seahorses from yellow to black why the change?

Ruskan F

New member
i bought some seahorses from the LFS and they were a very pretty yellow eating good.i have had them for about six months and all seven of them are very heathy i think.but after the frist month the color went from yellow to black.why the change and can i do anything to get them to change back?i feed frozen misis if that means anything.
 
Seahorses usually turn black due to stress. If your info is correct and you have 7 horses in a 10 gallon tank, that could be a huge stress factor.

Do you happen to know what species you have? A little more info about your set up may help. What arer your water parameters? What size tank? What if any tankmates do you have with them?
 
i bought two at frist and had them in my 24g nano with a few zoo's a conch snail about 15lbs LR and a lot of calurpa.the tank was about a year old then and tested good.i saw them change after a few weaks.i got tired of watching every seahorse that came to the LFS die so i slowly end up with 7.i only recently moved them to the ten gallon.i am pretty sure they are hippocampus kuda but im not positive.how can i tell?my water now test are ammonia 0 ppm pH 8.3 nitrate 0 ppm nitrate 10 ppm but im working on that phosphate 0.03 ppm. and the 10g is only a temp tank.if they turn black from stress do they ever change back?
 
Yes than can change back once conditions have improved. For a positive ID, post us some pics and we may be able to help you out.

If they are kuda you are looking at, IMHO, a 65 gallon tank at least to keep them all long term.

As far as saving them all from the LFS, and most of us have been there ourselves, you are just giving the store reason to keep bringing more SH in when they have no clue how to care for them. It is all about supply and demand, if you keep buying them, then the LFS has the demand to keep supplying them. Sometimes, as hard as it may be, you have to leave them at the LFS. Once they lose enough money from not selling them hopefully they will quit buying them and bringing them in.
 
Ruskan - Just noticed your location ... I'm in St George too. I'll PM you my number ... call me if you want some help.

Todd
 
Todd- So do you go to any of the local fish stores? If you go to The Living Art Aquarium and you've seen a guy with a mohawk... then that's me.
 
when I bought mine they were black. One turned yellow within the first 2 weeks and the other is now turning yellow. I have a lot of purple on my rocks maybe it's the surroudings.
 
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