White sides? What is wrong? TY

M

ManfromAtlantis

New member
Hello,
Can someone maybe give me an answer to what is going on with my horses? I was told parisites maybe, but nothing is working! :( The sides of them will turn white in color and they will start scratching up against the corals, etc and trying to pick at it with their tails. First off, my water parameters are perfect! I have tried Meth blue baths for days on end. I have dipped them in Kent RX.P... I have even done a week long treatment with some marine ick stuff that I had. Tried a fresh water dip, but they did not take that very well at all.. Lost one last night, and the other two will be close to follow I am sure if I dont figure out what the heck this problem is.. Any ideas? Many Thanks! JG
 
What, exactly, are your test readings? SG, temp, nitrates and how old is the tank?
What do you have in the tank with them?
 
PH 8.2
Nitrite 0
Natrate: small trace. Not enough to call it 5.
Ammonia: small trace, maybe .25 but I doubt it.. Tap water alone has more in it.
Temp: 68 ~ 70
SG:1.0215

This problem started about a month ago with the first one (Dead now). They have been in a hospital tank for the last month while my new 110 cycled. That was with water changes daily and blue meth bath about every other night to keep them alive at all. The new tank finished cycling about 3 days ago. So I put them in. They are active and eating fine, but I see them scratching all the time. And first thing in the am when I turn the light on, they look terriable! Their whole sides will be white. They get their color back as they wake up, but you can still see where it is. My large one used to be yellow.. He has never turned yellow again since they got this. Nothing else is in the tank with them besides hermits and snails. This was to be a seahorse only tank. The sand from the original tank was vaccumed and re-used under a layer of cruched coral, 2nd layed of live sand, and a layer of substrate. The new tank had about a 90% water change after it was cycled to remove the Kent RX.P. I dose the hell out of the new tank with the thought of killing everything before they went in it. Only other thing that went into the tank is thier fav. live rock (Stick shapped). But it was with them through all the treatments in the hospital tank... They have been through allot, but it was all in an effort to save them.. But looks like we lose if something dont give..:( Thanks
 
Next question is what kind of SH? If you're not sure, it's okay, but it would help to know.
For treatment, your temp is good, but it could come up a couple of degrees. Slowly, of course. This may have some effect, depending on whether they are tropical or temperate.
I am confused by your ammonia readings. Your ammonia should be a solid 0.0 (zero). Unless you are experiencing a mini cycle. Ammonia and nitrate together...they are opposite ends of the cycle.
If they are eating and active, that's a very good sign. An ailing SH will not show much interest. Don't give up.
 
Thanks ponygirl.. There is one picture of the horses in my gallery. I asked them at syngathid before it crashed. Very sad! Had met some really nice people over there. Dang hackers! anyway, (Nice to meet you again BTW. :) ). Never got a straight answer on what kind they are though.. Some said Kuda and some said kellogi and somethig else I can't remeber. I tried to load some more pix, but they are to large.. Will see if I can reduce them and post them in later.. As far as the ammonia, I found that my local tap water is higher than in my tank.. So anytime I do a water change, it goes up some. I have added some Kent ammonia detox until I get it to almost 0. Never gets to 0 though.. I will check it again now. Maybe it went down some since the last water change.. Thanks
 
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135559stick2.JPG


Here is the large one that was yellow..

BTW: The little ones look thae same as the large one, but they have always been just black or deep purpule.. And I got all 3 of them from the same supplier.. Thanks!
 
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Not the best pix, Sorry!

Not the best pix, Sorry!

Here they were in the hospital tank. (It is still set up)
135559Hospital.JPG

Here is one of the original sick one that died (Back by the coral frag). The other two are no where this bad, but same problem! :(
135559Sick_horse.jpg


Notice the white sides. Now my other two now have a minor likeness of this on there sides and under their throats..:(
135559sick.JPG


New home:
135559110gnew.JPG

Another pic of the yellow guy in the old 30g.:
135559YellowPony1.JPG

He has not looked this well in some time. Ever since this problem started..
 
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Your surviving horse looks in good health.
Your expired horse (looks like an h. Reidi) looked very thin.
What, specifically, do you feed them?
 
Sorry,
I must not have explained very well. Those are not new pictures. They are just of the sick one and to identifify the other two. As the last picture states, they have not looked that well in some time. They are fed PE Mysis... Thanks
 
Which seahorses are still living?
I am also confused.
STOP doing water changes, if there is ammonia in the fresh water. Your filter system should solve the problem.
Feed them. In each photo, don't feel bad, they are hunting. Feed them three times a day, mysis thawed in tank water.
Where in Oregon are you?
 
The large yellow one and the smaller black one up front in the pix are the two still alive. The one I lost was the other little one (with white sides) back by the pc of dead coral frag. Sorry for the bad pix.. Sent you a PM.. :)

Ammonia level is back to 0 in the 110g that they are in now.
And I have not done anymore water changes after the one I had to do (to rid the tank of the Kent RXP treatment.) They are looking 100% better!.. No more white on either of them.. Still a little bit of scratching, but no more white around the head of the yellow one. The other little guy has never really gotten that bad. That little one has always been the best eatter. Lil pig'O! lol.. Feeling much better now that they have their color back! :) I was told on another post that it was the ammonia causing the problem. I think that is right. They are recovering fast now that the water is back to normal. Just wish I would have had this tank cycled in time to save the one I lost..:( My fault for buying them before I was 100% ready. Sure was hard to pass them up because you dont see them here local very often at all. Lesson learned though.. Just glad things are getting better for them. Thanks ..James
 
BTW: If one is h. Reidi. Is the other one not the same? Is this ok? I read it was a bad thing to mix breeds.. Anyway I can find out for sure what these two are? TY

These are the two still with me:

Smaller black one:
135559stick2.JPG


Large Yellow one:
135559YellowPony1.JPG
 
I sent a reply to the PM.
Happy to hear they are better! Good job!
Your black seahorse I'm thinking is h. Kuda, my opinion for a couple of reasons. The shorter snout, the coloring and the coronet is blunt and fairly smooth. The body spines, in general, are not pointed, but softer.
Your yellow horse, I lean toward h. reidi, but she could be h. erectus. She's pretty big in the body and I think the reidi are generally more slender.
Keeping mixed species in the same tank will be fine with the three possibilities I have mentioned. They have similar needs temperature-wise.
Which brings us back to that issue. Do raise that temp a bit. The favored range is 72 to 77. General opinion is the cooler end of the temp range is better to help avoid parasitic trouble, but it's a good idea to keep it in the range.
 
Hmm... I know that fry will start scratching themselves when amonia increases. It could well have been the amonia. I found that they stopped scratching almost immediately afer I changed the water to lower the amonia.

That your horses where white in the morning and then gained back their colour sounds like a normal seahorse thing and nothing related to health. Horses do this as a form of communication (I think). My horses go quite pale it times, kind of creamy white or beige.

Again, that your yellow horse is no longer yellow is not unusual. They will also change color to match their surroundings.

Hope it was the amonia.
 
Hi Fred!
You are so right about the color changes in horses. I have never had one do it, personally. Communication and defense, I think are the reasons?
Another truth is that many fish, not only the seahorses, are a bit faded looking in the morning. I've heard this is a defense so they are not so noticible while they sleep.
 
Well, stress is another reason fish might change color, I just wanted to point out that it is not the only one and that if the horse returned to normal color, it was not likely due to stress caused by disease or infection.

This is why it is so important to spend time watching your charges. Every tank and its inhabitants are a little different. If you get to know your animals well by watching them a lot, you are more likely to notice they start doing something 'not right' for them.

Even then, your horses may surprise you. A month ago my female developed some small translucent white patches that just didn't look right. I watched and an hour later they were gone only to re-appear the next day. It turns out that this was yet another variation on color change I had never seen before.

Fred
 
Thanks for the replys. I feel a little better about the color change thing. But I am still worried because I lost the first one just after it started doing the same thing.. These two are still eating like pigs though. So I may be ok I think.. Will let you know of any changes. Thanks again for all the help!
 
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