seahorses sick?

[clownfishcrazy4]

Hi Everyone!

I am new to this thread and newer to the saltwater hobby.

I recently added 2 hippocampus erectus to join my other seahorse in my 75 gallon tank about 1 week ago. Everything had been going good but on Thursday I noticed my new seahorses look like they were itching. Nothing severe, just here and there.

On Saturday, I gave them a freshwater dip hoping this would help with there itching..
On Sunday, I noticed one of my new seahorses face had turned slight white and what looked to be a sore. Also a little skin on the tail looked to be peeling. She is eating well and she was not acting out of the ordinary.

The other seahorse though was a lot worse. It had a slight discoloration in the face and only 1 eye was cloudy. It had peeling on its tail and it could not curl it. It has stayed at the top of the tank.

I went out last night and bought metheleyne blue and dipped both individually for 10 seconds as directed.

The female seahorse with the lesser of the problems handled it well and I have seen her eating and she is back on her little tree.

The other seahorse has stayed at the top since about 5 yesterday evening and has not gone down to feed. Also its little flappies on its head looks like they are breaking?

All levels in the tank are fine and nothing out of the ordinary. My original seahorse is doing fine with no visual affects of getting whatever these little guys have/had.

Can anyone give me an idea of what could be going on or what I could do to save him?

If this helps, they are quite young I believe only around 3 inches uncurled
Thanks!

 

[timinnl]

Sorry to hear about your seahorses. May I please know the parameters of the tank? Tankmates:
Temp:
Wild Caught, Tank Raise or Captive Breed?
How much did you pay?
What are you feeding them?
What kind of meds do you have right now?
What were the other kind of seahorse in the tank.


Sound like the new ones have tail rot. Other will come on soon & help you with a treatment plan. I am not too good with dieases.

Tim

 

[clownfishcrazy4]

These are captive bred seahorses

I paid $25.00 each

Temp is about 77-78
They do not eat frozen food. They are eating copepods and other critters from the rocks.

The other seahorse is also a Hippocampus Erectus from the same saltwater store and from the same supplier

The only thing i have used so far is the fresh water dip and the methelyene blue

4 clowns, 2 purple firefish, yellow tang(does not bother them what-so-ever)
watchman goby

 

[timinnl]

These are captive bred seahorses

I paid $25.00 each

Temp is about 77-78
They do not eat frozen food. They are eating copepods and other critters from the rocks.

The other seahorse is also a Hippocampus Erectus from the same saltwater store and from the same supplier

The only thing i have used so far is the fresh water dip and the methelyene blue

4 clowns, 2 purple firefish, yellow tang(does not bother them what-so-ever)
watchman goby

I think you were mislead about them. They might be tank raised. At 25.00 I do not think they are a true captive bred one.

Can you get the temp down to 72/74? That will help a lot. You might need to get a med to treat a bacertia infection. If possible please move them to a hospital tank with a temp of 68.

If they were true captive bred one. The exporter/breeder would have made sure that they knew how to eat frozen.

Good luck,

Tim

 

[clownfishcrazy4]

I think you were mislead about them. They might be tank raised. At 25.00 I do not think they are a true captive bred one.

Can you get the temp down to 72/74? That will help a lot. You might need to get a med to treat a bacertia infection. If possible please move them to a hospital tank with a temp of 68.

If they were true captive bred one. The exporter/breeder would have made sure that they knew how to eat frozen.

Good luck,

Tim

Yes I just looked back through my emails and they are tank raised(sorry about that)
Getting the temp down to 72/74 wouldnt that hurt my corals? They are in a reef tank.

 

[timinnl]

That I do not know? Look here http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml to see if what you have in your tank is safe or not.

 

[rayjay]

The problem with tank raised ones is that they are raised using ocean water and have the same pathogens that wild caught have.
Most tank raised will be eating frozen like true captive bred so I think there is at the very least the chance that you and possibly your dealer have been misled and you may actually have wild caught.
Several problems come to mind now seeing the tank-mate list, and the first is that I suspect you have added the seahorses to a reef tank with warmer temperatures than recommended for seahorses at 68° to 74°F.
Seahorses fall rapidly to bacterial infestation brought on by the closed confines of a tank coupled with temperatures above 74°, unlike the warmer waters in their natural habitat where the water is always being replenished.
Second, while those tank-mates don't directed appear to bother the seahorses, seahorses in general are stressed by faster moving fish and can stop eating, or succumb to other problems due to stress. (like bacterial infestations)
It's the same as when people become stressed, it's easier for them to come down with colds and other illnesses.
If you don't place your seahorses in a hospital tank with temperatures lowered to the 68° range as well as treat with the proper antibiotics then you will loose the horses with a chance that other life in your tank may become infected as well.
While one hears of hobbyists keeping seahorses in reef conditions, they are the exceptions as many many more seahorses perish in the attempt to do so just because people have heard it can be done.
Success in those cases is largely based on luck, and definitely not on some special knowledge.
Once you have the seahorses in a hospital tank you need to treat with Furan 2 and possibly with Neomycin as Ann, one of the resident disease specialist on the org advises in this thread "TAIL PROBLEMS"

 

[TamiW]

They are eating copepods and other critters from the rocks.

No, they're not. I mean they might be, but the natural fauna of your tank cannot sustain seahorses. Please offer them food asap. If they're not taking frozen try small ghost shrimp and enriched brine shrimp. The quicker you get them eating, the better chance they have of surviving.

 

[clownfishcrazy4]

No, they're not. I mean they might be, but the natural fauna of your tank cannot sustain seahorses. Please offer them food asap. If they're not taking frozen try small ghost shrimp and enriched brine shrimp. The quicker you get them eating, the better chance they have of surviving.

Believe me, everytime i feed i try to feed them and they do not eat..I have had my other seahorse for quite some time and he has never ate any mysis or enriched brine that I have offered to him. So something in my tank is keeping HIM healthy. The other 2 are the same way and do not eat mysis or brine. This was confirmed with the aquatic store that I bought them from.

 

[rayjay]

What are you doing for the afflicted seahorses so far?

 

[Faerl]

You might want to check the corals in your tank as well. If you're a true reef tank you might have a coral that's stinging them. Any frogspawn, torches, birdsnests etc? Those can won't sting most fish (well, they will but most fish won't notice/care) but can hurt the horses.

 

[TamiW]

Believe me, everytime i feed i try to feed them and they do not eat..I have had my other seahorse for quite some time and he has never ate any mysis or enriched brine that I have offered to him. So something in my tank is keeping HIM healthy. The other 2 are the same way and do not eat mysis or brine. This was confirmed with the aquatic store that I bought them from.

I am doubtful that your tank is actually keeping your first one healthy. Alive, perhaps, but healthy, most likely not. I've heard that claim from a number of people over the years keeping seahorses without supplemental feeding, and their seahorses are always extremely skinny and you can see the loss of muscle between the plates. Most in these circumstances make it less than a year. I only make mention of this point because if you're not really familiar with what a well fed seahorse looks like, you may not realize that there is a problem.

I would get some live mysis ASAP for the new guys and the old guy. Seahorses can starve in a really short time. I know that seahorsesource.com had a sale on live mysis, and aquaculturestore.com will overnight mysis too. One thing to keep in mind when trying to feed brine shrimp is that its not a natural food source; a seahorse would never encounter brine shrimp in the wild, and some just plain never recognize it as food.

If they're larger, you could try small ghost shrimp. Or even cherry shrimp. Which won't be cheap but might get them enough food to inspire them try to try other things.

 

[Elysia]

Believe me, everytime i feed i try to feed them and they do not eat..I have had my other seahorse for quite some time and he has never ate any mysis or enriched brine that I have offered to him. So something in my tank is keeping HIM healthy. The other 2 are the same way and do not eat mysis or brine. This was confirmed with the aquatic store that I bought them from.

Wait, the store that you bought these horses from confirmed to you that these tank raised horses would not eat mysis or brine shrimp? That was a really honest store and (IMO) makes it hard for me to understand why you would have purchased them.

Even if there were enough pods in your tank to sustain your original seahorse, you have now added two additional mouths to the equation. Your tank would need to be churning out thousands of pods a day (for consumption only, plus enough breeders to keep the population steady) to be able to sustain these horses.