Red spots on seahorse gills

[Austin Weinerman]

My 2 barbouri females have been acting normal and eating just as they always do. Today I just noticed this one of my seahorse’s gills. These little dots look kind of red. Also, do her gills look a little bit purple? They have been this way since I got my seahorses about 2 months ago.

 

[vlangel]

Is her eye bulged also? The shot is so close that perhaps I am only imagining that she looks like she has popeye. Also I keep erectus and perhaps barbs look a bit different.

 

[Austin Weinerman]

Is her eye bulged also? The shot is so close that perhaps I am only imagining that she looks like she has popeye. Also I keep erectus and perhaps barbs look a bit different.

Haha no she doesn’t have pop eye, but now that you mention it, the picture totally looks like she does. It’s just the angle that she is looking + the angle I took the picture I guess.

 

[4FordFamily]

Gosh my seahorse experience is null but that doesn’t look like a parasite to me, perhaps the start of infection, but I’m not convinced anything is wrong.

I’d monitor it closely, keep water quality high, and if possible soak foods in selcon, zoecon, or vita chem for superb nutrition.

 

[Austin Weinerman]

Gosh my seahorse experience is null but that doesn’t look like a parasite to me, perhaps the start of infection, but I’m not convinced anything is wrong.

I’d monitor it closely, keep water quality high, and if possible soak foods in selcon, zoecon, or vita chem for superb nutrition.

Thanks for your advice! Since I started treating my tank for ich, I had to turn off my protein skimmer (it has been 2 weeks). I continued with my weekly water changes, but I guess this wasn’t enough without my skimmer because when I tested my water today, nitrates were pretty high (somewhere between 20-40). I immediately did a 30% water change. I also discovered quite a few tiny white dots all over both of my seahorses’ bodies this morning. These must have appeared recently because I watch them all the time and never noticed these dots. I picked up some Ruby Reef Rally at my LFS and started the first dose this afternoon after the water change. I’m not positive if these spots on her head are ammonia burns or some sort of parasite or what, but I’m hoping Rally + daily water changes for a few days will take care of it. I should mention they are both eating great and acting completely normal.

 

[4FordFamily]

Lots of spots is no good. DT treatments won’t work without killing your coral.

You’ll need to source CP (Chloroquine Phosphate) per this chart:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/fish-and-treatment-guidelines-with-chart.191/

A thread on Chloroquine Phosphate:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chloroquine-phosphate.192309/. In short I’d advise finding a “cool” vet to write a script as the stuff from eBay may or may not be pure enough to be effective.

Also, I’d advise against reef rally on account of its ineffectiveness and also it’s not as reef safe as some think:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/is-ruby-reef-rally-sufficient-treatment-for-marine-velvet.308678/

 

[vlangel]

I would freshwater dip your seahorses and work on doing big water changes more frequently in the tank until the water quality improves. And I would turn the protein skimmer back on.

A freshwater dip is just matching the temperature and ph of the rodi water to your tank. Add an open airline in it and submerge the seahorse/s for 10 minutes. If they thrash and twitch a lot it is because the parasites are irritating them as they are abandoning ship.

If you have a QT, I would keep the ponies in it until you have tended to any husbandry issues that could have gotten overlooked (and it easy to do) where detritus might be building up (filter pads, under LR or coral, in the sump chambers). When you are pretty sure that water quality is greatly improved and any missed husbandry has been resolved then you could try returning them.

Do you have other fish in with your ponies? They potentially could be the source if you do. A UV sterilizer is not a cure all but it does help in killing ich when it is in the free swim stage and slows down the spread. In the end however, nothing takes the place of lots of WCs and over the top husbandry to keep water quality high. I learned the hard way that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

 

[Austin Weinerman]

Thank you everybody for your advice. I thought I read that a freshwater dip doesn’t affect velvet, is that not true? I will still do a freshwater dip. I use a sponge for mechanical filtration and clean it every week when I do a water change, but I have never replaced it in the 4 months this tank has been running. I have been considering switching to filter floss, so I guess now is a good time to get rid of the sponge completely and start fresh with filter floss. I will also siphon the sump today to pick up anything that I have missed in the past. Does a UV sterilizer help with all parasites or just ich?

 

[vlangel]

Thank you everybody for your advice. I thought I read that a freshwater dip doesn’t affect velvet, is that not true? I will still do a freshwater dip. I use a sponge for mechanical filtration and clean it every week when I do a water change, but I have never replaced it in the 4 months this tank has been running. I have been considering switching to filter floss, so I guess now is a good time to get rid of the sponge completely and start fresh with filter floss. I will also siphon the sump today to pick up anything that I have missed in the past. Does a UV sterilizer help with all parasites or just ich?

A UV can help with anything that spends time in the water column. I am not sure about all parasites but I know for sure it helps with ich. It can kill some nuisance algae also.

 

[Austin Weinerman]

A UV can help with anything that spends time in the water column. I am not sure about all parasites but I know for sure it helps with ich. It can kill some nuisance algae also.

Good to know. Sounds like I’ll be getting a UV sterilzer then haha.