No Mate

Dear Nigel:

Yes, sir — that sounds familiar. It’s not uncommon for stallions to go through the motions of courtship with other stallions in a same-sex environment. You will see many of the typical courtship displays in such a situation, including brightening, head tucking, quivering and pouch displays.

I believe it is indeed possible to order a single female or male Mustang to replace a lost mate. But before you consider getting any replacements, I would recommend that you take whatever measures are necessary to make sure that your aquarium is healthy and the water quality is optimal after losing two seahorses within a week of one another. I suspect that the two females you lost in a short period of time indicate that some sort of pathogen or parasite may be the culprit, and that their deaths are likely linked.

In other words, I am thinking that whatever caused the skin condition that killed your female Mustang also cause the respiratory distress that resulted in the demise of your female reidi. (Many of the common parasites that afflicts seahorses will attack the skin and/or the gills of the seahorse.)

If that’s the case, and the deaths of your two females are associated, your surviving males could also be at risk from the same disease organisms that claimed your females and it would be very inadvisable to introduce any new seahorses into that situation. Don’t obtain any more seahorses until you are certain the disease outbreak has run its course and the surviving seahorses are healthy and out of danger.

How long ago did you lose your females, Nigel? If it would be helpful, I would be happy to run through my usual recommendations for rehabbing your aquarium after an outbreak of disease.

Best wishes with all your fishes, sir!

Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna

Dear Nigel:

Yes, sir — the ultraviolet sterilizer was a very nice addition. It should certainly help to control the incidence and spread of disease in your seahorse tank.

It’s very encouraging that it’s been a month with no further sign of disease in your seahorse tank. That’s significant because the incubation period for most disease organisms is less than that.

Things are looking good, Nigel, but I would give it another couple of weeks to be on the safe side while you concentrate on maintaining optimal water quality and "vacuuming" the uppermost portion of your aquarium substrate to maintain healthy conditions. And be sure to keep the quartz sleeves on your UV sterilizer clean and to replace the lamp regularly in accordance with the instructions to keep it as effective as possible.

If all continues to be well at the end of two more weeks, then I would say you could go ahead and order some replacement females. Click on Mustangs and then check the box for "Single Medium Mustang." Then be sure to specify that you want females only to serve as mates for the males you already have in the "Comments" section of the online order form.

Best of luck with your seahorses, Nigel. Here’s hoping the new female(s) pair up with your stallions and produce many healthy offspring for you, sir!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna