Pete, please help… now Chloe

Hi my name is Karen and I have had the same problem.
Do you have a low water level in your filter box? My pump used to suck in water with air when the water level was too low from evaporation, compress it together and then pump it into the tank via a pipe which was just below the water surface. This gave my seahorses GBS. I even had the same red algae problem and the air bubbles stuck to the sides of the glass and to the rocks. Is air being sucked into your water during the filtration process?

I also had a quite knowledgeable local aquarium which could mind my fish for me in their tanks if I went for a holiday or if there was a problem with my tank. (depending who it is, they may be more interested if they are paid). This was a disease risk, but if the problem is coming from your tank then could this be an option?

Karen again.
I tried that link I provided in my previous message but the link didnt work.
Sorry. Try:
http://www.seahorse-nw.com/index.html
OR search "seahorse aquarium supply"

Dear Carrie:

What a shame! I’m very sorry to hear about Chloe’s sudden demise. I don’t have a clear idea about what might have befallen her, but it doesn’t sound like it was related to gas bubble disease (GBD). The various forms of GBD normally don’t kill so quickly and cause characteristic symptoms (positive buoyancy, subcutaneous emphysema, distention and swelling) to alert the hobbyist to the problem and allow for treatment to be attempted. Chloe didn’t show any of the premonitory symptoms of GBD and went from apparently fine to lethargic and struggling for no apparent reason to dead all within 24 hours. That’s not consistent with the usual progression of gas bubble syndrome, so I suspect something else was going on.

Acute and peracute bacterial infections can kill seahorses with little warning, and seahorse keepers sometimes refer to such systemic infections as "Sudden Death Syndrome" because the seahorse can seem fine one day and be dead the next, allowing no opportunity to detect the problem and treat for it. Such an infection seems to match what I know about Chloe’s problem better than GBD, so septicemia is one possibility.

I have no idea if if this problem could be related to the red slime algae and the medication you treated the tank with, which produced all of the microbubbles and reacted with your skimmer to produce copious amounts of wet foam. Can I ask you what product you used to try to eliminate the red slime algae or cyanobacteria, Carrie?

At this point, it may be that we should be concentrating on eliminating the red slime algae and whatever is fueling its growth, rather than simply treating symptoms as they crop up in the seahorses. I would be happy to go over some of the measures that are normally useful in eradicating cyanobacteria and other nuisance algae with you if you feel it could help.

Best of luck ridding your tank of the red slime algae which has caused so many headaches and heartaches for you recently, Carrie, and all my condolences on the loss of Chloe.

Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna

Hi again, it’s Karen.

Pete is right. It doesnt sound like GBS. My horses floated at the surface and struggled with it for months before they died. Your horses seem to have something else!

It also sounds like perhaps they could be treated with a broad spectrum antibiotic. There are lists of them under the getting started, first aid link in this site. Crush the antibiotic in its tablet form and mix with tankwater.
Use feeder shrimp and gut pack them with the antibiotic using a syringe. ( i found it best to rip the head off of the shrimp first and then gut pack them that way). Your local vet should be able to prescribe the medications you need so that they are available to you. Also be careful not to overdose!

Also, your local aquarium should be able to test your water for you. A good marine aquarium should have all kinds of water tests for metals, phosphates etc etc. It may help to take the medication used along with you so that they can see what is in it. Also, try calling the manufacturer of the medication you used in your main tank. Maybe they know something we don’t. ???

Are you able to put your horses into a hospital tank at your house with a filter (sometimes an aquarium will lend you one) or in an aquarium to be minded which specialises in marines? Perhaps that is an idea? To remove them from the environment that is causing the problem until you know what is going on with your water quality.

I hope that some of these suggestions help. Sorry to hear about chloe.
Karen