Dear Balthasar:
Yes, sir, that seems like a sensible approach. If you can get your water quality issues under control, everything should start to turn around for the better.
Just don’t add any Hippocampus reidi seahorses or other new specimens until the ammonia and nitrite levels in the aquarium are both at zero again, and your nitrates are below 20…
Yes, nematodes will continue to proliferate even if there are no seahorses in an aquarium – they are not obligate seahorse parasites. They live primarily in the substrate of the aquarium among the detritus, and seahorses are susceptible to them as bottom dwellers because our ponies orient to the substrate and hang out at the bottom of the tank where the bulk of the nematodes are.
Hopefully, it’s a light infestation, and siphoning the substrate during your water changes to remove detritus will also remove many of the nematodes.
Please contact me off list with a brief e-mail and I will send you additional information you may find helpful.
Good luck.
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support
Ocean Rider, Inc. is an Organic Hawaiian-Based Seahorse Aqua-Farm & Aquarium that Follows Strict Good Farming Practices in Raising Seahorses and Other Aquatic Life.
