Seahorse HELP!!!

[lcstorc]

Hoping somebody has some ideas here cause I am lost.
First a bit about my setup.
I have a 125g reef and a 24g aquapod which share water. The pod has the seahorses and the 125 has lots of stuff.
Anyway the seahorses are kudas that I have had for about 4 months with no problems except some cyano on and off. As of Friday everybody was fine.
In the pony tank I have the ponies, a peppermint shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, nasarrius snails, a turbo snail, some zoos, xenia, and a couple of gorgs with of course lr and some sw ghost shrimp that are really the occasional snack for the ponies. They live on frozen mysis well rinsed w/ro and a bit of garlic added.
Last week we added a couple of pearly jawfish which promptly disappeared. Searched everywhere and came to the conclusion that they must have gone carpet surfing so we are re-doing our eggcrate today to prevent this in the future. (I have 3 cats so if they made it to the floor they were a snack.)

As expected by the title, I woke up this morning to find the biggest pony lying in the sand with snails crawling all over him. A second pony is refusing food and breathing heavy.
My first assumption was that one of the fish was dead in the tank and causing a spike. Tested the water from the main system and directly from the pony tank and all looks right on track except slightly low calc. No amonia, no trites and trates <5. Even phos is almost 0.
Does anybody have any ideas, suggestions etc. At this point I will try almost anything.
I even have a 20g sitting in the garage that I could set up as a qt if I really need to just need to get a filter for it. (I think we trashed the original LOL)
TYIA
Any ideas are appreciated. I can't just sit here and watch them die. I have to try something just don't know what.

[Woodstock]

I am VERY sorry to hear that Lynn Miy guess is the new fish introduced a pathogen...

Lots of info...
http://www.seahorse.com/Frequently_A...ealth_problem/

http://www.seahorse-nw.com/p2_Seahorse_Keeping.html

http://www.breedersregistry.org/Arti.../shorse_n1.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seahorsdisfaqs.htm

[Gina]

On a very quick search (getting ready to leave house)
One of the questions asked for a seahorse breathing rapidly is what is your tank temp.
Several people suggested that you put in an airstone for better oxygen exchange.

I would also venture to say that the jawfish introduced something in your tank.

Will do furthur research when we get back from Exotic Aquatics.

Best of Luck!!

[lcstorc]

Thanks both of you. I just put an emergency post on seahorse.org and am now going to read Woodstock's links.
I really appreciate the effort and support.
This is a perfect example of why RS is my home!!!!

[lcstorc]

Put an airstone in and floating a container of ice to try to bring the temp down a bit.
Any other suggestions appreciated.
Thanks

[jkhalliday76]

Lynn,
Hope all works out for you! Keep us posted.

[Gina]

Lynn,
Read your post at Seahorse. Are you thinking along the same lines as me?
Tank temp too high?
How are things going since adding the ice to the other tank and the extra oxygen?

[lcstorc]

Well, those have been the only suggestions so far so I am trying both.
So far he is still hanging in but not eating so kind of unchanged. Least he's still fighting.
Really hope it's not the temp. I cannot afford a chiller right now.
Plus it was so sudden. Temp has been 79+ since day one. Why a prob now.
Well I can only try. I'll go check the current temp and see if my ice helped any. Of course to make my day more fun we are on a boil water alert so I don't even want to run my r/o to make new water.
Have enough for a water change. No idea if it will help, but generally not a bad idea. It is mixing now so I won't do it till tomorrow unless somebody thinks it may help.

[Woodstock]

What is the temp in the seahorse tank?

[Gina]

Hmmm....everything I'm reading says the ideal temp should be between 72-78 degrees. I can't imagine your temp of 79 being a problem since it's been that temp all along.
I'm still looking around.
I'm sure you this is a stupid question but, you did test your seahorse tanks temp, not the main reef?
Had to ask! Sorry!

[reefjitsu]

Sorry to hear about your fish.

While on the subject of temperature... I think it is important to note that many species are temperature sensitive. Normally we try to keep our tanks within a range that will be sufficient for most species. This usually works pretty good because most critters have a wide range of tolerance, most doing o.k. outside of their optimal temperatures. This approach will not work with all species though. Fish in particular seem to have specific temperatures for optimum metabolic functioning and they will seek them out in the wild. It has been shown experimentally that fish both prefer certain temperatures and function best at certain temperatures. Many fish have been shown to waste away at even slightly elevated temperatures largely due to the excelerated metabolism. Fish being ectothermic (what they used to call cold-blooded), are unable to control their body temperatures internally and so must rely on their environment for temperature control. Body temperature and metabolism are closely related, with nearly all organisms having a fairly specific range of temperature tolerance.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pwebb...440/lec19.html

[Gina]

Lynn,
How are the horses today?
In case you haven't been back to seahorse, there are a couple more answers there for you.
I hope they are doing well.

This temp thing they are talking about has me second guessing setting up a pony tank right now. I know without a chiller, I would not be able to keep the tank water 72-74 degrees.

[lcstorc]

Thanks Gina, I'll check now. As of 11pm I only had the one person who said anything at all.
The 2nd pony died during the night. Not a suprise as he was barely breathing when I went to bed.
Suprisingly the last one still looks ok. I'll know more when the lights come on and I feed him. Yesterday he was eating like a champ so hopefully...
Since I basically watched the 2nd one die I do have some more symptoms now and am pretty convinced that it was ick or another parasite from the jawfish. His gills turned almost totally white as he was failing.
The bad news is that now my whole system is in jeopardy.
I am watching everybody carefully and will spend today learning everything I can about it and what I can do to hopefully prevent anybody else from going.
Thanks for all of your help. I will keep everyone posted with any new developments.

[Woodstock]

Sorry to hear about the 2nd pony But that is great that the 3rd is alive!!!

[lcstorc]

And he ate this morning.
Watching closely. I so hope he makes it.