Advice on Rescued Seahorses

[spanglish]

Despite my best judgement, I rushed into a nano with
seahorses.


Woke up yesterday to discover both of them in serious distress.
Water was spiking ammonia due to death of a gorgonian.

I did a water change on my big system and scooped the ponies up
and put them in the 5G bucket with the big system's water, heater,
and power head. Today both are vertical and holding on to hitching
posts.

How long can I use the bucket for qt?
How long will it take nano to stabilize?
Any suggestions?

[kimoy]

if this nano is a new set up, it's gonna take you weeks. why not place the ponies in your main tank or in your refugium/sump.

[spanglish]

The nano is not completely new. I used old rock, water, etc. to
cheat a major cycle. I've had success with this in the past, but I
clearly pushed the envelope this time.

My refugium on the big system has a solid layer of chaeto on the
surface, and aptaisia in it, so it is not a friendly environment.

[Cougra]

They can stay in the bucket for a while provided that you regularily test the water for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, pH, temp and salinity. If possible add a heater to the bucket as well as a small powerhead to keep a bit of water flow. I would also suggest aiming the powerhead at the surface for gas exchange and try not to have a lot of water movement in the bucket itself because the horses aren't that strong of swimmers.

If you want to speed the cycling process up in your nano, take some live rock and live sand from the main tank and seed the nano with that. If possible add 100% of the rock from the main tank as this rock is already cured and your nano should be able to handle any ammonia within a few days PROVIDED you don't overstock the tank!

Give us more information on the nano please. How long has it been up? What's in it? What size is it? etc.

[Cougra]

Ah you posted while I was typing. If you've added cured rock to the tank then I don't think you'll have long to wait for the tank to become habitable. You may need to add more live rock to handle the bioload. I would also suggest that you add some of the chaeto to the nano to help export nutrients and should help with the ammonia as well.

[spanglish]

Originally Posted by Cougra

Ah you posted while I was typing. If you've added cured rock to the tank then I don't think you'll have long to wait for the tank to become habitable. You may need to add more live rock to handle the bioload. I would also suggest that you add some of the chaeto to the nano to help export nutrients and should help with the ammonia as well.

Done, and done.

The nano has rubble (cured ) filling all chambers, and chaeto in the
first chamber. I'm confident I just overloaded it with the gorgonians.

I'm planning a water change tonight, but want to leave the ponies in the
bucket as long as possible.

The bucket has heater, powerhead (aimed at surface) small ball of chaeto.

[spanglish]

I'm embarrassed that I let myself get in a hurry and rush this system.
When I saw them yesterday morning I felt sick.

They are noticeably better today and I want to make darn sure not
to stress them anymore than I already have.

[Cougra]

It's definately understandable why someone would try to rush things as it's always exciting to see new animals in the tank. I hope that they pull through. Don't forget to constantly check for ammonia levels in the bucket as I susspect they don't have much in the way of biological filtration in there. You may need to do some larger daily water changes to keep ammonia levels in check.

[panmanmatt]

Please put a guard over that heater you have in the bucket. If the seahorse happens to hitch on that heater, it will get burned. A seahorse with a heater burn is not a pretty sight and the outcome usually isn't a good one.

What temp is the water without a heater? You may not even need a heater. The horses should not really be kept over 72-74 degrees if they are a tropical species, 64-68 for subtropical, and 60-62 for temperate species. Do you hapen to know what species you have?

The bucket is fine for a QT as long as you do daily water changes so that it doesn't try to cycle. I would say at least 50% daily.

You don't even need a powerhead, just a simple airline will do. The powerhead will most lkely cause too much flow which in turn will stress the horses even more.

[lcstorc]

I would be very careful keeping them in the bucket. With that small of an amount of water and no biological filtration the water is going to quickly be filled with amonia.
Personally I think I would put them back in the nano which has at least more water and the live rock. You are going to have to do water changes either way but the larger water volume and biological filtration should minimize the stress on the animals.