Just bought first seahorse....tips needed

[Mako72]

Hello, I just my first seahorse. He has the tank to himself, the tank is over a year old. I lowered the salinity to .022. I paid a bit extra for him because it was bred/raised eating frozen mysis shrimp. I tried to feed him today (same day I got her)....the seahorse has its tail wrapped around a branch and is hanging upside down...it was not interested in eating...is this okay?

 

[Mo2]

Doesn't sound good to me. . . Seahorses for the most part are always upright. Unless when they are looking for food in strange places.

 

[Mo2]

a picture of the horse would be nice:bounce2:

 

[Elysia]

Seahorses usually spend a great deal of time "peering" at nooks, hoping that food will pop out. Depending where the best tail holds are, this can sometimes result in the horse being upside down. As long as the horse is able to move when it wants to, it is alright. The problems come when a horse is "stuck" to something, and exhausts itself trying to get free. Another sign that something is drastically, seriously wrong is if the horse isn't hitched to anything, but lying on the substrate. So, it could be that your horse is doing a perfectly normal "horsey" thing. Just keep an eye on it -- that is how you'll know what is "normal" for your horse. And make sure your temperature isn't above 74 degrees, especially if you think that there may be a problem.

 

[Mako72]

Thanks...he is fine now...that is he is upright and he has eaten. The branch he was attached to was not secure enough.

 

[raul leon]

puedes mostrar fotos de tu caballito? y que peces tienes?

 

[Mako72]

No hable espanol

 

[namxas]

No hable espanol

he asked if you have any pix of the SH and what fish you keep.

as for "upside down SH"....perfectly normal as long as they can control bouyancy.

all of our SH "crawl around" when hunting:

 

[raul leon]

sorry my english is not good. but i want to see pictures of your sea horse

 

[Mako72]

Thats okay, no need to apologize. I will have to get some photos. It is a H. Reidi. He has been more active and moving around, he is eating...however my temp dropped the other day...here in PA we got hit will temps in the 30s and 40s already...temp went down to 72....I fear the SH has ick....I have a large cleaner shrimp in there...the SH is eating...but there are microscopic white dots on him.

 

[namxas]

72*F is a perfect temp for tropical SH...they really should not be kept above 74*F to prevent the likelihood of bacterial infections to which SH are extremely prone.

FWIW, i've never yet seen or heard of a confirmed case of a SH w/ich...it's indeed a rarity. do the spots move? are you certain they aren't part of the SH pigmentation? look at its dorsal fin, is it spotted?

 

[Mako72]

I believe you are right...I don't think it is ick...he has been fine for days...I guess I am still getting used to their skin pigment, etc...drop in temp made me concerned about ick. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

 

[TamiW]

I would suggest a good quality heater even if you're keeping the temperature close to room temperature. Temperature swings are stressful, and having a heater will help ensure the temp stays constant. But, as I said, be sure its a quality heater. I've had many that really only keep the temp steady at somewhere at or above 78 degrees or higher, which isn't very good for seahorses. I'm a fan of the Rena smart heaters because they also can't burn seahorses that hitch to them. Another good one I hear is the Fluval E Series Heater. I don't have personal experience with them, but I hear lots of good things.

 

[rayjay]

Personally, I've never used a heater in any of my seahorse tanks and any temperature swing hasn't bothered them.
The only temperature problems I had was when the temperatures got up over 75°F and vibrio took over.