seahorse hurt!!! emergancy!!!

[metalmagiccusto]

we have fucus seahorses and one of them got in the sucktion tube on the hob filter and its tail is turning white she is being lazy and not moving so much she is alive and breathing but kinda rapid breathing. is there anything i can do? meds?

 

[ann83]

How long ago did she injure her tail?

Because of the whitening of the tail, I would move her to a separate tank where you can keep a close eye on her (and where she is away from the other seahorses to protect their health). I like bare bottom 10 gallon aquariums. If you don't have a spare cycled filter, you'll need to do 50% water changes daily, and remove uneaten food and waste daily, to prevent ammonia. Make sure there is plenty of gas exchange. I like to place several open airlines in the tank.

Bring the temperature on the aquarium that you put her in down to 68 degrees. This will slow, and possibly stop, the growth of a bacterial infection.

Also, if you don't yet have it on hand, I suggest you purchase Furan-2 or purchase neomycin and triple sulfa. They are sometimes available through your LFS, and can also be purchased from www.seahorsesource.com Depending on your answer to the "how long ago did she injure her tail" question, you may need to start treating for bacterial infection, and you'll need them on hand if you need to. Topical neomycin gel would also be helpful.

If you could get a picture, that would be really helpful.

Is she still eating?

 

[metalmagiccusto]

the white on her tail goes up about half way it looks like its where she got it in the small impeller and stoped it. ive got her in a one gallon pitcher with air stone and melafix and im going to the lfs to try and get some of that furanII she can still swim but u have to prosuede her...as for eating i fed her but im not sure shes up to eating right now. ill keep u informed thanks for the help!

 

[ann83]

Don't use melafix. It can irritate her gills and make things worse. Get her in new, melafix-free, water as soon as you can.

 

[metalmagiccusto]

ok!!

 

[metalmagiccusto]

update!! the seahorse lives to fight another day! yay it was moving around alittle more today but still havent seen it eat. i will keep it in the qt tank till it gets alittle more motivated. i bought it some meds. they were......NeoPlex by Seachem it says its a broad spectrum antibiotic effective against most external infections.. i hope it works i also bought some Focus by Seachem it says its an internal antibiotic but i dont know if i should use it or not? the seahorses tail is what was hurt so i think the NeoPlex will work fine? any more info would be great!!!

 

[ann83]

What are the ingredients in "Focus"?

You can put some neomycin gel ointment directly on the tail, also.

As for the neoplex, the dosage is quite high for that product since it is only 50% neomycin. Since you want to dose 250mg neomycin per gallon; you'll need to dose 500mg of neoplex per gallon.

In one gallon of water, you want to add 500mg of Neoplex. And every time you do a water change (at least daily), replace what you remove. So every time you do a 50% (half gallon) water change, add back 250mg of Neoplex. If its the powder with the little scoop, you're going to want to use 2.5 scoops (two and a half) per gallon. So 2.5 scoops the first day, and 1.25 scoops after each 50% water change.

Since he's only in 1 gallon of water, you are going to have to be really diligent about cleaning up after him. Siphon out all uneaten food and all poo. I would really prefer you had him in at least 5 gallons to reduce the risk of ammonia. Its going to be a PITA to keep up with water parameters in a 1 gallon container.

 

[rayjay]

Focus

 

[ann83]

From Focus description:

It's intended application is to assist in binding medications to fish food.

Its not going to be useful for you at all, so don't use it.