reidi seahorse that Cant eat... need help quick

gkaquatic

gkaquatic

New member
i have a reidi seahorse that seems to be unable to eat. A friend of mine that gave him to me has had him for a year and ive had him in my tank for a month. he has always ate frozen well, sometimes hes a little picky, but for the most part he's fine. today i went to feed him and he trying to eat but couldnt suck the mysis up. i dont know the body part name on the seahorse' but it is like a flap that opens at the bottom of their mouth that opens when they take in food seems to be stuck! He trys to move forward to get the food but cant take it in. It so upsetting to watch and i really need to try and do something for hi, if i can. PLEASE HELP!! ASAP
 
hes eatn a few pieces off the floor of the tank but cant "strike" eat if that makes sence. im glad he has eatn but still has something wrong with him!
 
it could be something stuck that is stopping its trigger working properly or it could be a parasite or it maybe something else.i think the first course of action is to try a fresh water dip,keeping the temp and ph the same as the tank dip for 8 to 12 mins ,try this first and see what happens it may not be noticable until the next day hopefully the dip will get rid of any parasites or cause the object to move and free the trigger.if this doesnt work there are other things that you can try like a formalin bath ,has the seahorse been well in itself?if it stops eating totaly you may need to tube feed but hopefully it wont come to that.
 
he's good super active. moves around his tank, raps his tail around things(like the dead piece of acro) and move in and out of the cheato macro. he hasnt been eating a tone but about about 5 to 6 pieces of hakari mysis a day. he did refuse to eat a few days but not in a row. low current in the tank and no other fish only a harlequin shrimp and a snail or two. eye movment is rapid and hes always looking at things looking for food
 
he has alway had heavy breathing since my friend has brought him home.

tank per.

p04- 0
alk- 2.8
no3- 0-1
cal- 450
temp-78 to 79
 
slowly bring the temp down to 74 degrees F. This will help keep the bacteria in the tank down.
IF you can post a picture of him. How large is the tank? All of this will help diagnose better.
 
the tank it 40g total. hes in a fuge thats about 10g. im im keeping him for a friend and hes been on the top of my list for care since i got him. ill try and get a pic up.
 
gkaquatic said:
the tank it 40g total. hes in a fuge thats about 10g. im im keeping him for a friend and hes been on the top of my list for care since i got him. ill try and get a pic up.
Click to expand...

I think the 10 gallon is part of the problem. What pieces of equipment is he/she in with? When a seahorse gets stress, they go off feeding & quickly succumbs to an illness.
 
No equipment no other fish! Just a small harlequin shrimp. It has a few pieces of rock, deep sand bed, a dead acro ( which came with he, its his favorite thing to pirtch to) and a ball of cheato (which I've seen him pirtch too also, he's never been caught in it)
 
gkaquatic said:
No equipment no other fish! Just a small harlequin shrimp. It has a few pieces of rock, deep sand bed, a dead acro ( which came with he, its his favorite thing to pirtch to) and a ball of cheato (which I've seen him pirtch too also, he's never been caught in it)
Click to expand...

Did you bring the temp down like CCall suggested? Anything above 74 is problematic for them.
 
I brought it down to 76 lastnight but I don't really want to go much lower. I have a sps and lps filled tank for the show. Part of the system, and not that I'm choosing the corals over the seahorse, but I don't want to go to low. I hope there's an understanding for me not going that low.
 
If temp really is a huge porblem I think I came up witha n idea but its going to be a pain to make it work.

Is a fresh water dip a good idea like lucycat suggested? If so ill do it as soon as I get home.
 
Could water temp be causing the heavier breathing as well? I know the warmer water is the more oxygen moves out of the water making respiration faster in fish. But the pair we have at the store I work at are in 78f water all the time. Breath normal and have a clutch once every two weeks.
 
Last edited:
gkaquatic said:
Could water temp be causing the heavier breathing as well? I know the warmer water is the more oxygen moves out of the water making respiration faster in fish. But the pair we have at the store I work at are in 78f water all the time. Breath normal and have a clutch once every two weeks.
Click to expand...

What is the turnover rate of your tank compare to the stores? Faster turnover + filteration makes a difference. Can you add an airline into the tank?
 
Last edited:
gkaquatic said:
I brought it down to 76 lastnight but I don't really want to go much lower. I have a sps and lps filled tank for the show. Part of the system, and not that I'm choosing the corals over the seahorse, but I don't want to go to low. I hope there's an understanding for me not going that low.
Click to expand...


Move the seahorse to a HT tank if you can.
 
gkaquatic said:
If temp really is a huge porblem I think I came up witha n idea but its going to be a pain to make it work.

Is a fresh water dip a good idea like lucycat suggested? If so ill do it as soon as I get home.
Click to expand...


Wait until she see this. You provided more info since she recommended it. I do not know if the new info will effect that or not.
 
i would still do the dip as it may help,the temp is not ideal for seahorses as tim says ,is there no way that you can move the seahorse so it would be cooler because a high temp will leave it open to opportunistic bacterial dieases
 
Turn over rate at the store in each take in probably 50 gph or a little less. His tank is is right around 100gph+. The main tank overflow is 450gph that t's off before heading to the sump and fuge. One side goes to the filters and skimmer the other to the fuge with the seahorse in it. But the fuge is turned back so more goes to the filter side
 
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