I am worried about my male Kuda

[Duddly01]

Yesterday he didn't eat at either feeding and seems listless. I don't see anything physically wrong with him and he is breathing normally, but is sort of just laying in the red grape kelp, not really holding on much. What could it be and how do I make him better?

Yesterday I finally installed a chiller. The temp would spike up to 79-80 in the afternoon. The chiller seems to be keeping it at a constant 74-75 now (haven't seen it under 74.2 or above 74.8), but it hasn't been 24 hours yet so we'll see how it does during the day. I am going to check every hour or so today.

JBJ 24DX nano
JBJ arctica nano chiller
amm, nitrite, phosphate - 0
nitrate - under 20
ph 8.2

 

[cmsargent]

That's a pretty big temp drop for the horse to adjust to so suddenly. It would have been better to slowly drop the temp over several days.

Could be the lower temps are making him lathargic. I'd watch him for now and see if he'll eat again at the next feeding. If he's still not eating in a couple of days then you'll need to reconsider what might we wrong.

You said he's not holding on. Does his tail look stiff, like he can't bend it. Any discoloration, whitening of the tail. Those could be signs of a tail infection. Keep an eye on it for now.

 

[Duddly01]

He was actually looking lathargic before the chiller addition. I checked the temp every hour today and it never went above 74.9 (a few minutes after the lights and fans went off, the chiller was on) and never below 74.2. It was usually on 74.4-74.5. He is more active today, and he pooped quite a bit but it was white and kind of stringy. I didn't notice if he ate anything but it did look like he snicked something in the water when swimming at feeding time. He is up in the kelp and bending his tail more but still doesn't look healthy to me. The female is extremely active and he used to be. He is paler and skinnier than the female now, which is a nice vibrant yellow and quite plump. His tail isn't discolored and he is bending it okay, but his snout is kind of white. His mouth looks to be moving okay when he breaths.

 

[Duddly01]

He didn't make it.

This afternoon he started to look better, then this evening got worst again. This evening I decided to try to do a fresh water dip based on info I got from seahorse.org. We got the temp and ph to match, set up a pump with airstone and put him in the dip for 5 minutes. He didn't seem to make it long afterwards. I don't think it was the dip, he was just too far gone. I really think the temperature not being very stable before the chiller had alot to do with it and he had gotten a bacterial infection. Just two days ago he was eating well. The temp doesn't fluctuate much more than 0.5 degrees now with the chiller and the female is still very active and eating well. I really feel bad that I didn't get the chiller sooner.

 

[cmsargent]

Sorry to hear about your seahorse. It's tough to know what to do if the horse doesn't have any outward sign of disease. It does sound like it could have been a bacterial infection.

Keep a close eye on the female over the next couple of weeks. If she goes off her feed or starts to act like the male I'd get her into a hospital tank and treat her right away. If you don't have any meds on hand I'll try to get some now just in case. Your girl might be fine but it's always good to be prepared for the worst.

 

[Duddly01]

I have a few medications on hand, but mostly for my reef fish and cichlids. Are there any special meds I should keep handy? She is swimming around and eating well today, as usual. She does seem to be looking for him.

With the temp stable now and running in the mid 74f area I don't think there will be a problem, but we will certainly keep a vigilant eye on her. I want to find her a new playmate, but it may be quite a while. It seems many breeders have stopped breeding Kudas. Seahorse source told me they stopped because of the mass pouring of cheap Kuda into the market from asia. I certainly don't want to deal with that mess. Anyone breeding Kuda's going to have any available in the next month or so?