Pimples on Seahorse

Seahorses

Seahorses

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So, for my birthday my parents gave me 2 pairs of H. comes. Except, only one pair is H. comes. The other pair, I believe, is an erectus. When I saw one of the erectus in a bag, it was on its side breathing hard. That was yesterday. And today the guy passed. Can you ID what these "pimples" are, and what the treatment is?
Thanks.
 

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Those aren't pimples, rather bony prominences. Nothing to treat as far as pimples go.

Dan
 
Sorry. I didn't explain we'll enough. Im talking about on his mouth area. When he was alive they looked like little pimples. In the picture it's not as obvious. Here's a close-up
 

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Looks like it could be some type of mouth rot. This might actually be a secondary infection and not necessarily what caused his death. I am sorry you lost him. I know it is frustrating and sad, especially since it was a birthday present. Since he died so quickly it was probably already sick when your parents bought him. This seahorse actually looks like an H. erectus to me, and not an H. comes species.
 
Seahorses,
Sorry about your loss. I know exactly what you are talking about.
I had an erectus that had those same white pimples/nodules around his mouth. Even with treatment, they only got bigger and ultimately, he died. Don't have an answer for what they were, but would like to know myself. My ponies were from a very reliable seahorse farm and were captive bred.
Waterdancer
 
All of the seahorses are doing well. Let me see if I can find a picture of him still alive with them.
 
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Where did you get the seahorses from? I've seen some wild caught H. erectus being sold as tank raised, and I don't know how prevalent this practice is. If that's the case, then it opens up a whole host of possibilities.

I've seen this kind of infection in wild caught erectus, which is why I'm asking. I don't know what it is, but gulgea is thought to be found in wild H. erectus.
 
I went back and looked at all the pics. Sadly, we will never know what it was for sure. My guess, the beginning of an infection at the snout. I don't think this, in of itself, was the cause of the demise of the seahorse, though it could be related.

Dan
 
I believe he was wild caught, since the other one hasn't been eating any frozen, only live food. Sadly my parents didn't know that he was WC, so now I'm feeding the living guy live adult brine until I can get him onto frozen. I also believe the Comes we're raised in Vietnam for the food trade, since they are only 1.5" - 2" in size. They are in a five gallon tank, plumbed into a larger system. They also only eat adult brine, not frozen. Any tips for the little guys onto frozen? I've just been adding a little frozen every time I feed, without luck, the bigger one seems to be more active that the smaller guy, and the big one ate 1 mysis, and now he hasn't done it again.
 
Seahorses said:
I believe he was wild caught, since the other one hasn't been eating any frozen, only live food. Sadly my parents didn't know that he was WC, so now I'm feeding the living guy live adult brine until I can get him onto frozen. I also believe the Comes we're raised in Vietnam for the food trade, since they are only 1.5" - 2" in size. They are in a five gallon tank, plumbed into a larger system. They also only eat adult brine, not frozen. Any tips for the little guys onto frozen? I've just been adding a little frozen every time I feed, without luck, the bigger one seems to be more active that the smaller guy, and the big one ate 1 mysis, and now he hasn't done it again.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. You might want to consider deworming them and adding Sanolife a probiotic in the tank and gutload them into live food.

The H. comes started out as a way to farm them for the TCM trade and for the most part they are still, but the companies soon realize that they can make more money selling them to the aquarium trade.

Also is the five gallon tank a QT/HT or is it their permanent home? One pair needs a minimum of 29 gallons with around 15 gallons for each pair after that.

Here is something I wrote on the org:

If possible, get some live mysis and gutload them with flake food, pellets, cyclopeeze and/or feed the mysis enriched artemia with something like Dan's feed with Beta-glucan.

1: Put the live mysis in a turkey baster (with tank water or clean saltwater.) and add one or two mysis at a time in an area with some flow.

2: Try to feed from the same location and just keep feeding them the live ones for about a week or so.

3: After a week, they should be used too seeing the mysis coming out of the turkey baster and follow the turkey baster around.

4: Then while giving them their morning feed, add a few live one in the tank and slowly add some frozen mysis that you rinsed well into the tank at the high flow area. With luck you can trick them into taking the frozen mysis.

It will take some time before they switch over and you just need to keep at it until they do.

Once the take to eating all frozen mysis, you can train them to eat from a dish.

Kind Regards,

Tim
 
Thanks for the tips timinnl! This is just a holding tank until they're three or four inches. I have a 32 gallon waiting for them.
 
I'm going to add one tip to getting the comes onto mysis: try and locate some really small mysis. Hikari mysis varies in size by season. Right now, we're into "summer" mysis, which are larger. See if you can find some packs from a fish store that doesn't sell a lot. Normally you don't want older frozen food, but for training purposes it will be okay as long as it's not really discolored (slightly grey/white, probably okay. Dark gray, Tan or Pinkish tan, not okay).

Some brands tend towards small, TMC being one of them, though it's hard to find in the states. Omega might but I haven't seen it in a long while so it could have changed.
 
Will SF brand mysis work? Those are smaller than hikari mysis, I actually trained my pipes onto frozen mysis with SF brand.
 
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