OceanPup

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Hello!

This is my first time joining as a member in a reef forum ❤️

I wanted to see if anyone had previous experience caring for Western Australian Seahorse (subelongatus sp.), as I had a lottery’s luck with a reputable store front when perusing the shop. Unfortunately, the aquatic husbandry is a bit lacking for this particular species, and the owner did not have much info regarding it’s care. I currently own Tiger Tail seahorses in a separate seahorse-reef friendly habitat (55 Gal long), and would like to know if I should add the subelongatus after their treatment ends, or if I should just leave the subelongatus pair in their 40gal acrylic tank.

I fully went hands on training them (about 3 days for them) to eat from frozen mysis/oceanic planktonic shrimp to ensure they ingested the metroplex dosage. Now, as soon as they see the shrimp, they snick very loudly. They also eat live amphipods and copepods in their 40 gal acrylic tank.

Currently on their 16th day of QT/HT phase of Sulfaplex and Metroplex of prophylactic treatment due to intestinal parasite symptomology. As of now, both have been eating well and active

Lastly, I would like to learn more about this species behaviors and what to expect— they’re not as free swimming as my Tiger Tails I’ve noticed

thank you!
4EF4C09D-F43E-424E-84FA-05FF6353D67E.jpeg
 

Naso110

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Beautiful pony. Not familiar with that species but I wouldn't add any other seahorse to my current tank of 4. Especially if you have another tank to keep them in. I'm just super paranoid of adding any disease/parasite to my two pairs.
 

Doctorgori

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It’s been suggested you can mix Pacific with Pacific and Atlantic with Atlantic ( Reidi with Erectus for example) …anyway, not my words… but that was suggested to me after loosing all my erectus mixed with comes
 

Nikki Polley

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Hello!

This is my first time joining as a member in a reef forum ❤️

I wanted to see if anyone had previous experience caring for Western Australian Seahorse (subelongatus sp.), as I had a lottery’s luck with a reputable store front when perusing the shop. Unfortunately, the aquatic husbandry is a bit lacking for this particular species, and the owner did not have much info regarding it’s care. I currently own Tiger Tail seahorses in a separate seahorse-reef friendly habitat (55 Gal long), and would like to know if I should add the subelongatus after their treatment ends, or if I should just leave the subelongatus pair in their 40gal acrylic tank.

I fully went hands on training them (about 3 days for them) to eat from frozen mysis/oceanic planktonic shrimp to ensure they ingested the metroplex dosage. Now, as soon as they see the shrimp, they snick very loudly. They also eat live amphipods and copepods in their 40 gal acrylic tank.

Currently on their 16th day of QT/HT phase of Sulfaplex and Metroplex of prophylactic treatment due to intestinal parasite symptomology. As of now, both have been eating well and active

Lastly, I would like to learn more about this species behaviors and what to expect— they’re not as free swimming as my Tiger Tails I’ve noticed

thank you!
4EF4C09D-F43E-424E-84FA-05FF6353D67E.jpeg
How are you getting on
 
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OceanPup

OceanPup

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How are you getting on
Hi! Sorry, I was MIA for a bit due to family getting Covid in January, sick seahorses, and grad school exams, etc.! My apologies!

Here is the long awaited update:

The pair is doing swell (so far), and received a comprehensive exam with the SeaLife Aquarium fish vet (Dr. Cecil) back on Feb. 9th + weekly appointments with Dr Taylor (seahorse owner and veterinarian of 20+ years). It turns out the species I have are actually hippocampus histrix, confirmed by a marine biologist from SeaHorse World (Australia) who confirmed the species ID during/after the Seahorse Whisperer’ weekly Wine Wednesday series (Youtube) episode. The stream is managed by Kelly D., and essentially a group of weekly mentors hanging out and discussing with the audience on a variety of seahorse-related topics! So be sure to subscribe to the channel; the channel is run by a wonderful seahorse aquarist Kelly! Still a cool species nevertheless and glad they were not from Australia due to the ethics involved

Anyways, on Feb 9th, Dr. Cecil confirmed that the weird white spots on the male histrix were fungal lesions, so I have been treating with formalin 37% as directed by the vet. Haven’t seen the spots disappear yet, but he’s doing well behaviorally-speaking!

Added factor for my late update was that during the last couple months, a Tiger tail pair I owned was diagnosed with a metroplex-resistant cilliate species, suspected to be brought in due to their LFS sump conditions (as a newbie seahorse owner, when I first got my initial hippocampus comes pair they were labeled as silver saddled erectus, so it was difficult to say the least). Wasn’t urenoma, but still a concern. During that time, the male hippocampus comes ended up fasting for 4 days before I intervened using a feline IV catheter syringe for tube feeding after reaching out to a nonprofit animal organization. After tube feeding for two weeks, and a complex regiment of LFS meds and DIY pharmacy grade vitamin supplements, and he seemed stable enough for transport, I also brought the hippocampus comes to Dr Cecil on Feb 9th. Since their formalin treatment after confirming the resistant nature of the cilliate, everyone is doing better!

A part of the process of managing the cilliate is the use of clove oil. After researching academic studies, I followed the experimental process for dipping the current corals from the affected display tank to see if it would be less detrimental to the system than CP (have it as a backup in case the clove oil process fails) when combating cilliate infections. Since the 1500ppm dip, <10min duration, the cilliate seems to be managed by the residual clove oil within the corals. The study is attached here: https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/biology/biology-11-00280/article_deploy/biology-11-00280.pdf

The results of the clove bath is depicted on the Gorgonian photo. The 24hr results show the polyp extension differences between the Yellow Branching Gorgonian (dipped) and the Red Branching Gorgonian (not dipped) after the clove oil bath was done (dipped corals were rinsed 3 times with the display tank water before adding back to the display tank. Currently data collecting to see if the cilliate can be managed and eliminated through the residual oil left by the dips.

I hope you all enjoy the update!!

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 67 51.9%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 67 51.9%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 33 25.6%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 7.0%
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