When to sedate

[madeyemary]

I'm sorry for the really bummer topic. My seahorse Spunky has been with me for 3 years. She was a captive bred erectus horse from Southwatch seahorse farms amd originally had a sister. I lost her sister early on, by Spunky has been healthy ever since. On Saturday I noticed that she had a swollen mouth that made it look like her whole mouth was drooping. She's been in a hospital tank since I treated her for tail rot 1 month ago (which she recovered well from). I was in the process of setting up her new tank, but I don't think she'll make it.

I have been treating with Furan 2 since I noticed her mouth, and she has been physically unable to eat since. It has been 5 days without food and I am at my wits end calling the vets to try and get an appropriate syringe to force feed her. I know I should have had one but have never witnessed her unable to eat before.

Last night she began thrashing as I was doing a water change. It was really dramatic and I realized it may be parasites. So I prepared a freshwater dip, adjusted the pH with baking soda and heated the water to around the same (69 degrees). I left her in the dip for 10 minutes, and she was thrashing the whole time and her gills were turning red.

Checked this morning and she just seems disoriented and unable to hitch.

If I cannot locate a small syringe I will have to sedate her soon. She hasn't gotten food and I can't watch her waste away. Is this okay to do? Please, any help would be great.

-Sad seahorse mom

 

[vlangel]

I'm sorry for the really bummer topic. My seahorse Spunky has been with me for 3 years. She was a captive bred erectus horse from Southwatch seahorse farms amd originally had a sister. I lost her sister early on, by Spunky has been healthy ever since. On Saturday I noticed that she had a swollen mouth that made it look like her whole mouth was drooping. She's been in a hospital tank since I treated her for tail rot 1 month ago (which she recovered well from). I was in the process of setting up her new tank, but I don't think she'll make it.

I have been treating with Furan 2 since I noticed her mouth, and she has been physically unable to eat since. It has been 5 days without food and I am at my wits end calling the vets to try and get an appropriate syringe to force feed her. I know I should have had one but have never witnessed her unable to eat before.

Last night she began thrashing as I was doing a water change. It was really dramatic and I realized it may be parasites. So I prepared a freshwater dip, adjusted the pH with baking soda and heated the water to around the same (69 degrees). I left her in the dip for 10 minutes, and she was thrashing the whole time and her gills were turning red.

Checked this morning and she just seems disoriented and unable to hitch.

If I cannot locate a small syringe I will have to sedate her soon. She hasn't gotten food and I can't watch her waste away. Is this okay to do? Please, any help would be great.

-Sad seahorse mom

I am sorry that you are going through this. That is very sad. I think to answer your question about sedation that leads to euthanizing...I believe that is a very personal decision and there are valid considerations on both sides. In the end she is your pet and you are the one who needs to live with the decision you make, so really only you can make it.

 

[ThRoewer]

Clove oil is the easiest to get locally.
There is an article about sedating and euthanizing fish, but I don't have the link on my phone. But I posted it some time ago in the reef fish or fish diseases forums.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Sense of nature]

Sorry to hear, one of the downfalls of the hobby