Re:swollen chest cavity – Raccoon Trouble!

Dear Pete,

I am sorry to keep bothering you, but I am afraid I could use your advice yet again. I hope I have not become a nuisance.

I was "compressing" my seahorse at the bottom of a 50 gallon rubbermaid container with diamox for several hours when, unfortunately, raccoons raided my yard and patio in the middle of the night and pulled the whole thing over! (Bet you don’t get raccoons in Kona! But do you get feral pigs in your yards at night?) Fortunately I heard all of the commotion and ran out and saved the seahorse who was still in about an inch of water but seemingly unharmed (and unbitten…thank goodness!!!) Since had used up all of my reserve water filling the decompression tank I had to place the seahorse back in the regular tank with his usual buddies.

Now I honestly don’t know whether to resume compression or not. He looks really good today. Obviously the several hours of treatment he underwent was great for him. The swelling of the swim bladder has significantly gone down (though still is not completely gone). He can anchor at the bottom of their tank (30" tall tank) and is eating his favorite food – live ghost shrimp. He still has some positive buoyancy issues but it is greatly improved compared to before he went through the treatment.

Since he is doing so well, (eating, anchoring to the bottom, does not seem to be in discomfort as far as I can tell) do I wait a couple of days and see if his swim bladder completely resolves itself, or do I start compression and diamox treatment again? Of course, if I was to resume compression treatment I would be certain that the container was "raccoon-proof" this time.

Thank you so much for your advice! Many apologies for the long-winded message.

Tom