Pair of H.Reidis sick help

[angieg1123]

I rescued 2 CB sea horses (h. Reidi 1-M 1-F) from an LFS about 3 months ago. (they were feeding them flake food and said I could have them for cheap since they weren't eating....Grrr) (they no longer order sea horses)

I got them home and used my 20G H hospital tank to keep them in. It was alredy cycled and I added sand and seeded it with Live sand from my other tanks. I offered them some P.E mysis and Hakari mysis and they ate like pigs. I was feeding them with rigid airline tubing with a syringe attached to it. This worked very well. After about a month I noticed the female stopped eating. She must have been eating the pods in the tank for awhile because she is still alive and swims all over the tank. Then I noticed that the male stopped eating and developed a white spot on his pouch. The female is very skinny at this point. During this time I was setting up a new 65G RR tank for them and I waited for it to finish its cycle. It has dead rock, 5 different macros, 4 inch sand bed, and assorted snails and crabs in it. I transferred the sea horses over about a week ago.

Since neither sea horse was eating I ordered some white shrimp from seawater express and added then to the tank thinking they would eat them. NOPE they are still not eating. ( I transferred the horses to a 12G Nano hospital tank to treat)

Tank Parameters are as follows:
Ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
Ph 8.2
Phosphate 0
salanity 1.023
Temp 74-76
Alk 9 dkh

I do a 20% water change every Saturday with a mix of IO salt and Oceanic.

As of right now what I have done: 8 Min fresh water dip
Transferred both horses to a hospital tank (12G nano)
added Meth blue to the water.
Maracyn-Two treatment Day 1 ....1 tab Day 2 1/2 tab (10G water change) Day 3 (Today) 1/2 tab.

Other meds I have but have NOT used

PraziPro (praziquantel)
BiFuran+ (nitrofurazone & furazolidone)
Furanase
Furan-2
Coppersafe
Bio-Bandage
Formalin

I have the meds but I'm not sure what to use, when to use it, how much or how often. If I can mix any of them? Should I keep doing water changes during treatment? How long do I treat them for? Besided the not eating they acting fine. Very active and swimming around. The female is so skinny I don't now where she is getting the energy.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[Wink]

I wish I knew what to tell you. I think you should post at www.seahorse.org to get some help - there are more people there who know.
I wish you the best of luck.

 

[angieg1123]

Thanks Wink. I have already posted there and syngnathid.org. I was just looking for any help I could get.

angie

 

[LisaD]

The most common problem with seahorses is Vibrio bacteria, it is responsible for a large number of captives' deaths. The most successful treatment I know of (but no guarantee it will work, there are many strains of Vibrio) is a combination of neomycin and sulfa drugs. Some people have had success with Gentamycin.

If it is NOT Vibrio, it could be parasites (treatable with a number of the meds you have) or Mycoplasma (not curable, highly contagious). The spot suggests Vibrio or some other bacterial infection, but secondary bacterial infections are commonly associated with other disease or parasites that can be stressing seahorses.

Getting food into them is the most important thing right now, are you prepared to tube feed? If you search seahorse.org, I think "force feeding" will get you to an informative thread. This is also a way you can eventually deliver meds.

I noticed your post on seahorse.org. I'll stop over there to see what the responses were. I am not a disease expert, but I do have some experience with successful treatment. Labdoc, KG and DanU are admins and mod over at sh.org (and they are also RC members) are about the most experienced, but there are quite a few others that could offer good advice.

 

[angieg1123]

Thank you. I don't have any of the supplies to tube feed the sea horses. The weird thing is that they are still swimming around and acting "normal". Right now they are being kinda strange since they have both started to hang out in the bubbles of the airstone. They hitch to the rigid airline tubing and just sit in the bubbles. Thease 2 horses are going to drive me insane, lol. (Not that it was a long trip anyways )

The maracyn2 treatment will be done in the morning and I was going to do a 100% water change and start treating with Internal Parasite Guard. The white spot on the male is GONE Yeah! They do not have any outer signs of illness or infection besides the female being on the thin side. Good grief, it feels like they will never be cured.

Thanks,
Angie