I don't understand pipefish

[mike61289]

wouldn't they be dying in QT then too? I started both my QT and DT specifically for the pipefish (never used the tanks for anything else, so the pathogen would've had to been introduced by them) so I would think the killer would be in both tanks then, correct?

I wasn't using that tank as a quarantine for the seahorses and pipefish because I was no longer keeping them. From what I read online awhile ago, seahorses and pipefish are vulnerable to a pathogen or parasite that targets them specifically. That's why my reef fish, the ones I did put in that tank for quarantine, were not affected.

 

[rayjay]

Just a correction on the pathogens.
The pathogens don't "Target" the seahorese/pipefish. Many seahorses immune systems are unable to accommodate exposure to pathogens that they haven't grown up with to become acclimated to while still young. Most other marine fish are not near as sensitive as the seahorses seem to be.
Many have had problems when adding pipefish to a seahorse tank and have losses with one or both species, but some have succeeded putting them together. It would be my guess that SOME of the seahorses are more resilient than others. This has also happened when introducing the seahorses to OTHER marine fish as well, but the other marine fish will survive.
Better success was found when purchasing captive bred pipefish but even that wasn't perfect. Possibly because some stores were misleading the status of the pipefish they were selling and were really wild caught.

 

[SamS]

Better success was found when purchasing captive bred pipefish but even that wasn't perfect. Possibly because some stores were misleading the status of the pipefish they were selling and were really wild caught.

So even though I was using a single species tank (minus the CUC, which was still locally sourced from the same exact area as the pipefish) it could be possible that it is simply because they are wild caught?

If that's true, couldn't I expect to see deaths pretty quickly while still in QT, not months later when added to the DT? If not deaths, at least some indication of ill health?

 

[vlangel]

So even though I was using a single species tank (minus the CUC, which was still locally sourced from the same exact area as the pipefish) it could be possible that it is simply because they are wild caught?

If that's true, couldn't I expect to see deaths pretty quickly while still in QT, not months later when added to the DT? If not deaths, at least some indication of ill health?

Not necessarily. Your pipefish has a similar immune system as seahorses since they are both Sygnathids. The problem is they don't have the same immune ability as fish in regards to their skin, their intestinal tract or their gills. In those areas they are much more vulnerable than fish.

So, if your WC pipefish is exposed to pathogens in your DT that perhaps have been brought in by a WC fish from another location, then it can succumb to that. While it was in QT it was not exposed to other pathogens.

 

[rayjay]

So even though I was using a single species tank (minus the CUC, which was still locally sourced from the same exact area as the pipefish) it could be possible that it is simply because they are wild caught?

If that's true, couldn't I expect to see deaths pretty quickly while still in QT, not months later when added to the DT? If not deaths, at least some indication of ill health?

If the seahorses and the pipefish were both wildcaught, that IMO would be the worst scenario, even if found in similar areas.
For pipefish, almost all are wildcaught so mixing them with captive bred seahorses often leads to failure from the pathogen exposure.
The only captive bred pipefish I'm aware of were from Ocean Rider, so if you had both seahorses and pipefishes together from their breeding system, you would have the best chance of survival.
As for how fast death may occur, that will depend on a few factors and the most crucial one being the individual capability of the seahorse to fight of the pathogens not previously exposed to it. It won't be an instant thing normally and in my early years of the attempts to mix, it usually took 2 or 3 months but once it was almost 5 months. Then I stopped trying as being here in Canada, I had no access the the captive bred pipefish.