Dear Debbie:
You’re very welcome.
You can just adjust the salinity in your hospital tank to match the specific gravity in your seahorse setup or you could try reducing the salinity to make it easier for your seahorses to osmoregulate and minimize any risk of dehydration during the treatment. By reducing the specific gravity to around 1.015. Hyposalinity at that level would also inhibit many ectoparasites and protozoan parasites as an added benefit.
As long as you lower the temperature gradually, Hippocampus erectus will be comfortable as low as 66°F-68°F if you can manage to reduce the water temperature in your hospital tank that far. Other tropical seahorse species would be more comfortable at around 70°F.
One simple way to drop the water temp in your treatment tank is to position one or more small fans so that they blow across the surface of the water continually (Giwojna, Oct. 2003). This will lower the water temperature a several degrees via evaporative cooling (just be sure to top off the tank regularly to replace the water lost to evaporation). Leaving the cover/hood and light off on your seahorse tank in conjunction with evaporative cooling can make a surprising difference.
When reducing the water temperature via evaporative cooling, I should also caution you to observe all the usual precautions to prevent shocks and electrical accident when you are using an electric fan or any other electrical equipment on your aquarium, Debbie.
One such precaution is to install an inexpensive titanium grounding probe in your aquariums. That will protect your seahorses and other wet pets from stray voltage and should also safeguard them electrocution in the event of a catastrophic heater failure or similar accident..
But the best way to protect you and your loved ones from electrical accidents around the fish room is to make sure all the outlets are equipped with Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters. And it’s a good idea to make sure all your electrical equipment is plugged into a surge protector as well to further protect your expensive pumps, filters, heaters, etc. from damage. Some good surge protectors, such as the Shock Busters, come with a GFCI built right into them so you can kill two birds with one stone. So when you set up your cooling fan(s) on the aquarium, be sure they’re plugged into a grounded outlet with a GFCI or a surge protector with GFCI protection.
Best of luck with the treatments, Debbie.
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna
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.
