Is my seahorse ok?

Austin Weinerman · Dec 14, 2017

I bought 2 small female barbouri seahorses a week ago (about 3-4 inches each). When I brought them home, they were orange. Within a couple days, they dulled down to a light peach color. I know that seahorses blend in with their surroundings, so this makes sense since I have mostly all live rock in grayish colors and only a few soft corals (I have ordered some fake coral in bright colors to try and brighten them up). Anyway, when one of them lost her color, I noticed a weird pattern on her skin. I'm not sure if it is just her skin pattern or something more serious. She eats very well (about 5-6 pieces of frozen mysis twice per day), swims around just fine, and even does a little happy dance when she sees me walk over to the feeding area of the tank. My parameters are all in check. Any ideas on what it could be? Hopefully just the pattern of her skin.

rayjay · Dec 15, 2017

I can't tell myself if it is just normal with the colour change or not, but it DOES look to me to be quite thin and that IS a concern.
I know many hobbyists differ on this point, but I personally feel that seahorses need feeding more often than twice a day for best chances of success.
I used to feed 3 times a day, but now do it four times a day. My barbs aren't much bigger than yours, some same size, and I would say they are ALL eating at lest 5-6 mysis each of the four times fed per day.
Is this colour pattern on both sides of the seahorse or just the one? If just one, I might be tempted to place it in a hospital tank and treat with an antibiotic for the full duration recommended for whatever antibiotic you choose to use.
If it is a bacterial infection then it likely started before you got the seahorses, having only had them now a week.
While it is nice to have "parameters" in check, the problems that cause bacterial infections cannot be tested for with any test kits available to the hobbyist.
The problem usually stems from seahorse eating habits where they are selective feeders, leaving uneaten food particles that can get trapped unseen and not all taken care of by cleanup crews. This provides food and bedding for the nasty bacteria that can do so much damage to our seahorses.
Also, when the seahorses snick up their food, the masticate it and then pass it on to their digestive system, but on the way, particulate matter is passed out through the gills to further degrade water quality.
You shouldn't have this problem at this point so that is a greater indication that IF you DO have a problem, it was started before you received them.
Because the deteriorating water conditions can't be tested for, and, it is most times a fairly slow process over weeks to months before something is noticeable, I personally prefer to do larger and more frequent water changes, being extra diligent in ferreting out hidden detritus and uneaten food.

Austin Weinerman · Dec 15, 2017

rayjay said:
I can't tell myself if it is just normal with the colour change or not, but it DOES look to me to be quite thin and that IS a concern.
I know many hobbyists differ on this point, but I personally feel that seahorses need feeding more often than twice a day for best chances of success.
I used to feed 3 times a day, but now do it four times a day. My barbs aren't much bigger than yours, some same size, and I would say they are ALL eating at lest 5-6 mysis each of the four times fed per day.
Is this colour pattern on both sides of the seahorse or just the one? If just one, I might be tempted to place it in a hospital tank and treat with an antibiotic for the full duration recommended for whatever antibiotic you choose to use.
If it is a bacterial infection then it likely started before you got the seahorses, having only had them now a week.
While it is nice to have "parameters" in check, the problems that cause bacterial infections cannot be tested for with any test kits available to the hobbyist.
The problem usually stems from seahorse eating habits where they are selective feeders, leaving uneaten food particles that can get trapped unseen and not all taken care of by cleanup crews. This provides food and bedding for the nasty bacteria that can do so much damage to our seahorses.
Also, when the seahorses snick up their food, the masticate it and then pass it on to their digestive system, but on the way, particulate matter is passed out through the gills to further degrade water quality.
You shouldn't have this problem at this point so that is a greater indication that IF you DO have a problem, it was started before you received them.
Because the deteriorating water conditions can't be tested for, and, it is most times a fairly slow process over weeks to months before something is noticeable, I personally prefer to do larger and more frequent water changes, being extra diligent in ferreting out hidden detritus and uneaten food.

Thank you for getting back to me. I agree that she is pretty skinny, but she was actually skinnier when I first brought her home. She has fattened up a little bit in the week that I have had her, but I could try doing one more feeding each day. That pattern that she has is on both sides of her body, almost identical on both sides. I spot feed them with a turkey baster and do my best to suck up the uneaten food, but as you said, there are so many tiny little particles that I couldn't possibly get everything. I do 20-25% water changes every week. My CUC is a cleaner shrimp, 2 dwarf blue legged hermits, and various snails. So it sounds like what you're saying the best way to keep water conditions good and seahorses healthy is to do large water changes frequently and take out as much uneaten food as I possibly can? Again, I really appreciate your in-depth reply. I spent months researching all about seahorses before getting them and I tried to prepare myself the best I could, but of course there are always issues that come up that I am not prepared for. It comforts me to know I have this great community to come to if I need help with anything

vlangel · Dec 16, 2017

I can't really add anything to what rayjay covered but it is encouraging that the pattern on her body is on both sides. I have never kept barbouri but she is a beauty.

rayjay · Dec 16, 2017

With both sides the same at least it is highly unlikely to be due to bacteria and most likely due to colouration due to stress from something. I have 8 barbs and none have ever shown that specific pattern but the source for yours may be different than the Australian place I ordered mine from.
I'd continue to keep a very close watch on them, and especially work on fattening them up.
I don't know how to advise on finding the source of the stress as usually the only stress I've ever had was due to pathogens affecting the seahorses.
Hopefully in your case it is only due to the relocation to your tank and will rectify itself shortly.

Lucie · Dec 19, 2017

5/6 mysis per feeding???
How tall are they?
I don t know barbouri at all but my erectus eat much MUCH more... really...
I ran a test yesterday to see how much an adult erectus will eat.
Found out he ate about 400 live mysis (these are smaller then the frozen ones, I will later put a picture of both soude by side)
Also young ones need to be fed more often. You know they have enough feeding (quantity AND quality) when you see how fast they grow.
My last addition was a little immature female, see these pictures, they are all taken on a 15 days duration time

I try to keep my seahorse well fed, if you look at the sides, you will see they are always Convex

I think one of the most common mistake in seahorse keeping is lack of food (not enough)

Notice ALL pictures are the same female, so you shouldn’t worry too much about color change, especially if you just add them
About the « patern » I don t know, I would keep a close eye to it. Hope it s not illness