In Process of "renovating my SH tank"

W

whatnot45

Member
I need suggestions my tank has been a compleat faliure so far. I have had 4 deaths in the past four months, and my tank has/had a terrible outbreak of hair algea. It is a 29 gallon tank. For filtration I have an Aqua C Remora skimmer, a hang on back refugium w/ macro algea, a 4 inch sand bed, and 30 lbs of live rock. I also have a 9watt turbo twist UV sterilizer which I am currently not using. I finally got fed up with my hair algea that just would not go away, so I took all my rocks out and burned them. They are now in the recuring process. They should be done in a couple weeks. The tank has one seahorse left, a small OceanRider sunburst female. She has been doing well lately. To get rid of the algea in the tank, I turned the lights off they have been off for about 3 weeks now, and now im jsut waiting for the rock to cure. My corals are in a small 5 gallon tank with a light on 18 hours a day to make up for the low wattage.

I know my female seahorse wont last long living by herself. Ocean Rider is having this great specail now that lasts only to the end of this month where you can get 4 sunbursts (erectus) for three hundred dollars. I really wanna get them, but I dont know if my tank is ready. I recently had a large amonia spike from all of the die off due to no light.

I am also concerned that when I turn the lights back on, the hair algea will come back.

I would eventually like to have a tank where my horses will feel comfortable enoughe to breed. I need suggestions lol.
 
First off, test your water to make sure everything is ok. Second, 5 Erectus in a 29g tank is really pushing the bioload. IMO. I have 4 in a 40 gallon tank and I think it's pushing it. It's harder to keep my water quality up with 4 horses in there. They are messy eaters and produce a lot of waste.

Someone might chime in here, but for a 29 g, I think you're better off just having one pair. That is just my opinion though, and I am no expert, but do know that 5 in a 29g is pushing it with the bio load. That may be why you have such algae problems. Try running Phosguard for a few days and see if that helps. It helped in my tank.

Hope this helps you out a bit. I REAlLy do know how frustrating algae can get. It makes you wanna give up sometimes. Hope you get your problems solved.

Test the water. Make sure your params are ok.
 
First thing is to determine why your four other seahorses died. If it was a Vibrio infection or another illness, the surviving horse could be a carrier. Adding her back into the tank could infect the new additions. Any idea what caused the others to die?

If it were me, for peace of mind, if 4 horses died mysteriously I would tear the tank down (as you did) and start completely over... including new LR and sand.

Tom
 
The firs two horses had a flesh eating bacteria, and the other two i must say it was my fault that they died. There were TONZ of pods in the tank, so I stopped feeding for a while in hope to controll my nutrients and thus rid myself of hair algea. I guess they didnt eat the pods, because i think they starved. I now know much better. As for the bacteria, I did run my UV after that. Also I ran a post at seahorse.com about how many horses I could house in my 29 gallon tank, and the answer I got was 6 comfortably, and 8 at the very max... Should I still be worried about the bacteria? I give my female frequent freshwater dips dont know if it helps
 
If it were me, I would concentrate on keeping the remaining horse alive and work on getting a stable tank before considering any more additions.

Fix whats broken first and then move forward.

Fred
 
ok sounds good, but I am gonna order the new horses Ill tell them not to deliver them though for another month XD a good deal is a good deal and shouldnt be passed up when you will need it later on. if that makes any sense
 
Don't do that.

I don't mean to sound mean, just blunt, but you have no idea on how to keep seahorses, or the chemistry involved with a marine tank. You need to do some serious research before purchasing any more animals.

Your female will live just fine by herself. I have a male reidi that has been alone for 1.5 years. The pining theory is a simple explanation for people who don't understand disease to explain the second death. FWIW the most common symptom from a vibrio infection is death. (Jeff Mitchell 2004)

Where to begin?

4 deaths in 4 months is a big deal. 2 died from a vibrio outbreak which means if the other seahorses in the tank where not from the same breeder they have now been exposed to a new strain of vibrio and are at an extremely high risk for infection. I think it is time to turn that UV back on. Not only will it help to kill any free floating bacteria spores but it also helps to control the algae. The real dilema with the bacteria that those vibrio infected seahorses exposed your tank to is that it can live for months even years in the system with no host. It is often carried by small crusteceans which are eaten by seahorses as food.

The other two died presumably from starvation. Yeah if you don't feed them, they'll die, but I think we talked about that before.

Why are you FW dipping your female all the time? If there is no disease knock that off.

Your ammonia level most likely went up because in pulling all of your LR you removed all of your biological filtration. There was not enough bacteria in the tank to handel the bioload.

I know it is going to be easier to listen to the people on seahorse.com because it's what you want to hear, but 8 horses in a 29 is ridiculous. The absolute max would be 4 horses in a 29, and that's only with excellent equipment that is keeping pristine water quality.

IF those previous seahorses did contract and release any type of vibrio into your system that the new OR's have not been exposed to, 2 to 8 weeks from now you are going to be telling us your new OR's are all dead or dying. Let's fix the problem first, or you will just be wasting your money. If you do buy the new OR's let me know, I have some very nices bridges for sale that I think would make a great investment oppritunity for you.
 
I must also agree-4 horses max
I have a 35 gallon, and algae issues-different type of algae, but still... and only 3 horses.

remember that a seahorses output is the equivalent of 3 or 4 damsel fish EACH. 4 seahorses would be about a dozen damsel fish... 8 would be like having 24 damsel fish in your tank in terms of waste!!! the 5 you had in there were ALOT of waste already. the vibrio added to the problem (flesh eating bacteria). Then you didn't feed horses that may have been ill from the vibrio, killing them quickly.
wait, don't order no matter how 'good' the deal sounds!!!! I doubt they wold hold them, and if they did you may not get what you want, or something else may hinder the progress.

just walk away for awhile. set up your tank with the rock and get a real cycle going. keep your remaining horse healthy and happy by feeding her 2 times a day, and not dipping her, or doing anything else to her. after your tank is completely cycled, go ahead and add her, wait a week or two, then add another one or two from the same place you got her... hoping that they are resistant to the strain also. Wait a month or so to see if that one will live with the vibrio, then try one more... wait a month or so again, then add one last one. but be very slow in adding them, because they may not be resistant to the vibrio strain in your tank, which is also in all the corals, still on the rocks, the copepods, and your remaining horse.
 
Ok Im not going to order them lol and when I said I dip her frequently, I mean like once every month or so, so its not that frequent. The female is in the 29 gallon tank, I never took her out.... I will start turning the UV on again. Thanks guys
 
imo-don't dip her at all-there isn't a reason, and by doing it you may be stressing her out and could cause the vibrio that shes carrying to come out when shes stressed.
 
Don't dose your display tank.

I'd wait a couple of months and establish the good health of the female you have now.

The only way to completely remove vibrio from a system is the complete sterilization of your tank, including tank, rock, sand, filters and media. Let's take the easy way first no?

Where did the other seahorses come from? Did you get the all from the same source, different sources? Where they all the same species? ?
 
Ok. Now that pledosophy is done with the 'bad cop' routine, I'll play 'good cop'. :D

That you are still here asking and answering questions is great. It means you care for your horses and are willing to learn how to keep them. Hang in there. With a little patience you will get where you want to.

Fred
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7127911#post7127911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
I do not think it is a good idea not to feed your seahorses and let them eat the pods, I think they will starve and die. Your system is not capable of growing enough food for the seahorses to eat. If you do not feed them soon there will be nothing left to feed.

. . .

Not feeding the seahorses is a very bad solution to this problem IMO.
Click to expand...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7248308#post7248308 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by whatnot45
the other two i must say it was my fault that they died. There were TONZ of pods in the tank, so I stopped feeding for a while in hope to controll my nutrients and thus rid myself of hair algea. I guess they didnt eat the pods, because i think they starved.
Click to expand...

I might be a bad cop, but it's frustrating when someone asks for advice, refuses to take it, then comes back here after killing there seahorses and asks for more advice on purchasing replacements.

You gotta exect some guff from that.

If your old seahorses also came from ocanrider it is likely that they are already immune to the strain of vibrio that your former horses carried. Oceanriders systems are linked so all of the horses have exposure to each others pathogens.

That being the case I would still wait at least 3 months to ensure your females health and get some experience under your belt.

While having some resistance to the bacteria, the disease is actually caused when the seahorse becomes weakend and the bacterias begin to excrete proteins which are wha actually cause the disease. The new additionas while aving resistance to the bacteria have no defense for the proteins. Remember to that resistance is not immunity.
 
Whatnot, you have had seahorses long enough to know they need what all marine fish need. You know you are a dedicated, compasssionate hobbyist so don't be so hard on yourself. Your tank is nowhere near a complete failure.

I think you should go to the general interest forums and seek advice. Just tell them your tank houses "clownfish" instread of seahorses and they will help you.
 
hehehaha

thats cute, I help everyone there, no matter WHAT type of fish they are...

and I get mad when people do stupid things there, just as I do here!!! 5 clownfish are too many for that tank, should only be kept in pairs, too many nutrients in the system, then getting into why they died, vibrio isn't a common disease for clowns...

thats just a mess ya don't want to start.
 
I think it is great that you want to help others have a successful tank. I don't think implying that any other hobbyist is stupid is helpful, though. We all have experiences and no one person has all the answers, right?

Most everything we know is an opinion and we know that opinions in our hobby vary greatly. Diversity and differing experiences is what makes a forum good to rely on and visit. Being offered differing experiences helps one to find what will work in his tank.

But, when a person is berated, when opinions are offered as fact, the forum loses many ideas that might be to come....

How are we to know that one day Whatnot is not the next Julian Sprung and we have just pushed him to another forum? He does have many choices....
 
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