Need help with unexpected Seahorse...

[aecasasus]

I need help with an unexpected Seahorse, I ordered a fish online and when my order arrived (last Thursday) to my surprise it had 2 CB Erectus Seahorses instead of my fish. The vendor was awesome and sent out my fish and I got him the next day but i ended up with 2 Seahorses that I was not expecting. I currently have a Seahorse tank and wanted to get more Seahorses but haven't done so because I need to upgrade my tank since it is only a 20 gallon. In this tank I have 2 H. Comes which I have had for about a year with out any problems, they are fat and healthy and always eat like pigs. There tank mates are a 1 Clown Goby, 1 Blood Shrimp, 1 Pistol Shrimp, and a Hermit Crab.

The 2 Erectus arrived well; they were acclimated and added to the tank. I don't have a quarantine tank so I had to go ahead and just put them in the tank. They seemed a little on the skinny side, my H. Comes are a lot fatter. I usually feed my tank twice a day but since I felt they were on the skinny side I started feeding 3 times a day. They were eating fine, just a little slow compared to my 2. After a couple of days the male started catching up and eating a lot faster and a lot more, the female still was eating a little slower. She also seemed to be breathing hard so I put in an air line to give them a little more oxygen, thinking that was the problem. She did do better but today she has been on the floor all day, she hitches on the rock but stays on the floor. She has been there all day and pretty much on her side, she will straighten up but then go to her side again. I am worried; I don't want her to die. She is still eating but not as much as I think she should.

Tank parameters are:

Temp- 75
Ph- 7.8
Ammonia- 0
Nitrates- 20
Nitrite- 0
SG- .022

I did a water change the day they arrived before putting them in and I also did one yesterday. I know I need to upgrade my tank sooner than expected but for now I need to make sure they make it. Please let me know what might be wrong with her and what I can do to help.

[rayjay]

First off, mixing species of seahorses USUALLY results in the loss of one or both species. (not always, just most of the time)
Seahorses seem to have no tolerance for pathogens they haven't grown up with, introduced to them by other species added to their tank.
You are already aware that the tank is severely undersized as for 4 seahorses you should have a minimum 45g. (29/30g for the first two and 15g for each two added)
It is also important that as a seahorse keeper, you should always have a hospital tank for when problems occur like this. Most of us use a ten gallon tank.
You need to place the seahorse in a hospital tank and lower the temperature down to 68°, but no more than 4° per day.
I doubt that the problem at the moment is related to pathogens introduced by the other species as that normally takes a bit longer to affect this kind of result.
It could have a pathogen problem from pathogens already on/in when you received them, or it could be internal problems like chemical imbalance, liver malfunction to name a couple.
When there is absolutely no physical sign(s) to direct the form of treatment, I usually start with a 12 minute fresh water dip, matching the pH and temperature of the tank water, followed by placing it in the hospital tank.
If external parasites are much of a problem, the seahorse should thrash about when first put in the water as the parasites die.
The seahorse should only be removed from the water before the 12 minutes are up if it becomes completely unresponsive to the touch.
If there is NO thrashing when placed in the FW, then the problem is usually internal, either parasites or internal organ failure.
Unfortunately I don't know how to treat in these cases so I usually just start treatment with Furan II.
I've not gotten to do a follow up treatment as either this has always fixed the problem, or the seahorse has died.
The next treatment I would have done would be to deworm them.
In Working Notes, A Guide to Seahorse Diseases, fatty liver problems have been found to occur very often, but at this time there is no quick treatment for that problem. Basically feeding lower fat foods for a while, along with feeding vitamins may have an improving effect if the seahorse can hold on long enough.
In a hospital tank you could feed live adult brine enriched with spirulina and vitamins, counting how many you put in so you can tell if she is eating enough to survive.

[aecasasus]

Today she is hitched on her mangrove and no longer at the bottem, last night I decided to start lowering the temp. They eat at 10am so ill let you know if she is eating better today.

So Rayjay, are you saying that no one has a tank with mixed breeds? I do have an empty 10 gallon tank that I can use as a hospital tank but it is not set up, can I start a hospital tank with new water, or does it have to be already cycled?

[rayjay]

Definitely not! There indeed are tanks out there with mixed species.
There are a lot MORE that no longer are mixed because of losses in the attempts to do so.
One can luck in sometimes perhaps with either the seahorses just having what it takes to deal with new pathogens, or, like when mixing species bred by the same breeder, they different species have the same pathogens and are not exposing one another to new ones.
As for hospital tanks, I've never had one cycled because most times I'm going to medicate and the medication is going to kill off the beneficial bacteria anyway, so I just go bare bottom tank with open ended air lines for water movement.
It means daily water changes but to me, that's a small thing when I'm trying to save seahorse lives.
It IS best though to have aged new salt water, not just mixed and used.
I keep some aerated all the time to use for hospital tanks and for emergency.

[aecasasus]

Ok, I'm going to set up the hospital tank today; I want to do everything possible to save her, just a couple of questions....

Am I going to have to acclimate her to the hospital tank since the parameters are going to be different?

Am I going to have to treat all the Seahorses or will I have to wait and see if any of them show any symptoms?

I am going to place an order on Seahorse Source, what medications should I order?

She did not eat anything this morning, will I have to tube feed her? And if so can I tube feed her with out sedation or will I have to sedate her?

I know lots of questions I just want to do everything possible to save her, she did come to me unexpected but that doesn’t mean I won't try my hardest to keep her alive.

[aecasasus]

Update......

I guess I wont have to tube feed her for now, I decided to try to see if she would eat and gave them a small feeding and she did eat but I still would like to know about the medication so any help will be appreciated.

[rayjay]

Originally Posted by aecasasus

Am I going to have to acclimate her to the hospital tank since the parameters are going to be different?

No because you are going to match the new water to the pH and s.g. and temperature of the display tank before you put the seahorse in.

Am I going to have to treat all the Seahorses or will I have to wait and see if any of them show any symptoms?

Yes, wait until they develop symptoms. (they may not)

I am going to place an order on Seahorse Source, what medications should I order?

That would depend on what happens when you do the freshwater dip.
If it thrashes around then treat for parasites, if not, treat for bacterial problems.
My first line of defense is to use Furan II for suspected bacterial.
For external parasites I prefer to use Formalin.
For internal parasites I have used Praziquantel or General Cure.
A lot of times you know there is an internal problem by the feces which may be white and stringy instead of well formed and black/purple.
However, stringy feces may also be a sign of internal organ problems due to nutrition deficiencies.

She did not eat anything this morning, will I have to tube feed her? And if so can I tube feed her with out sedation or will I have to sedate her?

I don't sedate but some people find it easier. For me, it's a stressful move no matter which way you do it.