Male Seahorse bloated

[jackinfobo]

So I really don't know what to do at this point. I got my first pair of Kuda seahorses about 3 weeks age. I picked them up from the LFS as soon as they arrived, from a Florida location. When they came in, the male's pouch was filled with air. I followed the instructions on seahorse.org to relive the pressure. It ended up that there was some air with a lot of water in the pouch. The next morning he was bloated with only water. Ever since then his pouch size changes from day to day with how much water he is carrying. Should I do something about this? It's like the 3rd week of this and his pouch is probably about 2" across the pouch and 3" in length. It looks ridiculous and I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

[Peka]

If his pouch is just large, I would not do anything. Is he floating or just has a large pouch?

 

[jackinfobo]

He's not floating, but the pouch size changes dramatically everyday. He does have a hard time swimming, but doesn't float. If anything he sinks from the water in the pouch.

 

[Peka]

Is he eating well? If so, here is what I would do if he were mine. If he is negatively buoyant and really is having problems swimming (and his fins look fine).. I would move him to a QT tank and treat with Diamox for 3 days. I would see how he was after that before making a decision to treat for bacterial infection..

Diamox can cause appetite to be suppressed so make sure to have some live food on hand and liquid B12 helps to stimulate appetite. Some horses are fine in diamox but it's good to be aware and prepared in case he doesn't want to eat.

 

[timinnl]

What size is the male? Do you know if it is pen/tank/cage raised or true captive bred?

 

[jackinfobo]

The male is about a total of at least 5" including the body and tail. I was holding off responding because I'm not sure how he was raised. He did come from ORA, but I heard their seahorses are net pen bred. I emailed ORA on Saturday and I thought I would get a response today, but I did not. What is Diamox? These are my first two seahorses, and I'm new to this medication.

 

[namxas]

If you have a pair, it's entirely possible that the male has been displaying to the female by filling his pouch with water, esp. if he isn't having buoyancy issues.

Diamox is the "brand name" for Acetazolamide, which is a diuretic and works super well with SH pouch issues and edema. You'll need to obtain it from a vet, but you should indeed keep some around. Some vets won't give a 'scrip because they don't know the dosage, so tell them:

250 mg/day/10 gals of tankwater

There are a couple of treatment protocols depending on what you're treating, but one needs to get the med first.

 

[jackinfobo]

Considering the male really is not experiencing buoyancy problems, do you think I really need to treat him with Diamox? He is eating well, but the female is not. She will only eat live foods. Should I just leave the male alone then since he is not having problems swimming?

One thing that really caught my eye though is that they both have random white fuzzy things that hang off their bodies. It almost looks like fungi. It's mostly on their snout and bellies. Should I be concerned about this?

 

[jackinfobo]

Considering the male really is not experiencing buoyancy problems, do you think I really need to treat him with Diamox? He is eating well, but the female is not. She will only eat live foods. Should I just leave the male alone then since he is not having problems swimming?

One thing that really caught my eye though is that they both have random white fuzzy things that hang off their bodies. It almost looks like fungi. It's mostly on their snout and bellies. Should I be concerned about this?

 

[Peka]

Yes, if the horse is not having issues then you should not treat him. Can you post pictures of these white stringy things you are talking about?