Seahorse quarantine log: wild caught seahorses

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Day 8
So, I tried something a little different today. Since it looked like the smaller seahorse was eating the live brine, but the bigger one wasn’t, I stayed away from the frozen food today and sporadically fed small amounts of live brine at one feeding, then when the live brine was cleared out, I fed a small amount of amphipods. I alternated feeding the live brine and the amphipods about 3 times each, looking to see if the seahorses responded or tried to eat. What I found was that when I fed the live brine, the smaller seahorse would actively eat in front of me, but the larger one would just follow the live brine but not eat it. When I fed the amphipods though, both seahorses would jump down from their peeves and chase after the amphipods, eating about 3-4 medium sized amphipods each, and then ignoring the rest and then going back to the perch. So amphipods seemed to be a more successful staple for the two of them. So I’ll have to make sure to feed at least a little of the amphipods daily to make sure they eat a little between the frozen food feedings. I did the tank transfer again and formalin treatment as usual since I still have 2 more days to go.
 
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Days 9 and 10:

as it was the weekend before Halloween, was running around with the family making preparations, so kept with the same routine for both days. Kept up with the formalin bath each day and switching the seahorses from one tank to another each day, with the new tank having been bleached, dechlorinated, and filled with fresh water.

for both these days, I fed primarily live brine with a little frozen mixed in. What I would do is feed the live brine, then wait 30 seconds (once the seahorses noticed the live brine), then would feed a shot of frozen brine. At the first feeding the smaller female seemed hesitant on the frozen brine, but at the second and third feedings she accidentally took 2-3 pieces of the frozen brine in front of me. The larger part me still won’t eat anything except for amphipods in front of me, so I fed a handful of amphipods a couple of times through the day to keep her going.

interesting thing by the end of the 10th day though. Both seahorses now seemed to notice that with the fountain pumps in the tank, the brine would get sucked onto the front intake of the pump, and then they would just stick the stuck food off the face of the pump. It seems like with the flow of the intake, frozen and live looked alike with the movement, so the smaller one would just camp out at the intake and snuck up the food. Clever girl.
 

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Day 11:

So today was the last day of the 10 day formalin bath, so, before I transferred the seahorses into the other tank with clean water, I did a 45 minute formalin dip (1 ml per gal of water), the seahorses were calm through the dip and had little reaction, so hoping that external parasites are removed. After the dip, moved them to the tank with clean water. I’m taking a day or two before starting them on the medicated bath to give them a rest.

feeding has been the same. Feeding a combination of love and frozen brine shrimp at the same time now, with a handful of amphipods twice a day. The smaller female is openly eating in front of me now, and, she’s slowly starting to snick more and more of the frozen. Throughout the day today, I saw her eat at least 3 pieces of frozen non live brine as they get swept through the tank along with the live brine. I’m still not seeing the larger on eat, but her sides don’t look sunken in, so I’m hoping she’s eating, just not in front of me yet. She does go after the amphipods, so at least that’s keeping her sustained for the time being.
 
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Day 12:

seahorses not started on medication just yet, just holding off for a couple of days before starting the meds, will probably start tomorrow.

kept with the same feeding regime this day, and, noticing the smaller female eating as much of the frozen brine as the live brine now. Just whatever she can catch in the water flow now. I actually caught the larger one snicking up a piece of the frozen brine as well as I approached the tank. Guess she didn’t see me coming, lol.

I may try a round of feeding just frozen tomorrow and see how they do.
 
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Day 13:

Started the seahorses on the medication portion of the quarsntine today. Water change protocol will be the same, with the seahorses being sent into a 100% water change daily by moving them from one tank to another (just like with what I did with the formalin bath phase of the quarantine), bleaching and dechlorinating each tank once the seahorse has come out of it.

My plan for the medication portion of the quarantine is to put them into a 7-10 day bath of ciprofloxacin (125mg per 5 gallons) and doxycycline (50mg per 5 gal), and as at least one of the seahorses are eating a little bit of frozen food, I’ll be putting metroplex (metronidazole) and seachem focus into the frozen brine shrimp.

Feeding at this stage

As I’m starting the medicated regime now, for this first stage, I’m going to alternate between feeding frozen and live brine twice a day (frozen/live/frozen/live) with feeding the live brine an hour after the frozen. Live brine will be soaked in selcon for a minimum of 8 hours before feeding, and frozen will be soaked in seachem metroplex and seachem focus for 10 minutes before feeding. As I’m also still seeing only one seahorse eat both the frozen and live brine (the other still won’t eat in front of me, but, it’s stomach isn’t sunken in, so it’s eating something, if nothing else, at least the amphipods), I’ll still feed a handful of amphipods twice a day.

Tank transfer: will be keeping up with the 100% water changes daily for the rest of the quarantine by continuing to switch the seahorses into the second tank with new clean saltwater and following the bleach/dechlorinate/put new water regiment for the prior tank. The seahorses seem to be getting used to this now, and, they only seem disoriented for about 2-5 minutes when first getting introduced into the new water each day now.

Observations for this day:

Seahorses look to be getting used to the tank transfers and the feeding. The smaller seahorse that started eating the frozen food is eating as much frozen food as live food now. When I walk away for an hour, normally all of the frozen brine is gone, unless there are a few pieces which settled to the bottom of the tank. It looks like as long as the frozen brine looks like it’s moving, the smaller seahorse is eating it. The bigger one still won’t eat in front of me with the brine, but, the second I feed amphipods, the bigger one jumps off her perch and chases down the amphipods. Not happy it’s not eating the brine in front of me, but, at least it’s eating. Will just need to take more time.
 
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Days 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20

So, stuck with the same routine on all of these days (doing a tank transfer/100% water change every day and dosing 125mg cipro / 50mg doxycycline daily, and also soaking the frozen food in metronidazole/focus). The seahorses also follow the same routine with no changes, the small one will now eat everything as long as it moves (frozen brine soaked in metro/focus and live brine). The bigger one still only eats the amphipods in front of me.

Something interesting that had not occurred to me until day 17 when I first saw it. Poop. Starting on day 17, I had noticed healthy looking poops at the bottom of the tank each day now, and, I hadn’t thought about the fact that I had not seen any poop from either of the seahorses till now. It’s possible that the poops were disintegrating in the tank by the end of the day for the first 17 days, not sure, but, I remembered now not seeing any poop before day 17. Not really sure if this is a result of the meds or just the consistent clean water, but, I was happy to see it now. Saw poop on days 17, 18, 19, and 20, and was happy that they are coming along now. Still not happy the bigger seahorse isn’t eating frozen or live brine yet, but, heck, I asked for this, so, need to keep at it until it does.
 

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