Seahorse Help!

[aquaristkeke]

Hi!

I posted a video of my seahorse acting strange in Reddit and they recommended I come here. (: I’ll also attach the Reddit link with the video at the bottom of this post as well. So the issue is he has been upside down and seems to have trouble being upright. He floats to the top and lodges himself between the filter and the wall floating at the top. To give some background: the seahorse is a rescue that was dropped off at our door. We don’t know the age or species he is. We’ve had him for a few months now and he’s been totally fine until we had a salinity problem about a week ago where an intern increased his tank salinity from 29-30 to 35-37. It was high for less than 20 hours I would say. We corrected it the next day with a water change of much lower salinity and got it back down but he seems to be acting this way since. He’s has been in a 10-15 gallon tank with a bubbler, a filter, and I just did a carbon change today. He gets fed daily. If anyone has any advice please let me know!

Thanks,
Keke

 

[Peace River]

Let's see if we can get some help...

@vlangel @SeahorseKeeper #fishmedic #reefsquad

 

[aquaristkeke]

Hi!

I posted a video of my seahorse acting strange in Reddit and they recommended I come here. :) I’ll also attach the Reddit link with the video at the bottom of this post as well. So the issue is he has been upside down and seems to have trouble being upright. He floats to the top and lodges himself between the filter and the wall floating at the top. To give some background: the seahorse is a rescue that was dropped off at our door. We don’t know the age or species he is. We’ve had him for a few months now and he’s been totally fine until we had a salinity problem about a week ago where an intern increased his tank salinity from 29-30 to 35-37. It was high for less than 20 hours I would say. We corrected it the next day with a water change of much lower salinity and got it back down but he seems to be acting this way since. He’s has been in a 10-15 gallon tank with a bubbler, a filter, and I just did a carbon change today. He gets fed daily. If anyone has any advice please let me know!

Thanks,
Keke

I think he may have pouch emphysema. I think we’re going to go forward and perform a pouch evacuation tomorrow to help relieve him of the gas imbalance. If anyone has any better suggestions or can confirm this please let me know (:

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Hey Keke, how tall is the tank?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi!

I posted a video of my seahorse acting strange in Reddit and they recommended I come here. :) I’ll also attach the Reddit link with the video at the bottom of this post as well. So the issue is he has been upside down and seems to have trouble being upright. He floats to the top and lodges himself between the filter and the wall floating at the top. To give some background: the seahorse is a rescue that was dropped off at our door. We don’t know the age or species he is. We’ve had him for a few months now and he’s been totally fine until we had a salinity problem about a week ago where an intern increased his tank salinity from 29-30 to 35-37. It was high for less than 20 hours I would say. We corrected it the next day with a water change of much lower salinity and got it back down but he seems to be acting this way since. He’s has been in a 10-15 gallon tank with a bubbler, a filter, and I just did a carbon change today. He gets fed daily. If anyone has any advice please let me know!

Thanks,
Keke

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If the tank salinity was increased rapidly, that could have been a major stress event. If it went up over a few days, it probably isn't related to this issue.

Now that it is in a smaller tank, you need to monitor that tank closely for ammonia (unless it has a properly operating biofilter).

Based on the floating symptoms, it probably is pouch emphysema. I've "degassed" many of these cases, going back to the mid-1980's, and I'm sorry to report the issue almost always returns. I've used Acetazolamide to treat gas bubble disease and it works great....for a time, but the symptoms usually return.

In the end, I've been so frustrated with this issue that I've stopped getting male seahorses...

Sorry!

Jay

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If the tank salinity was increased rapidly, that could have been a major stress event. If it went up over a few days, it probably isn't related to this issue.

Now that it is in a smaller tank, you need to monitor that tank closely for ammonia (unless it has a properly operating biofilter).

Based on the floating symptoms, it probably is pouch emphysema. I've "degassed" many of these cases, going back to the mid-1980's, and I'm sorry to report the issue almost always returns. I've used Acetazolamide to treat gas bubble disease and it works great....for a time, but the symptoms usually return.

In the end, I've been so frustrated with this issue that I've stopped getting male seahorses...

Sorry!

Jay

Hi, I tried to perform the pouch evac today, using a bobby pin. I feel embarrassed and dumb, I kept trying to feel for the opening of the pouch but I'm not sure what to feel for. My wife tried, and she swears she got the pin in the pouch, but the bubbles didn't come out, and we were both too scared to push the pin down too far, we didn't want to hurt it.

So we gave up for today and put him back in the tank. It was very stressful but have to try again tomorrow, We watched some videos on youtube but the cameras don't zoom in close enough.

We really appreciate any guidance or tricks you can tell us to make this successful tomorrow, thank you.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi, I tried to perform the pouch evac today, using a bobby pin. I feel embarrassed and dumb, I kept trying to feel for the opening of the pouch but I'm not sure what to feel for. My wife tried, and she swears she got the pin in the pouch, but the bubbles didn't come out, and we were both too scared to push the pin down too far, we didn't want to hurt it.

So we gave up for today and put him back in the tank. It was very stressful but have to try again tomorrow, We watched some videos on youtube but the cameras don't zoom in close enough.

We really appreciate any guidance or tricks you can tell us to make this successful tomorrow, thank you.

I think a feline urinary catheter on a syringe would be softer. Like I said though, although you will be able to get some/all of the gas out, it always returns.