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I\’ve got a mature black male Sunburst seahorse (H. erectus). It\’s been living happily in my tank for more than a year, been pregnant twice and delivered two healthy broods, etc.
A couple days ago I noticed that it wasn\’t swimming around, but just hung out near the top of my tank on an inlet jet. He also seems to have a small white cyst-like thing (about 1/2cm) on the left side of his pouch. He only ate a little bit a couple days ago, then nothing yesterday.
I moved him to a hospital tank, with lower salinity (1.020) and temperature (72 degrees). I also gave him a 12m freshwater dip in between.
Both in the dip, and now in the hospital tank, he basically seems fine, except: not eating, and whenever his tail lets go, he just bobs to the surface like a cork. It\’s a little hard to tell, but it may be pouch first. It\’s very fast. He isn\’t even close to neutral buoyancy any more.
The last couple of days, his tail is wrapped around something near the surface, and the bulk of his body is lying flush on the surface of the water. I can usually disentangle his tail, and manually push him down with my hand, and find a lower holdfast for him to grab on to. He looks almost normal at that point. (Breathing is a little fast, but not excessively labored.)
I tried to search this web site for care, and found something about possible bubbles in a pouch. I\’ve tried manually massaging his pouch, to remove any possible bubbles. Didn\’t seem to have any effect. Still bobs to the surface like a cork.
I\’m going to start force-feeding him (toothpick with mysis), from a description I got here last time I had a seahorse sickness. But that will surely only delay things.
Any ideas? What makes an (adult) seahorse have permanent positive buoyancy? Are there any cures?
Thanks,
— Don
Dear Don:
I’m sorry to hear about your stallion’s problems with positive buoyancy. If he seems to be floating up pouch first, the problem is most likely due to a buildup of gas in the seahorse’s marsupium.
Males that are actively breeding or actually pregnant are particularly vulnerable to chronic pouch emphysema and other forms of gas bubble syndrome (GBS), and it is not uncommon for a male that is carrying a brood of young to develop problems with pouch gas and positive buoyancy. When this reaches the point where the affected male is floating at the surface, you have no choice but to release the trapped gas one way or another as soon as possible. Otherwise, the seahorse will be unable to feed and will exhaust itself struggling against the tendency to float, resulting in the build up of lactic acid in its blood and associated changes in blood chemistry (acidosis) that further aggravate its condition.
Pregnancy is naturally a high-risk period for pouch emphysema and pouch gas for a couple of reasons. First of all, breeding males are often especially susceptible to chronic pouch emphysema and GBS in general because of the placenta-like changes that occur in the lining of the pouch during pregnancy. Spongelike, its tissues expand as the capillaries and blood vessels swell and multiply. A film of tissue then forms around each embedded egg, providing it with a separate compartment (alveolus) of its own. The thickening of the wall of the marsupium and elaboration of pouch structures around the implanted eggs result in a dramatic increase in vascularization, and this increased blood supply (hence increased concentration of carbonic anhydrase) transports more dissolved gases to the pouch, increasing the risk of GBS accordingly. The increased blood supply to the marsupium during pregnancy thus makes breeding males increasingly susceptible to the formation of intravascular gas emboli (micronuclei or seed bubbles) at this time.
Secondly, pouch bloat can be caused by gas produced by the decay of embryonic material and the remains of placental tissue or other organic matter (possibly even stillborn young) within the brood pouch, if the male is unable to flush it out and cleanse it properly by pumping water in and out during its pouch displays (Cozzi-Schmarr, per. com.).
I know of a couple of cases in which male seahorses developed pouch emphysema and/or other forms of GBS every time they became pregnant. When they weren’t breeding, they were just fine, but when they were carrying a brood of young, they were invariably plagued with pouch gas and buoyancy problems. Providing the GBS was managed properly (typically by administering Diamox orally via gut-loaded shrimp, in such cases), the affected male may be able to give birth normally and recover fully afterwards.
So it’s possible that this could become a recurring problem for your male whenever he becomes pregnant, Don. If that proves to be the case, I will be happy to help you deal with the situation as it rises. When a gravid male develops problems with pouch gas and positive buoyancy during the course of his pregnancy, I usually recommend performing a needle aspiration to release the trapped gas in a noninvasive manner that make allow the male to carry his brood full term and deliver them normally in due course, as described below:
Needle Aspirations
A needle aspiration is a very straightforward technique that simply involves inserting a hypodermic needle through the side of the pouch, tapping into the pocket(s) of trapped gas or fluid, withdrawing the plunger on the syringe and removing the fluid or gas. If you have never done a needle aspiration before, I know it sounds a bit gruesome, but it is a surprisingly painless procedure for the seahorse and is often easier and less stressful for both the aquarist and the patient than performing pouch flushes or repeatedly massaging the pouch. Not only is a needle aspiration less traumatic, as a rule, but it is also often more effective in removing the trapped gas and relieving the problem. A needle aspiration is easier to perform if you have a helper, since an extra pair of hands is very helpful when you’re ready to withdraw the plunger on the syringe and extract the gas from the encapsulated bubble.
The procedure is accomplished while the seahorse is held under water, just as you would if burping or flushing the pouch, and you grasp the seahorse in the same manner as well.
Prepare the needle and syringe ahead of time by sterilizing the hypodermic. When you are ready, wet your hands first and hold the seahorse upright in the water with your non-dominant hand, allowing his tail to wrap your little finger or ring finger so he has a good grip and feels secure.
While the seahorse is thus restrained, use your dominant hand to insert the needle into the side of the pouch (not the front) so you can tap into the pocket(s) of trapped gas.
Remember, you are not performing a subcutaneous or intramuscular injection, so there is no need to use a shallow angle when penetrating the wall of the pouch. Depress the plunger all the way and then insert the hypodermic laterally, from the side of the pouch rather than the front, at a perpendicular angle to the wall of the pouch. Use a big firm, gentle pressure to penetrate the wall of the pouch.
If you missed the pocket of trapped gas on your first attempt, the hypodermic may also withdraw placental fluid from the marsupium and/or yolk from ova implanted within the lining of the pouch, depending on how far advanced the pregnancy is, but that’s not a problem. Very few, if any, of the fetal fry or embryonic young are affected during a needle aspiration, compared to the alternative which is performing a pouch flush and thoroughly cleaning out his pouch.
If you suspect that your male may be pregnant, Don, then that’s the procedure I would suggest you follow for releasing the gas as build up within his pouch. If you’re confident that he’s not actually pregnant at the moment, then I would suggest inserting a small pipette or catheter into the aperture of his pouch to help you release the trapped gas, and then flushing out the pouch thoroughly with an antibiotic pouch solution.
If you refer to Shorty’s recent post titled "micro bubbles," you will find detailed instructions explaining the treatment options for this problem as well as some of the causes. Please refer to the following link:
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_joomlaboard/Itemid,218/func,view/id,3442/catid,2/
One of the methods for flushing out the seahorses pouch described in that discussion should work well for you. When the pouch flush is performed properly, some experts report a 100% cure rate for this type of pouch problem.
Once you have released the trapped gas and restored your male to neutral buoyancy, so that he can swim and perch normally again, the chances are good that he will resume feeding as normal.
Good luck resolving your male’s buoyancy problem, Don!
Respectfully,
Pete GiwojnaThanks Pete. (Always helpful as usual.)
I read your reply, and the referenced thread as well. I should note that I’m almost certain that my seahorse is not pregnant. Also, I saw this quote in the other thread:
It will struggle mightily in a losing battle against its increasing buoyancy until finally it can no longer swim at all, bobbing helplessly at the surface like a cork whenever it releases its grip on its hitching post. At this point, its pouch will be obviously swollen and bloated.
The swimming behavior ("like a cork") is exactly what I’m observing. However, the pouch is not "obviously swollen and bloated".
My seahorse appears (visually) perfectly normal. Just bobs like a cork. (And isn’t eating.) But no pregnancy, no swollen pouch, etc.
I’ll try a pouch flush anyway. Maybe it’ll help.
Well, I didn’t have the exact proper equipment, but I tried to flush his pouch just using tank water, and an (unused) aiptasia applicator from Joe’s Juice. (Basically, a syringe with a hard extended tip.)
No obvious change. Still bobbing like a cork.
Also tried force feeding, with a toothpick and frozen mysis shrimp. I can get some bits of shrimp in his snout when he breathes in, but much to my surprise he seems able to spit it all out again as well. I don’t believe I got him to eat anything.
Do I need to shove the toothpick all the way down his snout? His snout doesn’t seem much bigger than the diameter of the toothpick. I don’t want to break anything in there. On the other hand, I’m disappointed to see that I got a mysis in the snout, and it came out again.
I’m not much of a fish doctor, apparently…
Dear Don:
Thanks for the update. Okay, if your male is experiencing severe positive buoyancy but his pouch is not swollen and distended, that changes everything. If he doesn’t have gas building up within his pouch, then the positive buoyancy is due either to hyperinflation of his swim bladder or internal gas bubble syndrome (or both).
There are a few treatment options in such cases. The simplest of these is to manually deflate his swim bladder using a hypodermic, which is a procedure we’ll discuss in more detail below. You can also try pressurizing him at a depth of around 40 inches in a homemade decompression chamber, or you could resort to treating him with Diamox.
I would favor either of the first two options, since Diamox is not that helpful in cases of internal GBS in my experience, particularly if the seahorse is not eating and the medication cannot be administered orally.
Manually deflating the swimbladder is accomplished much like a needle aspiration, except the needle is inserted into the gas bladder rather than the pouch. This is how Dr. Marty Greenwell from the shed aquarium describes this procedure in the 2005 Seahorse Husbandry Manual:
"If a hyperinflated swimbladder is suspected, a bright light can be directed from behind the animal to visualize the location and borders of the distended organ. This is useful when attempting to deflate the bladder. The needle should be directed between the scute/plate margins for ease of penetration through the skin. The external area can be rinsed with sterile saline or a drop of triple antibiotic up all my appointments can be applied prior to penetration."
The seahorse’s swimbladder is a large, single-chambered sac that begins in the band of its neck and extends 1/3 of the length of its body cavity along the dorsal surface. It’s a large organ so if you can visualize it clearly using a bright light (just like candling an egg), releasing some of the gas to partially deflate the swimbladder is fairly straightforward and uncomplicated.
If the problem is a hyperinflated swimbladder, this simple procedure will provide your seahorse with immediate relief and cure the problem. But if you cannot make out the swimbladder clearly or if the problem is due to internal GBS, then pressurizing the seahorse a homemade decompression chamber is your best bet for a good outcome, as discussed below:
In my opinion, Internal GBS is often best treated by recompression-decompression, which causes the emboli or gas bubbles to go back into solution and be resorbed. The recompression cure works as follows:
The Recompression Cure for Gas Bubble Syndrome
Recompression simply involves placing the affected seahorses in a flow-through cage or enclosure and immersing them for a period of days at a depth with sufficient water pressure to cause the emboli to dissolve. The increased hydrostatic pressure causes the gas bubbles that have formed within the tissue and blood of the seahorse to go back into solution where they can be resorbed, relieving the problem. (This is why a decompression chamber is used to treat divers for the "bends," caused by nitrogen gas embolisms within the diver’s tissue and blood.) Afterwards, the seahorses are slowly raised back to normal depth/pressure over a period of hours, allowing the total partial pressures of the dissolved gases in the water and the seahorses’ bloodstream to equalize on the way up.
At present, there is no consensus among the professional aquarists who use this method regarding the exact depth and length of immersion needed to effect a cure. I’ve encountered decompression times ranging from 2 days to 10 days and depths ranging from 10 feet in large aquaria (Paul Groves, pers. com.) to over 35 feet at the bottom of the ocean (Bill Stockly, pers. com.), all of which worked equally well. Interestingly, the shortest immersion time was used successfully at one of the shallowest depths (4 meters) and cured seahorses afflicted with all the different forms of GBS (Paul Groves, pers. com.).
While the exact treatment protocol that will produce the best results remains to be determined, everyone whom has tried the decompression cure agrees as to its remarkable effectiveness. It cures external GBS (subcutaneous emphysema, a.k.a. tail bubbles), chronic pouch emphysema (pouch bloat) and internal GBS equally well. In fact, as long as treatment is begun early enough, before the emboli have caused irreversible damage, decompression has a very high cure rate. It is safe, provides the affected seahorses with immediate relief, and works for all forms of GBS.
Of course, the home hobbyist lacks the resources to apply decompression at the sort of depths employed by the professionals. But I am discussing the recompression-decompression cure in some detail for two reasons. First of all, a number of hobbyists have managed to construct homemade decompression tanks and chambers, and other enterprising hobbyists may wish to follow their lead (Lisa Hovis, pers. com.). Homemade decompression devices range from simple tubes of water 6-12 inches in diameter and 4-12 feet tall capped at one end, designed merely to increase hydrostatic pressure, to pressurized wide-mouth bottles complete with pressure gauges and bleeder valves (Lisa Hovis, pers. com.). Secondly, I suspect that when enough data comes in we will find that a depth considerably less than 10 feet and relatively short immersion times will prove to be adequate to resolve most cases of GBS.
For example, while working with the Hawaiian seahorse (Hippocampus fisheri) at the Waikiki Aquarium, Karen Brittain found that all the specimens kept in smaller, shallower aquaria developed subcutaneous gas bubbles within a matter of months, whereas H. fisheri that were maintained in tanks at least 1 meter deep fared much better (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p37). The Hawaiian seahorse remains pelagic all its life, typically being found at least a mile offshore in deep water, and Brittain speculates that H. fisheri needs to migrate to depths unachievable under normal aquarium conditions to maintain proper physiological balance (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p37). I think she is absolutely correct. It seems likely that H. fisheri follows a daily vertical migration pattern, perhaps synchronized with the movements of plankton. Her findings suggest that tanks a minimum of 3 feet deep can provide a measure of protection against GBS, and custom-built aquaria of those dimensions are certainly within the realm of the home hobbyist.
This remains a fertile field for future research. It has been suggested that should there be an outbreak of GBS in one of your aquariums, transferring the seahorses to an aquarium at least 3 times as deep can decompress the patients and prevent a recurrence of such problems (Wooten and Waughman, 2004). This suggestion has a lot of merit. Even upgrading to a tank that’s twice as deep would be quite advantageous in terms of GBS prevention. Much work remains to be done to develop decompression guidelines for seahorses and to determine what sort of depth is needed to confer protection from GBS to different species. But when it comes to GBS, two things are certain: deeper tanks are healthier for seahorses and recompression can achieve remarkable recoveries.
In short, Don, if your male’s positive buoyancy problems is due to internal gas bubble syndrome, then I feel the best procedure is to try a moderate form of recompression to help reverse any damage that may already have been done and help him recover quickly. What I have in mind is confining the affected seahorse in a flow-through enclosure at the bottom of a 50-gallon Rubbermaid enclosure 40 inches deep, or something similar, for a period of about 3 days. Once the seahorse is immersed at the bottom of this homemade "decompression chamber," you cannot raise it to the surface again for daily feedings. Since your decompression chamber will have no biofiltration, I would simply fast your seahorse while it recompresses at depth. It can easily go without eating for a few days and that will help eliminate any ammonia spikes in the meantime.
If you decide to try this, be sure to keep your makeshift decompression chamber well-aerated. A shallow airstone anchored just below the surface — NOT at the bottom of the decompression chamber! — to provide surface agitation and oxygenation should suffice.
When the recompression period is finished, raise the seahorse to the surface (or lower the water level in the hydrostatic chamber) gradually, in a series of stages, over a period of several hours, to assure that the patient decompresses completely and the gas emboli don’t reform.
One of our other Club members (Christine) recently used this method to cure her seahorse of internal GBS after Diamox baths had been tried unsuccessfully. Here is how Chris described her experience with GBS, and her treatment method with her homemade decompression chamber, in posts to the group:
<open quote>
Hi — After 3 days of diamox Heidi was still buoyant (the diamox did not
seem to have helped at all), and swimming with the tip of her head
sticking out of the top of the water, clearly frustrated with her
situation. I looked at her with a magnifying class, and can’t see any
external signs of bubbles. I also don’t see any signs of bloating or
eye problems.I followed Pete’s suggestions, took her off the diamox to restore her
appetite, gave her 1 day of rest in the hospital tank with clean water
and Kanamycin. She ate well yesterday and this morning. I rigged up
an inexpensive way of submersing her to 3 times the depth of my 30
gallon display tank. (I priced building a 6 ft deep tank out of an
acrylic tube attached to a base, or acrylic rectangles
attached to a base, and it came out to be anywhere from $250 to $400.
They wanted to charge $175 per linear foot of the acrylic tube thick
enough to safely support a 5 or 6 ft column of water). I’m going totry the cheap method first, and will build a deeper aquarium if she
needs a greater water pressure.So-I have her in a ‘critter keeper’ (small plastic container with a
lid that has slots in it and a viewing window in the center) with 2
soft rubber hitching posts. The lid has 4 large criss-crossed rubber
bands on it just in case the lid comes off. I made sure there weren’t
any bubbles underneath the critter keeper or underneath the little
clear viewing lid on the top. I bought a 50 gallon rubbermaid bucket
which gives a water depth of 3 1/2 ft when filled. The critter keeper
is inside a 5 gallon white bucket weighted down with a signature
coral, with a rope tied to the bucket handle (made it easy to lower
into the big bucket). I lowered her slowly this morning, and she
seems fine (not pinned against the lid of the critter keeper, and she
is able to go between the 2 hitching posts). I have an airstone going
at the surface of the deep bucket, as Pete suggested. I can see her
with a flashlight. Her breathing looks normal.I filled the 50 gallon bucket yesterday with the shower! and let it
‘degas’ for one day (also to make sure that it didn’t spring a leak.It is in the bathtub). The water temp is 70 degrees. I matched the
specific gravity and ph of the hospital tank.Heidi is going to remain there for 2-3 days, as per Pete’s suggestion.
After that, I will bring her up very slowly (or unload the water from
the big bucket very slowly). I hope this works! Our big bathroom has
been completely taken over with buckets, hospital tank, salt mix, etc.
Wish us luck!
Chris
<end quote>And here is Christine’s follow-up message after the recompression-decompression treatment was completed:
<open quote>
Hi Pete and Everybody, Heidi is okay! No more floating. I unloaded
the water from my makeshift compression chamber very slowly, as per
Pete’s suggestion, rather than pulled up the critter keeper from the
bottom (much safer to unload the water). I then transferred the
critter keeper she was in to a 5 gal bucket of clean saltwater,
and she swam out when I opened the lid. I decided to do a water
change in the main tank before putting her back in, and used the water
I pulled out of the main tank (74 degrees) to warm up the water she
had been in (70 degrees) to help re-acclimate her to the main tank.
She is eating and swimming as normal, back to her aggressive self with
the turkey baster and Mysis. She is very happy to be back in the
display tank, and is enjoying swimming all around, once again
neutrally buoyant. She was sooo happy to see her favorite coral
colored fake coral. Her color is going back from being dark brown
(her under stress color) to light brown/gold today. I hope to see
her go back to her coral color soon. Thanks for your help Pete!
I hope I never again have a SH with the floaties!
For the record, she was in a critter keeper inside a 5 gal bucket
weighted down with a fake (Signature) coral at the bottom of 40 inches
of water in a Rubbermaid 50 gallon bucket (on wheels-a new bucket). I
had an airstone at the top as per Pete’s instructions. She was in for
2 1/2 days.
Chris
<end quote>If you want to try the decompression cure, Don, you can safely administer a regimen of antibiotics while the seahorse is submerged at the bottom of the 50-gallon Rubbermaid bucket. (Just don’t perform any water changes while the seahorse is undergoing recompression-decompression.) This would help prevent any secondary infections associated with GBS or stress, and would also cover all the bases if you suspect the underlying cause of your seahorse’s positive buoyancy may be due to a bacterial infection.
For the antibiotic therapy, the following antibiotics would be good choices. If possible, I would recommend using two of them (i.e., kanamycin/neomycin or nifurpinol/neomycin) in combination for even greater efficacy, as described below, but any one of them should do nicely if that’s all you can get:
Kanamycin
This is a potent broad-spectrum, gram+/gram- antibiotic. It is wonderfully effective for aquarium use because it is one of the few antibiotics that dissolves well in saltwater and that is readily absorbed through the skin of the fish. That makes it the treatment of choice for treating many bacterial infections in seahorses. Kanamycin can be combined safely with neomycin to further increase its efficacy. Like other gram-negative antibiotics, it will destroy your biofiltration and should be used in a hospital tank only.
nifurpirinol (Furanase)
Nifurpirinol is a nitrofuran antibiotic that is the active ingredient in many commercial preparations designed for use in the aquarium. It is stable in saltwater and rapidly absorbed by fish, making it the preferred treatment for fungal infections in seahorses (Burns, 2002). Nifurpirinol is photosensitive and may be inactivated in bright light, so use this medication only in a darkened hospital tank.
Nifurpirinol may be combined with neomycin (see below) to produce a potent broad-spectrum medication that’s effective against both fungus and bacteria. Nifurpirinol/neomycin is therefore a great combination to use when you’re not certain whether the infection you are treating is fungal or bacterial in nature.
neomycin sulfate
Neomycin is a very potent gram-negative antibiotic. Most of infections that plague marine fish are gram-negative, so neomycin sulfate can be a wonder drug for seahorses (Burns, 2002). As mentioned above, it can even be combined with other medications such as kanamycin or nifurpirinol for increased efficacy. For example, kanamycin/neomycin is tremendous for treating bacterial infections, while nifurpirinol/neomycin makes a combination that packs a heckuva wallop for treating mixed bacterial/fungal infections or problems of unknown nature. Keep it on hand at all times.
Neomycin will destroy beneficial bacteria and disrupt your biological filtration, so be sure to administer the drug in a hospital tank.
Here’s hoping your seahorse responds well to whatever treatments you can administer, Don.
Respectfully,
Peter GiwojnaDear Don:
It sounds like you were going about the simple method for force-feeding a seahorse the right way, but he just wasn’t cooperating. The technique where you simply insert a piece of frozen Mysis into the seahorses tube snout has one great virtue — it doesn’t require any difficult to obtain equipment or apparatus and is simple enough that anybody can attempt it. The disadvantage to this method, of course, is that it’s pretty hit or miss and doesn’t always work.
Once you have inserted the Mysis far enough into the tube snout, one of two things will happen — it will either stimulate the seahorse to swallow the Mysis reflexively or it will trigger the seahorse’s gag reflex instead, in which case it will be regurgitated. (It’s not a lack of good doctoring, but rather a matter of how that particular seahorse’s reflexes are hardwired.) When the latter happens, then it’s unlikely that this force-feeding technique will work for you, Don, and you would be better off attempting to tube feed the seahorse as an alternative.
You might have better luck like tube feeding the seahorse either without sedation (Leslie Leddo’s technique) or after sedating the seahorse (Marc Lamont’s technique). Rather than repeatedly trying to force feed the seahorse, you might want to consider tube feeding it instead, sir.
Best of luck restoring your stallion to neutral buoyancy and getting some nourishment into him, Don.
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna
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