Reidi strange behavior and snapping

AnayaReef

AnayaReef

Member
I have a trio of adult Reidi seahorses, hoping someone can tell me if this is normal or something to be concerned about. Recently switched to a different brand of mysis shrimp. They were eating it for the first few days, now they stare at it. On top of that, today I noticed the younger male and adult female were acting...well...drunk. swimming around, and when they would hitch it would almost appear that they lost their balance. I also noticed both of them snapping in mid-air, like they do when they eat....but unless they are snatching tiny pods, I don't see anything.

I should also note that the other adult male in the tank is getting ready to give birth, probably in the morning. He has remained pretty normal other than seeking solitude, which I understand is normal.

Any thoughts? Hoping Ruth might pop in since they were her horses originally, she knows their personalities best.

Thanks!
 
I never seen that reaction from them and i watch them all the time...but i never changed there food{which was over 2yrs} i sometimes added brine shrimp with there mysis..but they always ate 2 to 3x a day.
have they been flirting?
good luck with "BIG"..hope theres lots of babies.
i'll check and see how the other 3 are doing.
 
I haven't checked the parameters yet, the other day they were perfect. Going to check them this morning and I'll post. I just topped off their water last night, but they were already behaving like this.

The first food I started them off on was different then they were eating at Ruth's, but then I switched them to the PE Mysis (the bulk brand, same lake in Canada). They ate it fine for the first few days but then began to eat less and now just stare. I tried a different food this morning and Junior took a bite but then they just stare at it. I'm going to go to Petco later to get some different Mysis, either the Hikari that Ruth used or the SFB brand that they were eating before for me.

They will snap like they are snatching food, and normally they do it twice. But they aren't eating when they do it, it looks like they are snapping cause they are bothered by something. I also noticed Junior rubbing on their favorite gorgorian this morning...I'm guessing that isn't good :( I'm looking up parasites now.

They are all very clingy with each other. Junior was flashing his colors this morning at Sassy. Big is reclusive, but he is also due to give birth any minute. Poor guy is fat as a house....
 
Thanks, got the hikari at Hobbyland (felling love with a clown too...might have to go back...but wasn't planning on spending that much on a clown right now...sigh....) Anyway, Junior (younger male) hate a few while Sassy just stared at it and Big is still hiding in the corner miserable with a pregnant pouch.

I'm going to get some videos of their behavior later. I have to go out to dinner with mother in law and when I get home plan on doing some testing and partial water changes. I also picked up some meds today just incase.
 
Update:

Parameters are:
37 gallon tall tank with HOB Skimmer/UV and power filter, 1 powerhead and T5 lighting
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5
Phosphates 0.25
PH 7.8

I was able to get them some Hikari mysis yesterday at Hobbyland, fed it last night and only Junior ate a bite. This morning I put their tube in and all three came to investigate. They all three, including my prego-about -to-give-birth male, came to have a bite or four...they ate pretty well this morning. So that is a good sign.

After they ate, they started taking strolls around the tank, and I noticed Big (the prego male) acting weird, like he was trying to rub. I understand they do this when they are preparing to give birth, so I don't know if this is related to his babies or the concern I have had. Sassy did swim up and snap her snout once and then shake her head, then just continued to swim. By the time I got my video camera ready, they were all acting perfectly normal again. It is like they are messing with me!

So I plan on doing my normal partial water change today (Sunday is my tank maintenance day) and cleaning their feeding shell.

I'm also noticing some slime algae in the bottom corner. It was already in the sand bed when I got them 2.5 weeks ago, but not it is beginning to surface. So I siphoned some of it out and readjusted the flow of the powerhead. Thinking the partial water change will help. I was also considering adding some Chaeto into the tank somewhere to help absorb nitrates since I don't have a fuge on this one. I might work on making a HOB fuge out of an old power filter...anyway, I'm getting off track.

Any thoughts? My two concerns are it is either Ich or Parasites...the behavior is not constant, most of the time they are swimming around normally or hitching normally...but then every once in awhile they swim around weird (or at least I think it is weird). It is definitely new. But at the same time, Junior appeared very depressed for the first week and a half after I brought them home, so perhaps this swimming he is doing is really normal for him and just new to me...
 
It's good that they are eating. Your ph is a little low which can sometimes impact whether or not a SH eats.


If you feel there is a problem, I think the first course of action would be a freshwater dip on your females.

As far as your male, I have never heard or seen one "rub" due to being pregnant. The only time I have see SH rub up against items in the tank is due to parasites or if they were just trying to get algae off of themselves.
 
That was my thought on the dip. I did not know the PH could affect their appetite. They have been at that PH since I brought them home 2.5 weeks ago.

Can I do the dip on my younger male that is not pregnant? When could I dip the male that is prego? Could you give me the details on performing the dip please? From what I have read, 15 minutes as long as there is no signs of distress and to ensure the PH of the freshwater is the same as their tank. Any other tips?

Thanks!
 
I'm following this thread because someday I hope to get seahorses. Peka, would the first course of action before doing a feshwater dip be to get the PH up and watch to see of the behavior changes?
 
Update/question...as they were eating this evening, I watched them closely and I noticed Big (pregnant male) scratch himself with his tail and rub against the gorgorian...then I looked REALLY close and saw what looked like a copepod crawling on him. Is this normal and could this cause their irritation? Should I get something to bring down the pod population (I'm looking for an excuse to get some mandarins...lol). Thoughts?

Don't worry Dana, if I can get this next brood of ponies raised, you are at the top of my list! By the way, have you got any extra rotifers? My newest culture was infested with some brine shrimp :( I think my other culture is caput, I don't see anything when I look with a turkey baster...ugh. I'm in a panic cause Big is gonna give birth at any time....

Also, everyone ate tonight. I mixed Hikari with the Jehmco shrimp.
 
Well I took a deep breath ,and said go ahead read this..there probably better ..
well i'm glad there ok..and eating..i'm not sure about the pods.there tank always had nice amount of pods.and none ever did scratching ever,well when they where days old..so i hope someone here can help. maybe Beth might .or ray..good luck Ruth
 
Ruth, how would I know if my UV bulb is working or not? I didn't think to have you show me when I picked it up...
 
Update: They are still eating, even when I give them the Jehmco shrimp. The jehmco shrimp is bigger than the hikari, and I think that it isn't as easy for them to eat. I'm trying to figure out ways around that...

I also read the article below and it describes what I am seeing, minus the erratic behavior. It talks about 'little white bugs' crawling on them, which they state are pods. I have nothing in my tank to eat the pods and I have thousands upon thousands on my glass and I see them on the ponies. So I am going to keep an eye on everyone and see how it goes. I'm going to see about getting a pair of blue mandarins this weekend, hopefully, and that should help me get my pods in check. Ruth had her spotted mandarins in the tank with them when she had them, so they would have kept the pods in check.

As far as the erratic behavior, it seems to have stopped. I'm now wondering if the salinity got a few ticks higher before I topped the tank off this weekend. So I'm going to keep monitoring them...

Here is the article I read: http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,218/func,view/id,1487/catid,2/

PS...Big is STILL pregnant....any day now....
 
Just an FYI, I know that you said your ammonia is 0, but one sign (at least in fry) that the ammonia is climbing is when they start to scratch and do the shakes and shimmies. Just as an extra little piece of information if someone is reading this later with a similar problem. And sometimes horses will get large mysis stuck in their trigger, and they will attempt to snick what appears to be nothing several times, until they either spit out the offending shrimp or you see the "cloud" of the shrimp being breathed out when it is successfully swallowed. Likely neither of these things were what you were seeing, but again, for future reference.
 
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