Stuck trigger/weak snick-why?

[sugartooth]

I vaguely remember seeing some posts about this but cannot find them.

What is the reason for a weak snick / stuck trigger?

I've noticed one of my females having this problem and not being able to eat properly. She has become very skinny and goes after food, just cannot snick it. I noticed that the trigger is halfway cocked and could be the reason why she cannot eat.

How would I fix this? Should I force feed until she gets stronger?

There are 8 horses in a 130 gallon. They have been there about 1 1/2 years.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[JennyL]

Hi Sugartooth,
This malady is usually caused by cilliates inside the snout. If not treated it can lead to snout rot .

You need to prepare a fresh water dip.

Take enough fresh declorinated water(no salt) to cover the horse well and match the PH and temp the horse has been in.

Place a hitch in to lessen the stress and leave the horse for 8 minutes. Most horses tolerate this treatment well.

Offer the horse some softer foods such as adult brine shrimp that have been gut loaded with something good, like spirolina.

 

[TamiW]

The one time I had seahorses tested for weak snick, they didn't show any bacterial or cilliate infections. Two horses from the same tank were affected. I wish I knew the cause, because there is nothing more frustrating than watching an otherwise healthy horse unable to eat.

Could you post some information about your tank and the seahorses? What species, are they captive bred or wild caught - then when your water parameters are, what kind of filtration and water flow - what is your maintenance process...?

 

[sugartooth]

Thanks for the reply.

I have 6 Reidi and 2 Barbouri obtained from the same source. They were supposed to be captive bred. All of them are eating frozen mysis and have been since I got them.

I haven't tested the water, I will do that tonight. It's plumbed into a sump with a skimmer. The flow is approx. 7X-10X turnover using 2 spraybars on the ends of the tank.

I prune macro when it gets too thick and do water changes about every three weeks. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of water I go through, perhaps I should go back to every other week?

There is a chiller hooked up, and I had it set to 74 max. During this summer I set it up to 76 degrees.

Yes, it's very frustrating because it's trying so hard to catch the food. I started putting food in the water column as well as a feed dish so it can go feed.

She's gotten very skinny and I'm convinced it's not far from death.

If I dip in freshwater, should I also force feed her to get some more food in?

Thanks again!

 

[TamiW]

I personally would force feed. I've had to do it a number of times; it gives the seahorse a chance that it might not otherwise have. But its not for the faint of heart.

Post your water parameters when you get a chance.

Also, do you only feed mysis? Do you enrich at all? I have been wondering for a while now if some of the problems we see might be related to nutrition and only feeding a monoculture, something seahorses wouldn't normally encounter in the wild though. Just a hunch though.

 

[sugartooth]

Thanks, I will post them after testing....I have to take of something first.

Yes, I feed mysis enriched with Selcon, Vitachem, vibrance, spirulina alternating days.

Every 6 months or so I buy live and throw them in the tank to give them a little variety. I'm with you on that nutrition thought.

Thanks again for your help. I will prepare to force feed tomorrow.

Should I do the freshwater dip and then force feed or just try to feed?

 

[sugartooth]

Tested and came back:

nitrates- 0-10
nitrites- 0
pH- 8.2
alk- 10.6 dKh

It seems my test kits are on the verge of expiring so I may re-do this with new ones.

 

[DanU]

Our standard protocol for this is to do a FW dip. Because the protozoa can be really embedded in the oral cavity and somewhat protected from the osmotic pressure differences, we dip for a minimum of 8 minutes and ideally closer 12 minutes. Generally, you won't see the positive results from this until the next day after the dip.

In really stubborn cases, follow up therapy is needed. I don't like to do repeated FW dips. Instead, if the snick hasn't improved after 48 hours, I would do a short term formalin bath. This is done with 37% formalin solution at 1 ml per gallon of water for 45 minutes. Formalin displaces 02 so heavy aeration should be supplied.

If the horse reacts to either the FW dip or the formalin bath with what appears to be a lot of discomfort, it would be sign of a high protozoan load. Unless the horse stops breathing, we leave them in for the full duration.

As a follow up, we place the horse in a hospital tank for a long term formalin bath. This is done with 37% formalin at 1 ml per 10 gallons and is dosed every other day for 3 treatments. If the tank doesn't have bio-filtration and you do a 50% or more water change each day, you can add the 1 ml per 10 gallons after each water change.

Unless there is mechanical injury or a secondary bacterial infection, the above therapy works very well.

Dan

 

[sugartooth]

Thanks Dan.

I did the FW dip and 48 hours later there was no improvement. I did note that about 9 minutes into the dip, the seahorse started thrashing about and continued until 12 minutes were up.

I then attempted the formalin bath as you suggested.
The trigger was able to be flattened out during the bath by the seahorse. I transfered to a bucket of tank water, and I put in some live mysid. She did not seem to notice them, so I tried to force feed a little bit of tigger pod+vitachem mix (probably .2 ml total).

When I tried to force feed, the trigger snicked, but seemed pretty weak. I'm not really sure if there was supposed to be immediate improvement once the trigger was dislodged from half cocked position.

I really hope she can pull through. She has gotten extremely skinny were even around the head and eyes are skinny.

 

[TamiW]

You really need to tranquilize to successfully force feed. Otherwise you can't get a clear shot of food to the stomach. Clove oil can be found in health food stores and the like. I have detailed instructions on how to do it here:
http://worldofsyngnathiformes.com/library/article.php?num=21

I'll be honest, its scary. You do risk a lot when tranquilizing. However, I never lost a seahorse except one I intentionally euthanized with clove oil. I probably did it with close to a dozen seahorses (and one blind mandarin).

You can get the catheter at most vets. I don't remember what the catheter is called, but I'm sure if you bring a picture they could help you. I used to pay around $10 for two at my local vet.