Really frustrated.

[FishyMel]

I got 3 new seahorses shipped to me last week. Beautiful Erectus. Two boys and a girl! I am so frustrated, it is making me sick.

One of the boys has only eaten once. It was the 2nd day I got him and he took 2 mysis shrimp. He hasn't eaten in about 6 days.

The other boy eats every day, but only about 3 to 5 mysis shrimp at one time, a day. He rejects the other feedings I offer. Often times he is sleeping. I have tried to wake him up and sometimes he'll take a shrimp or two if I remove him from his hitch and move him to another spot and other times, he ignores me and goes back to his hitch and favorite sleeping spot.

The girl eats like a little pig, but I think she got a broken vertabrae in shipping. She can only turn her tail to one side so she falls on her opposite side a lot. She can hitch and looks normal when she is hitched, but when swimming against the ground she rolls around alot and falls onto her side. Yet, she is the only horse that is truly eating well for me. How weird is that? I just don't even know what to do. She seems happy enough even though she is clearly partially paralyzed.

How long will some seahorses fast after being shipped. My boy who only ate once for me looks greats and acts normal. He is not ill or injured. He was badly tangled in a little net that the shipper included, and I had to cut if off of his belly. I wonder if this is why he won't eat for me. Perhaps the net entanglement caused more injury than I am aware? He was also shipped in the same bag with the girl that has the broken tail. They were wrapped together when they came with him stuck in the net and he was dragging her by the tail. I think they may have hurt each other trying to grasp onto something during the shipping.

 

[sugartooth]

Wow, I have never heard of this and don't know what a broken back looks like in a horse. It sounds like the girl is disoriented somehow? Have you seen them hunting and snicking at rock and macro? If the one hasn't eaten in 6 days, there doesn't seem to be much hope.....you can try force feeding.

But, it sounds like something is wrong with the environment that they are in, or they weren't strong to begin with.
Healthy seahorses should eat within 24 hours of coming out of the bag.

Are they breathing heavily? Have you tested the water? Are there other tankmates you may have that are picking on them or harming them?

 

[ReefNutPA]

First thing I would do is contact the seller and advise them of your issues. Secondly, make sure you are feeding the same brand of mysis the seller was feeding. Some seahorses don't take kindly (and will refuse to eat) different brands of mysis.

After a week of not eating, their digestive systems will begin to shut down. At that point, even if they begin eating again, there is little hope.

Re-test water parameters and, if possible, give a brief run-down of your seahorse tank. Maybe we can pinpoint an issue you've overlooked.

Tom

 

[Duddly01]

6 days is not good, are you sure he is not eating when you are not looking? It is possible he may be shy and still in shock. Is his belly sunken? I agree, call she shipper and find out what brand he trains them to and try that. If that doesn't work you are going to have to tube feed him, which is a major PITA, to keep his digestive tract up and running. Tank parameters would be very helpful. Keeping temp to 74f or below? Zero ammonia and nitrite? Salinity? Flow?

 

[ann83]

The erectus are in a quarantine tank, correct? Are they pooping? You should be able to see it on the bare bottom. If they are in BB QT and they aren't pooping, you need to get them live shrimp right away to get them to eat (otherwise you would have to resort to tube feeding).

Definately contact the seller right away. It is not normal to receive seahorses in this condition, and if you got them from one of the aquaculture facilities, they should be more than willing to rectify the situation and even to talk you through taking care of these guys. Who did you get them from?

I know that you have special circumstances with wanting to ultimately mix these with your Kelloggi girl, so this really sucks that they came in already in such bad shape and stressed. Have you starting mixing water between tanks yet? Or did you happen to use something from your Kelloggi tank in their QT? I would keep EVERYTHING (even turkey basters and thermometers) seperate between the two tanks for a while since the erectus are obviously immunocompromised and won't be able to handle new bacteria right now, and you just don't want to expose your Kelloggi to whatever is wrong with these erectus.

 

[ann83]

Oh, and everyone has been dead on on the not eating. Seahorses cannot go more than a week (sometimes 4 days, especially when this stressed) without eating or they will eventually starve to death. They will usually eat within 2 days of being in a tank, although if they are put into a cycled tank with a large pod population, they will sometimes eat mysis sparingly until the pod population has been thoroughly picked through.

 

[ann83]

Ooooh, and more importantly, what postal service were they shipped through? Were there any problems with shipping or delivery?

 

[FishyMel]

No, it wasn't the supplier that was the problem. I think I may have pinpointed what is going on. I got a small nitrite spike. It went up to .3 from 0. Would this decrease their appetite? Also, to answer your questions, yes, the boys are eating copepods. Not enough to sustain them, but they are snicking at something. One won't take any mysis, and the other will only take a couple, but mostly snicks at the plants and rocks.

The girl is in great shape. She may just be a weird horse. We named her silly sally. She eats like a champ but only curls her tail to one side when swimming or hitching. She kind of rolls when she is in the sand. Silly Sally swims just fine and she can hitch fine too, although she always wraps her tail the same direction. I don't know if it is a spinal issue, or just her personal weirdness. It doesn't seem to bother her any, as her attitude and appetite are very good. Thanks for your help.

 

[ann83]

How's the pH? A low pH can be a cause of lack of appetite. So can high nitrates.

 

[ann83]

Oh, and if you had a nitrite spike, you probably had ammonia before, and that was more likely the cause of the loss of appetite than the nitrite.
Copepods in a QT? You may want to move them to a bare bottom QT until they are eating frozen mysis reliably.

 

[FishyMel]

Yes, I keep plants in the qt to help with keeping the water parameters stable. It also supplies pods. You just through the plants away when done since you can always grow more in your main tank. I am not medicating as I trust the supplier and the seahorses show no sign of disease. I think you may be right that I missed an ammonia spike. Things are settling down now, and appetites are better, but not what I'd like them to be.

 

[FishyMel]

Yes, I keep plants in the qt to help with keeping the water parameters stable. It also supplies pods. You just through the plants away when done since you can always grow more in your main tank. I am not medicating as I trust the supplier and the seahorses show no sign of disease. I think you may be right that I missed an ammonia spike. Things are settling down now, and appetites are better, but not what I'd like them to be.

 

[pledosophy]

.3 is not to high of nitrates to put a seahorse off food IME.

What is the supplier of the seahorses?

Are they WC or CB?

The "sleeping" comment is worrisome to me.

Can you post parameters of the tank they are in?

If they are in QT is it barebottom? Can you see poop?

IMHO it is definetly time for some smaller live food. JMO

Never seen a horse with a broken vertabrae.