use? tank has been up for 6-7 months
amon 0 nit 0 nitra 0 sal 1.023 ph8.1 phos 0
thank you
 
i am not very internet savvy so so for the question i have been looking for an hr and cant find what to treat with
thank you
what are the odds of them surviving if i start treatment tonight. is is just a small spot on his stomach about 1/4 of it on one side so far
 
there are no other tank mates some leather corals , gorgonia , mushrooms and zoos. live rock and crushed coral bottom. there eat frozen mysis but i noticed over the last several days they haven't been eating as much.
 
Unfortunately, you're experiencing what most peeps who buy the "kelloggi" from LFS...they don't do well.

Your fish likely has a vibrio infection, and the antibiotic of choice for SH these days is Maracyn 2. Dropping your tank to 68*F will retard the infection's progress.

Good luck.
 
Neo and triple sulfa are still fine, altho lately, Dan (and others) have been using Maracyn 2 with good results as well. If you can find it, you can use Neo 3 which is a Neomycin/triple sulfa combo.

Bottom line is that one needs a good broad-spectrum antibiotic and low temps to give them a chance to work.
 
started treating with maracyn 2 seem to be working sours are getting smaller hopefully it will make it
thank you
for the help

should i do a daily water change of maybe 1 gal its a 10 gal tank
 
If there is no biological filter then I believe the recommendation is to change 50% of the water daily, removing any excess food and excrement while doing it.
 
i have a air pumped sponge filter that was in my tank for an emergency. its the only filter is this enough?
they seem to be eating not as much but eating.
water temp 70
amon 0
ph 8.0
sal 1.023
havent test nitrate or nitrite
 
Do 50% water changes daily and use prime if you can to control ammonia. Prime is good because it does not impact the ph like some of them do.. Also put some extra airlines in the tank to increase the oxygen.....
 
sorry for all the questions but i am new to sea horses. i have been treating my kellogi's for five days. do i put them back into the tank if all the skin looks ok and not coming off? both seem to be eating ok. i will have to accumulate also? anything else i should do to the original tank before i put them back in
 
Going by your posts where you posted on the 19th that you started dosing Maracyn 2, you wouldn't have been dosing the full 5 days of treatment yet.
It is VERY important with antibacterial medications that the full treatment regime be completed so you are not helping to create bacteria resistant strains.
Don't be in too big of a rush to replace the seahorses to the display tank as in the marine hobby, "haste makes waste".
You have to be sure you have your water conditions under control in the display tank before you return your seahorses to it.
The most probable cause of the sore is bacteria which increases exponentially for each rising degree temperature above 74°F and is exacerbated by the bacteria being fed by, and providing a medium to grow on, from excess food and seahorse wastes that are not removed from the tank or handled by clean up crew.
Because you are new to the hobby it is possible that you are feeding too much for what they need.
Also, because seahorses are normally very picky eaters, a lot of what you put in the tank will not be eaten just because it doesn't look appropriate to them so it has to be eaten by the clean up crew, and if not, vacuumed out of the tank.
Excess food is usually trapped in and around the rockwork but can also be caught up in decor and when unseen is not removed, causing your type of problem.
As Greg already mentioned, the H. kelloggi coming into the hobby are known for this type of problem anyway, you need to be more diligent about housekeeping than ever before.
 
Even after the full treatment period of anitibiotics, I wouls still keep them in the QT tank for at least a week after that to make sure the symptoms don't return.
 
looks like i started on the night of the 17th when i got home from work. I will keep them in qt for a few more days.yes i was over feeding 1/2 a frozen cube of mysis. The tank was also at 76-78 degrees for a week now its at about 71-73 that's as low as i can get it without a chiller .chiller first before summer. I would like to get a larger tank and a chiller maybe a 75 gal in the future. i have about 6 hermits and 6 nasaris snails and 4 turbos should I get more of a clean up crew?

How often should i clean the bottom or vacuum it?
How many gallon water change daily or weekly?(29 gallon biocube)
live rock good or bad? (about 15-20 lbs)
2 inch crushed coral bottom
 
17th plus 5 days means you continue treatment until the end of the 22nd.
Different hobbyists have differing regimes for keeping the systems clean but the end result must be always that you minimize any potential for bacteria growth.
Number of gallons changed also is variable depending on each persons method.
Most people use live rock and some like myself use dead rock and cycle.
Some use substrate and others like myself don't.
My tank husbandry is probably overkill but as I've lost a number of seahorses when I started out, I now try to make sure that whatever a seahorse might die from, it's not from something that is within my power to control.
MY SEAHORSE TANKS HUSBANDRY
 
If the parasites are the cause and being external you may be able to give relief to the seahorse by giving it a 12 minute fresh water dip, with water matching the temperature and pH of the tank the seahorse is in.
If the seahorse thrashes around then it's a sign the parasites are being affected by the freshwater. Leave the seahorse in for the 12 minutes unless it stops respiration or won't move when touched.
When a seahorse has problems like the original complain, the system is stress and pathogens start to take over when the natural immune system is compromised.
 
what is the best way to match the ph? I have never done a freshwater dip.
they arent thrashing around . They are just scratching. should i treat with another medication or treat longer?
 
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