Pouch Evacuation

[Fredfish]

The moment I have not been looking forward to has arrived. I found one of my males floating this morning.

I did a pouch evacuation using the eye end of a sesing needle and it seems to have worked well.

He is now resting in a 2 gallon tank inside my refugium with lots of water flowing through.

We shall see if this is a one time event or a sign of other issues..

Fred

 

[Nano-Nag]

Congrats on a successful pouch evac!

You might want to consider ordering some Diamox if you don't already have some, and a package of bobby-pins (they're blunt at the ends and less likely to injure the seahorse's pouch).

Shay

 

[Random Aquarist]

Is this like a seahorse abortion?

 

[panmanmatt]

No it is a technique used to remove air bubbles from a male seahorses' pouch. The air bubbles cause bounacy issues making it difficult for the horse to feed and causes a lot of stress to the horse also.

 

[Fredfish]

Update:

He seemed fine yesterday night, but the pouch was inflated again tonight.

I did another evacuation. This time, after the bubbles there was a milky white substance. This does not seem good.

Given the milky white substance, do I proceed directly to a pouch flush using Diamox??

Fred

 

[sugartooth]

Hi Fred, sorry about what's happening.
Same thing happened to me, I did the pouch flush a couple of times after seeing some 'milky' or 'mucous' like substance after the evac. Eventually, I had to treat in a hospital tank w/full time Diamox.

Good luck with the flush!

 

[Fredfish]

Thanks sugartooth. Getting hold of some Diamox quickly is proving difficult. I can't find a vet that is willing to provide me a small quantity.

I have some coming from out of country, but it will take a while.

Fred

 

[sugartooth]

Fred, if you want some Diamox I can mail it to you. I have plenty. Just let me know.

 

[sugartooth]

Fred, you should be getting it soon. However, it's going to look like someone opened your package because I had to take the pills out of the bottle since it was a bit too bulky for the flat envelope I put it in.

 

[Fredfish]

Cool, thanks. I managed to scrounge one pill for a pouch flush, but he is not looking very good at all.

Fred

 

[CoMMaNdeR]

How do you do the pouch evacuation please?

Can someone explain to me or better attach some pictures?

Do you insert the needle directly in his pouch or what?

Thanks