Seahorse with ich, as rare as it is, it IS ich!

[Kymossabi]

I've been attempting to keep seahorse off and on for about 7 years now and my lastest attempt has once again disappointed me i bought two seahorse only to have the first one die on me two days later. I've had the water tested and all the parameters are fine and the other is still alive so I'm assuming it wasn't the water quality. The second one however has not been very active at all and didn't feed for a couple of days although this morning i finally got him eating with a little garlic extract added to his mysis. This morning i also noticed that i've had an outbreak of white spot in my tank that i should have picked up on well before now upon realising this I've realised my seahorse has got these on his pectorial fins also which has explained his lack of appetite and his listlessness. Now the only problem is i can't seem to find anything on safely treating seahorse with ich as when i've previously worked in an marine aquarium shop we've only ever used freshwater baths and copper to cure whitespot, both of which I've always been told never to use with seahorse. I'm treating my other fish with Cupramine is this safe for seahorse?

 

[Duddly01]

Freshwater dips work very well on seahorses and many recommend giving any new horses a FW dip before introducing into quarantine even. That will kill any parasites currently visible and external but will do no good internally, though it does seem to take care of the snout well. That will certainly help with the fins.

I haven't treated a seahorse for ich, but I have successfully used hyposalinity with my reef fish. Must be done in a quarantine tank and you really have to have a refractometer to get it exactly down to 1.009, no less. More than 1.010 and it will have little effect. Hypo would likely be the least stressful.

 

[Duddly01]

Oops, hit back to many times and it posted it again. Sorry.

 

[ann83]

Seahorses tolerate freshwater dips very well (temp & pH matched) and they also tolerate hyposalinity extremely well. I would use both of these techniques on your seahorse. The danger with having visible signs of ich on the seahorse is that it probably already has had it in its gills for a while, so an immediate FW dip and extra airlines (and skimmer if you can) in the QT would be imperitive. Lowering the temperature to 68 degrees F, 20 degrees C for tropical seahorses, lower for temperate and subtrop, may help slow the growth of the parasite and will also reduce stress.
Seahorses are sensitive to copper and it should only be used on them as a last resort; if used it should be in very low doses (like you would use with other scaleless fish like clown gobies).
Who did you get your seahorses from, what species are they and what fish are you keeping with them?
There is a forum for Australian seahorse keepers at www.seahorse.org and a whole web site run by australian seahorse keepers at www.syngnathid.org that may be able to help you with alternative treatments available in Australia.

 

[David123]

Marine ich is cause by a cilliate called Crypotcaryon irritans, it is a water -tank problem, it is an obligate parisite.

Doesnt sound like it to me, but just in case.

Get the horse out of the tank and into a hospital, fresh water dip it so that you know its clean, the posticule will grow till it bursts, watch careful and take the horse out of the hospital as soon as possible when this has happened, fresh water dip again.

Any teliost is going to be infected, no matter the genus or species, so they must be treated the same way as the horse.

You must fallow the tank a while, but at the same time remember to feed your filter or it will die, pure ammonia is best.

Get some new marine water, and get ready for a really big water change, you will need to give the tank a thorough goiung over. lots of syphening, look at any ded spots, ie detrius buildup ereas. When you get these, you must understand they are very bad, disease and bacterial super growth areas.

syphen all along the edges of the tank, especially in the corners, under any rock work, everywhere.

go for broke, anywhere where there is lessened flow, syphen lots.

When you say the parameters are all good, could you enlarge upon that, temp, pH ammonia nitrite and nitrate and salinity.

 

[pledosophy]

Just to add on the FW dipping seahorse scenario. Ya do it.

8 to ten minutes. If the seahorse is thrashing about keep doing it. If the seahorse lies flat and begins to have heavy and labored respirations stop the treatment immediately.

I'd keep in a hospital tank for 6 weeks with a temp of 68F assuming it's a tropical seahorse. I believe 55F is the desired temp for temperate, but David could tell you better then me.

You can try to enrich the food with garlic if you believe it is helping, however seahorses have no olfactory senses so the garlic will not be an appetite stimulant.

I would consider and suggest adding beta glucan to the seahorses diet ASAP as often times parasites are triggers for secondary bacterial infections.

I would also make sure you have the appropriate medication on hand should that come.

The beta glucan combined with the lower temperature should be enough of a deterent for a bacterial infection, but the common seahorse bacterial infection stems from vibrio and it is pretty resilent.

HTH

Good Luck.

 

[Kymossabi]

Unfortunately was too late for my skunk clowns, baby volitan lionfish, and baby scopaz tang also :'( My blue-spot puffer was looking extremely sick there for a while too and wasn't eating but i decided to put him back in the other tank with the seahorse and he's come good (i've got a sneaking suspision the cupramine was doing more harm than good). In fact they both have excellent appetites and are looking healthier than ever at the moment.

I dropped the salinity in the main tank (a little bit) and am trying to get my hands on formalin for future emergencies but even pet wholesalers in Perth don't carry it, i'm not sure if they are allowed to here.

 

[ann83]

You have a puffer in the same tank with a seahorse? I don't recommend that. At all. I'd move the puffer or the seahorse to a seperate tank. I won't even address the others, as they aren't an issue anymore.
The seahorse is still in a hospital tank though, right? What are you doing treatment wise?
I'm sorry to hear about your other fish.