Dear Diane:

Dear Diane:

I’m terribly sorry to hear that Galene was too far gone to recover, Diane! All my condolences for this devastating loss!

If it’s any consolation, I think you did everything you possibly could have under the circumstances, and very likely nothing you could have done would have made much of a difference in this situation.

The prognosis is always very grim once a seahorse is no longer tracking the movements of the aquarist with its eyes. When you have an ailing seahorse that develops the “far look,” a distant stare as if focusing on some faraway object, and no longer response to stimuli in its immediate vicinity, that’s a good indication that the seahorse will not recover and that the end is near…

You still have some of Galene’s adult offspring, so she is still well represented in your herd, and hopefully some of her youngsters have inherited her dancing ability and tastes in music. Perhaps they can pick up where she left off when it comes to the aquarium choreography…

I agree that right now the best thing you can do is to make sure that none of the other seahorses will be affected by whatever may have caused Galene’s demise, Diane, and I agree that administering a regimen of metronidazole is an excellent place to start.

Although it can be safely administered in the main tank, that’s not the best way to use the metronidazole for best results. In order to do so, you need to disable the protein skimmer, switch off UV sterilizer, and remove the chemical filtration media from the tank, so as long as the seahorses are still eating, I much prefer to administer the metronidazole orally instead. That way you can leave the protein skimmer and ultraviolet sterilizer in operation, and continue the chemical filtration media as usual, which makes it easier to maintain optimum water quality. And the metronidazole is the most effective when it is ingested in any case, so that’s what I would recommend in this case.

There are two ways you could administer metronidazole orally, Diane – either by gutloading feeder shrimp with the medication or by mixing Seachem Focus and Seachem Garlic Guard with the metronidazole and then the frozen Mysis, which actually works very well and is the easiest of the two techniques.

So I feel that the best way treat the ponies orally is by combining the metronidazole with Seachem Focus and then mixing it with the seahorses’ frozen Mysis, which can then be fed to the seahorses as usual, Diane.

For the first step, I would recommend a regimen of Seachem Metronidazole to address the possibility that this might be the beginning of a parasite problems. The Seachem Metronidazole is ideal for this because it is designed to be used with the Seachem Focus and Seachem Garlic Guard and then administered orally, as indicated below:

Seachem Metronidazole Aquarium Fish Medication – 100 g

Product Description:
Parasitic and Bacterial infections don’t stand a chance with Metronidazole. When you find your fish infected with such nasty bugs as Ich or Hexamita, grab the Metronidazole and say goodbye to infection. This fast and effective treatment is safe for biological filtration and is easily removed with carbon after treatment. For freshwater or marine fish.

Specifications:
PACKAGE SIZE 100 GRAM
TREATS UP TO 265 TO 530 GALLONS
TYPE OF DISEASE BACTERIA, PARASITE
AQUARIUM TYPE FRESHWATER, SALTWATER
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS METRONIDAZOLE
FORM POWDER
INVERT SAFE WITH CAUTION

Instructions:
Do not use UV, ozone or chemical filtration during use.
Use 1-2 measures (each about 100 mg each) for each 10 gallons. Measurer included. Repeat every 2 days until symptoms disappear.

To feed, blend 1 measure with about 1 tablespoon of frozen food paste.

Okay, Diane, that’s the rundown on the Seachem Metronidazole, which comes in powder form and includes a little scoop for measuring the doses.

Here is the corresponding information for the Seachem Garlic Guard:

Seachem Garlic Guard

* For fresh and saltwater fish, planted and reef aquariums
* Contains allicin, the active ingredient in garlic
* Contains ViJamesn C for enhanced health benefits

Whet your fishes’ appetite with the natural healthful properties of garlic. Contains allicin, the active ingredient in garlic with powerful antioxidant properties that can lessen free radical damage to cells – plus ViJamesn C for enhanced health benefits. For fresh and saltwater fish, planted and reef aquariums.

Directions for Use: Shake well before use. Soak food in Garlic Guard before feeding. For enhanced effectiveness against Ich and other parasites use Seachem’s Focus and Metronidazole as follows: Add 1 measure of Metronidazole to 1 measure of Focus per tablespoon of frozen food. Completely soak this food mix in Garlic Guard, refrigerate, and feed once or twice daily for 1-2 weeks.

Guaranteed Analysis
Garlic Extract 9900 ppm
Allicin 130 ppm
(active ingredient)
ViJamesn C 1000 ppm

In short, Diane, to administer this medication to your seahorses orally, you simply need to thaw out 1 tablespoon of frozen Mysis and then add one measure of the Seachem Metronidazole powder and one measure of Seachem Focus to the Mysis and carefully mix them together. Then you just soak the medicated frozen Mysis in Seachem Garlic Guard and feed it to your seahorses as usual. You can refrigerate any of the excess medicated Mysis and save it for later use. If you will be feeding more than 1 tablespoon of frozen Mysis at a time, just adjust the amount of Seachem Metronidazole and Seachem Focus you mix with the Mysis accordingly. You’ll find that the seahorses eat the medicated Mysis surprisingly well when it has been treated in this manner.

Continue to feed the frozen Mysis medicated with metronidazole to all of your seahorses once or twice a day for 7-14 days, Diane. (I would do the full two weeks to be on the safe side.) The metronidazole is effective against a wide range of internal parasites, including intestinal flagellates, in particular, and should be helpful in nipping the problem in the bud.

And, of course, one of the benefits of administering the metronidazole orally is that you know will have no adverse effect on any of the invertebrates in the aquarium.

Good luck.

Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support