Seahorse swimming upside down

[Deirdre]

My seahorse has a protrusion from his belly. I have read this is from his pouch. He has been eating well and trying to mate with our female. (doing their mating dance)

But over the past few days he has been swimming upside down. He can stay upright himself when he attaches to coral. Please advise how to help him. He is part of the family.

Deirdre

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have the same problem with mine. Google youtube videos on "seahorse pouch evacuation", you have to perform the pouch evacuation to save your seahorse. I tried 3 times so far and failed, its really got me down. I will try again tomorrow. Good luck with yours.

 

[Deirdre]

I have the same problem with mine. Google youtube videos on "seahorse pouch evacuation", you have to perform the pouch evacuation to save your seahorse. I tried 3 times so far and failed, its really got me down. I will try again tomorrow. Good luck with yours.

I read about that the sedation part freaked me out!

Any advice on that process.

I also read I should separate him from the female do he will stop trying to Nate?!?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Oh don't worry soon he won't be able to go near the female, it will get harder and harder for him to swim. The gas bubble will get bigger and drag him up faster, and it he will lose energy fast trying to swim down. It sounds like you are just beginning stage. I'm on my third week now so you have time, don't panic.

Like I said I failed 3 times, so I have no suggestions for you. I feel so horrible to watch my guy suffer and I feel so dumb. All I can say is google and watch as many videos as you can, they make it look so easy but I haven't been able to do it successfully.

I really wish you best of luck, let me know if you try it or not, I would like to hear your outcome.

 

[Dom]

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[Dom]

I read about that the sedation part freaked me out!

Any advice on that process.

I also read I should separate him from the female do he will stop trying to Nate?!?

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

 

[vetteguy53081]

My seahorse has a protrusion from his belly. I have read this is from his pouch. He has been eating well and trying to mate with our female. (doing their mating dance)

But over the past few days he has been swimming upside down. He can stay upright himself when he attaches to coral. Please advise how to help him. He is part of the family.

Deirdre

For best assessment, please post if possible video , other wise some pics under bright white light intensity. Commonly with belly issues are gas bubble disease and pouch emphysema which is internal, both caused by bacterial issues. What is age of the tank and how is it being filtered?

 

[Deirdre]

For best assessment, please post if possible video , other wise some pics under bright white light intensity. Commonly with belly issues are gas bubble disease and pouch emphysema which is internal, both caused by bacterial issues. What is age of the tank and how is it being filtered?

The tank is over a year. We have another seahorse that he keeps trying to dance with. The other seahorse is fine. I am going to post a video and pictures.

 

[Deirdre]

Another person told me to try and push the protrusions back in. The u-tube video says to sedated him. Any suggestions on how?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Another person told me to try and push the protrusions back in. The u-tube video says to sedated him. Any suggestions on how?

This is called "brood pouch emphysema" by public aquarists. It is very difficult to resolve. The cause is sometimes decaying eggs/larva in the pouch, but more often, seems to be a result of "Gas Bubble Disease" where seahorse produce gas in their pouch or under their skin. It is NOT caused by supersaturation of the water with gasses, you'll read that in some cases, but it's wrong.

I've tried diamox and antibiotics to treat this, as well as flushing the pouch and I've never been able to fully cure it, it always returns for me.

You may have seen this web page, but if not, it has pretty accurate information:
https://seahorsesavvy.com/blogs/new...f-gas-bubble-disease-how-to-treat-and-prevent

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Another person told me to try and push the protrusions back in. The u-tube video says to sedated him. Any suggestions on how?

You can't push the potrusions back in, the potrusion is an air bubble, it has to be pushed or sucked out of the pouch, its called "pouch evacuation".

None of the youtube videos I saw sedated or mentioned sedation, and frankly I don't have the stomach to try that.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post youtube videos here, but this is the best video I have found:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Another person told me to try and push the protrusions back in. The u-tube video says to sedated him. Any suggestions on how?

sedation would likely be a risk and one method is to dilute acetazolamide in a pint of water and administer but risk here in puncturing the belly area causing decompression. You can likely get away with use of neomyacin which is safest alternative but also depends on severity of the horses' belly