Potential Snoutrot on Pipefish. Any advice?

[vlangel]

Definitely worked. I removed the body and put it in a bag in the freezer just to be safe, but the orajel definitely did the trick. Luckily (in a way) I'll have actual clove oil just in case this ever happens again. Hopefully it won't but at least I'll be prepared.

Seriously, thanks so much for helping me out. It's too bad it came to this, but I'm grateful to have gotten help here. It was so hard to get advice on other forums and it was nice to come here and have someone reply fairly quickly with great advice. I appreciate that, especially when I ask what I'm sure are noobish questions that have probably been asked 1000 times.

I am very sorry that happened. It is really hard either way when one of our fish deteriorates and we know the inevitable is coming, especially when it appears that they are suffering.

 

[revhtree]

Sorry for the loss.

@Lionfish Lair you are an amazing asset to this community. Seriously....

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

She(?) really is. In general this is the most welcoming community of reefers I've seen online. It's really nice. Thanks for all the condolences. I'm sad to see her go cuz she loved my current pipe so much, but it was for the best.

I'll definitely post my tank on this forum

The other pipe has a slight pink tint to the underside of his snout. I'd get a pic but he's too easily spooked and won't let me hold him. I've read that's a sign of early snout rot, right? I'm going to the LFS today to pick up some Furan 2 just in case. He doesn't have any other symptoms. He's swimming around, snicking everything, eating just as voraciously as he always does (he looooves feeding time). Just his face is a little pink and that worries me. No damage yet.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Here's the other pipe (moved him to quarantine cuz of his nose being reddish). Does that look like a bad sign? I have medication but I don't want to medicate if I don't have to.

https://imgur.com/hsGLtXD

The image was showing up on r2r really huge so I'll just link the image.

 

[vlangel]

Here's the other pipe (moved him to quarantine cuz of his nose being reddish). Does that look like a bad sign? I have medication but I don't want to medicate if I don't have to.

https://imgur.com/hsGLtXD

The image was showing up on r2r really huge so I'll just link the image.

That looks serious to me and I would treat with the furan 2. If the pipe is still eating well you have a good chance of curing it.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

He's definitely still eating. Quite happily, I might add. I added some furan 2 and it's already looking a little less red. Fingers crossed.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

ECK!!!!!! WHAT! I missed that the second one is having trouble. His mouth looks stuck open. You were absolutely right in starting antibiotics.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Yea, I noticed his snout was pink too so out he came! I think the mouth being stuck open might just be the picture taken when his mouth was open. He was opening and closing his mouth. But, you are the expert.

Grabbed another video so you guys can see better. How does he look now? I have the water temperature lowered to around 76 degrees. I wasn't sure if I needed to cool it down any further, or if I even should.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxth8E6f2JI_MzZ6cUFpcERHbE0

You can see right at the beginning of the video, he snicks up some bbs that I put in there. So no loss in appetite.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I would bump that temp down, if you could. Go another point for today. He's breathing hard in that video, that's why it looks "odd" in the picture.

Evidently, it's something infectious/transmittable and more than likely started by the new guy, but not necessarily.

I'm not an expert, I've just been around them a long time and had some really cool experiences. Besides having all the different pipes as pets, I used to bring home tonnes of them accidently when I went collecting grass shrimp in Texas. I'm one of the mods over on Seahorse.org, but as you can see, that site has died and I don't even go there myself anymore. It used to be so crazy active and we had a pathologist onboard who would do necropsies on horses from the threads. So, we had this beautiful thread of details going up to the death and then an awesome necropsy report. My bestie is Fusedjaw and her stuff is impeccable. So goes to a lot of conferences of them, so she's more up-to-date than I am. My husband and I met on Seahorse.org, so you can imagine that we were as involved as one could be. One of the other mods started his own breeding business at Seahorsesource.com and it was cool to grow with him. Anyways... my point was I'm not an expert, but evidently I like to talk a lot. LOL!

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Is the hard breathing a symptom of the infection? I'll drop the water down one more degree today.

Haha, well you certainly have a lot more experience and connections than I do! You've definitely gotten to know a lot of seahorse experts. I've only been into reefing for a little over a year and a half now. I'm really enjoying it so far but it's amazing how much there is to learn.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

It's a symptom that he's not well and/or the current situation. I'm sure he's not enjoying being in a QT and is somewhat stressed from that as well. Watch your water parameters. It can be really hard to tell with dragons, because their breathing is so exaggerated in the first place. He's keeping his mouth open a little long and extending it a little wider than normal.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Ahh gotcha. Yea he definitely doesn't appreciate the QT. He did NOT want me to pick him up. I had a hard time catching him to get him into the QT.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Quick question, what are these?

Are they pipefish poop? I gotta say, I've never actually seen the pipefish poop before because, you know, substrate.

And also here's the patient. His breathing is definitely relaxing a bit. I think he looks a little less pink too.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Could they be eggs?

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

No clue... never seen anything like them before. They're about the size of a grain of rice, only they're bright orange and have a little bit of a fuzzy texture. They definitely weren't in there when I set the QT tank up. Maybe something from the brine shrimp?

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Removed the pink towel from under the tank because I thought it might be messing with the colors in the tank and yep! The snout is much less pink this morning. Just a slight hint under the snout. Gonna do a 25% wc in a little bit and redose as the packaging says. I think we caught this in time

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I have to admit.... every time I see you made an update to the thread, I hold my breath when I click to look.

I'm so glad to hear this.

 

[vlangel]

That is wonderful! Like Lionfish, I too was afraid to read the outcome. It sounds like your pipefish has turned the corner. When they begin to respond to treatment its always promising.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

haha aww, sorry XD I guess I wasn't as worried about this one cuz there wasn't any damage yet and he was still eating pretty actively.


Is there a way to post an image where it isn't completely huge? Cuz even when I shrink them down before uploading they still get massive.

Gave him the second dose today. The pink seems much more faint, at least in person. I sometimes don't even see it if he has his head turned a certain way. Hopefully in a couple more days he'll be all better. When should I start pushing the temp back up? After the red is totally gone?

 

[vlangel]

I am not as aquainted with pipefish as I am with seahorses but I know that since they are both syngnathids they share some of the same characteristics and vulnerabilities. I am assuming your pipefish may be less prone to bacterial infections in the future if you can keep the temperature below 75°F. In an aquarium pathogenic bacteria tend to reproduce exponetially in temperatures of 75° and above.