Problems

[michael_cb_125]

My male seahorse has stopped eating. He was fine two days ago, but yesterday he did not eat, and today he would not even look at food. My female is more active than ever, and is attacking food. Previously the male was the aggressive one, and the female was shy. But now it is totally opposite. I checked all of my water parameters. The only thing outta check is my nitrates, tested at 10ppm. But everything else is doing great. Does anyone know what could be going wrong?

[lcstorc]

Send a PM to Panmanmatt. He is the seahorse expert. If he is not on-line to reply then chek out Seahorses.org . I believe he posts there as well, but regardless it is a group that focuses on seahorses.
From what I have learned, I would suspect a bacterial infection, but I am not at all sure. Is his belly extended? One of mine got an infection and the belley bulged out horribly. I tried to save him but failed. I had 2 others die of unknown causes within 12 hours of each other leaving a third to be just fine for a number of months.
I wish I knew more to help.

[michael_cb_125]

No his belly is not extended. He looks perfectly normal, but he is acting wierd. I hope he will be ok. Thanks for the info.

[sasquatch]

Sorry Michael, I know nothing about ponies, but my moral support and karma are yours. Steve

[bluespotjawfish]

Same goes for me!

[lcstorc]

What is he doing that is acting wierd? The more info we have the better chance we can help.
What are the parameters on the tank? Is he gasping for air? Once when I was having problems seahorse.org told me to put an airstone in the tank. Also seahorses like their water cooler than a normal reef. What is the temp on the tank? Also higher temps allow the bacteria to spread more quickly assuming that is the problem.
Hopefully Matt will be along soon.
Best of luck. I hope he turns around for you.

[michael_cb_125]

My ammonia, and nitrite levels are 0. My nitrate is 10ppm. ph 8.3
Temp 78
Last night after I turned out the lights he was at the top swimming around. Then this moring he was just laying on the sand. He is breathing very hard, and it looks like he is trying to eat something, even when there is nothing there. It is like he is gasping.
The female is doing better than ever. she is eating better than she ever has and can hold her own against the tang and clown.
I wish I knew ahat to do.

[woolfe]

He needs to eat soon or he won't make it. They have very fast metabolisms and can't go long without food. Clowns and tangs are aggressive eaters, are you sure he was getting enough at feedings before he started acting weird? I don't know anything about parasites but wouldn't the female be sick too? Best of luck, I wish I could help you more.

[michael_cb_125]

He died this morning. I am sick.
I hand fed both the seahorses, so I know that he was getting plenty of food. It was instant, one day he was eating normal the next day he would not eat. I guess he had an infection.
Im depressed now, I loved that seahorse, and I feel like it is my fault that he died.

[rebekwl]

Sorry to hear about your pony Here's some karma for your loss.

[Woodstock]

Sorry for your loss You took very good care of them but sometimes these things happen.

[BigAl07]

My knowledge of "ponies" is zero but I would like to add a little insight...

gasping is often a sign of gill issues or indeed a lack of obtainable O2 (less than adequate water-to-air circulation resulting on LOW dissolved O2 levels in the water). The latter would most likely affect both ponies with everything else being equal (age, species, health etc). It's possible it could have had an ailment that did impair the intake of O2 from the water hence the noted "gasping". I have heard of a variation of "ich" which inflicts gill function and actually causes the poor critter to suffocate even though it's in adequately oxygenated water. Keep a close eye on the other for gasping and even trying to swim closer to the top of the water column where O2 tends to be more plentiful. In some extreme cases where other fish had "gill impairment" I have read where it's suggested to supplement the amount of O2 in the tank with an air stone or some other aerating device at least on a short term basis. Remember that this is NOT pony specific so take it with a grain of salt.

Sorry for your loss and good luck!!

Sincerely,
Allen

Originally Posted by michael_cb_125

My ammonia, and nitrite levels are 0. My nitrate is 10ppm. ph 8.3
Temp 78
Last night after I turned out the lights he was at the top swimming around. Then this moring he was just laying on the sand. He is breathing very hard, and it looks like he is trying to eat something, even when there is nothing there. It is like he is gasping.
The female is doing better than ever. she is eating better than she ever has and can hold her own against the tang and clown.
I wish I knew ahat to do.

[panmanmatt]

Michael,

Sorry I am so late getting to your post. I wasn't near a computer last night or today until now.

First off, sorry for your loss. I know first hand how hard it is to lose one of these beautiful creatures.

Now lets address some issues that I see wrong here. Temp is too high for any long term success with seahorses. even tropical species need a temp in the 72-74 degree range. The main reason being is that seahorses are prone to bacterial infections and at such high temperatures the bacteria will breed at a higher rate than the seahorses can fight it off if they become stressed. Stress can be caused by an number of things including inappropriate tankmates. Which brings me to this, tangs and clowns are not compatible with seahorses. They are both aggressive territorial fish and aggressive eaters. Not to mention tangs are very fast, active swimmers and just theyr quick movements can/will stress a seahorse.

Personally I would set up a dedicated tank and transfer the female into there before anything happens to her also.

Can you give me a little more info on the seahorses you have such as species, where obtained and what you are feeding? Captive bred or wild caught?

Again, sorry for your loss.

[michael_cb_125]

He was a Hippocampus erectus. I got him from ocean rider. He acted great for the 6 months that I had him. They both ate furiously, and were very personal and grat fish. The tang and clown have never bothered the two ponies. I hand fed both of them everyday, so I know that they were getting plenty to eat. I gues now I need to set up a new tank for my lonely little girl.

[michael_cb_125]

I was feeding mysis shrimp with OR Vibrance and selcon.