Seahorse turning white

[isseym328]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a seahorse about 2 weeks ago. Still alive but it's almost completely white and i'm pretty sure it's not getting enough to eat. is there any other reason why it's turning white? I bought another seahorse a week after this one and it's feeding on brine shrimps. I beleive these are wild caught seahorses and i'm having a hard time switching them over to frozen. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Samala]

You really need to get ahold of live mysis or live small ghost shrimp to get these horses feeding. Gutload the ghost shrimp, if possible, with cyclopeeze or a good flake food. Brine shrimp isnt going to be enough to keep them in good shape nutritionally.

Is the affected seahorse turning white in patches? Or is the overall coloration changing? They can alter their colors to match their environment or mood. Stressed seahorses typically choose very dark coloration though. Patches may indicate a disease issue.

If you can post clear pictures they may help tremendously.

Can you tell us more about the setup these SH are in? The 50g mixed reef? Or their own separate tank?

Last thought: were the SH acquired from the same LFS, just a week apart?

Do call around to your LFS to find the ghost shrimp. You need them and many of them asap if you are going to keep these horses alive.

>Sarah

 

[isseym328]

I will go look for live mysis/ghost shrimp this weekend. The seahorse is not white in blotches more like the overall body is just ghostly. I will take a pic of it tonight if I get the chance. Thing is the seahorse seems to be doing ok besides the color change. It is breathing normally and it doesn't look too thin. Maybe it's eating the pods in the tank but not getting enough food? The seahorses are from the same lfs and it's weird that one can feed on brine and one will not. I'll post pics later.

 

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7765358#post7765358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by isseym328
I will go look for live mysis/ghost shrimp this weekend.

This weekend you will have no use for the live ghost shrimp. That's to long without food.

Live brine isnot a good source of nutrition for seahorses. True you can enrich it with certain products to help increase it's value but as a whole seahorses have a hard time breaking down brine shrimp in there digestive track. An examination of there poo will show this.

You need to get them the appropriate food soon. Ghost shrimp are not hard to find. Part of the cost of keeping WC seahorse is they eat live food. I've fed a WC livefood for 5+ years.

You will also need to treat them with prazipro, and fenbedazole. Have you done a fresh water dip? Was there any QT before entering your display?

As for the color change, seahorses will often change colors for various reasons. IME one of these reasons is stress.

 

[isseym328]

So is it possible that the seahorse is well fed and still stressed about something else? I've had it for about 3 weeks now and it's still alive...so I'm assuming he is eating something in my tank.

i have not treated with prazipro or fenbedazole but I will look into that. I also have not freshwater dipped but that's only because there's nothing else in that tank besdies the seahorses and some corals. This is not my main display tank it is a small tank i set up for softies and a pair of clowns. The water is very slow and the tank is tall enough to handle the seahorses mating.

What would be another reason for it to be stressing out?

 

[pledosophy]

Inappropriate nutrition would be a main stress factor.

Not enough flow can also be a stress factor. How slow is very slow?

Seahorses can also change color to blend in with there backround, or flirt for mating.

The freshwater dip is not for the rest of your tank but for the seahorses. Many WC seahorses have internal parasites. The freshwater dip in combination with the medications will remove the parasites from the seahorses. You will have better long term succsess following these prophylatic protocols.

Brine shrimp may be giving them some nutrition, but it is not really enough to sustain them long term.

Sorry I don't know of any places in Diamond Bar off hand but in the So Cal reefers forum I'm sure you can find a LFS that has live ghosts.

IME it is better to use fresh water feeders for seahorses then to use slat water ghosts are mysis. JME.

 

[NanoLurker]

seahorses are like yellow tangs, they are very susecptible to protozoal infestations. i would have done a freshwater dip or formalin bath prior to placing them in the tank. please post a picture as soon as possible, i also just posted in the so cal forum on where you can get various live feeder shrimp.

keep an eye out on their breathing and be on the look out for any type of sloughing/shedding on the "white" seahorse.

also, QT all horses it's worth it, potentially infecting your display tank is not fun.

are the seahorses the same species from the same LFS? what sex are they?

 

[isseym328]

The seahorses are of the same species and I bought one red female and one red male. I believe the lfs at the place I bought the seahorses had live "shrimps" but I wasn't sure what kind. Can i feed them any live fw shrimp? Because I know they have them there at the store.

 

[isseym328]

Here's a pic of the white seahorse. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[MAthU]

i think its cool looking... mine looks the same except the red.

 

[isseym328]

so you don't think it's sick or anything??

 

[lfduty]

I have 2 that look just like that and thay wont eat eney thing that i feed thim and Iv had thim for 3mon naw thay will eat what thay get out of ther tankbut i have livk Mysis in ther I dont know haw i goot thim but ther all over my tankmy mane tank i have not feed in 2mon and thay are all FAT and happy. I would not bothre thim I dont think that thayr sick just the tipe of SHs. I have takin ment to the stor that i got thin frum and thay told me that thayr OK as far as thay can tell.

 

[MAthU]

mine only eats whats live in the tank... i also got mine 2-3 months ago

 

[isseym328]

For some weird reason today the white seahorse has started feeding on the live brine that i feed the tank. Maybe it learned from the other seahorse? or there's no more pods left in the tank? Either way it's a sigh of relief since I just want to make sure it's at least eating something. Hopefully I can find some live ghost/mysis shrimps this weekend so I can feed them more nutritiously.

 

[lfduty]

You dont see the pods in the tank but you have thim. I am glad that your SH has started eating loggin to www.liveaquaria.com and see if you canget your live mysis shrimps ane feeder shrimps i know that you can get thim i just got 2000 or so frum thim to day im boing to see if I can rase thim. E-mail me with your addres and i will see if I can help you get a start with some live mysis. win you go to ther web goto the (INVERTS) and thin look for feeder shrimps thay are salt water shrimp so you can keep thim if you want to get a lot of thim. I hope this will help you out.

 

[isseym328]

Well just an update for those interested. I finally found some freshwater feeder shrimps and my seahorses love them. They are now both feeding on them and I'm very happy. Question though.....how many shrimps should I feed my seahorses everyday? These shrimps are larger than the mysis shrimps so I was feeding them 2-3 a day? Is that enough?

Also I talked to a lady that owns a lfs around me and she's going to try to get me a pint of ghost shrimps from the wholesalers so I can try to breed them and just have a shrimp farm at home. Hopefully that will work out, then I won't have to drive to get live shrimps everyday. =)

 

[pledosophy]

I feed six live ghost shrimp per seahorse per day.

I buy a bag of 100 and keep them in a 10g tank with no substrate and a sponge filter. I keep them in fresh water as well I do not attempt to try to acclimate them to salt.

IME breeding ghosts is quite the chore. It would take a sizeable farm and effort to breed enough to sustain your horses.

If you have the space for a farm I would look into mysid shrimp, or possibly just large orders of ghost shrimp. The more you buy the cheaper they get.

 

[ChuckFinley]

i just got a black Caribbean seahorse. He came via mail probably 3 days in a transit during the cold weather. I acclimated him and per the seller's instructions i left him in the quarantine tank for 1 day with a bubbler and heater. During his second hour of acclimation in quarantine he spit out about a hundred babies. I put him in my main tank after 24 hours. He seemed to be ok, but today is the second day in the main tank and he is turning white. thoughts? I do think all the babies are dead though... sigh......

 

[rayjay]

You probably would have been better to start a new thread on this.
However, your experience shows that it is best to order from a reputable breeder like seahorsesource.com. Dan would NEVER sell a seahorse with the description "black Caribbean seahorse" as they all have proper names.
Most places that don't do the breeding themselves have little to no knowledge of the proper care of seahorses.
My best guess is that something is stressing the seahorse.
What kind of tank do you have it in? Temperature, salinity, tankmates?
Is it eating?
Looking after fry is a very labour intensive chore and may take a while to succeed with.
For some basic understanding keeping seahorses you could check out the links at the bottom of the page at "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping, written by experienced seahorse keepers and one by Dan from seahorsesource.

 

[MandarinGirl]

Seahorses are a lot like cheameleons. they change color according to their surrondings I put in some yellow plants to keep teir color the pretty yellow and it has really worked for me. The picture did not work for me but mine did get a little blotchy with some diffrent colors though. But I do not believe it is that important because I have seen pictures of white seahorses before.