gutted...lost a seahorse

[Marc Foord]

gutted..... :( not to mention how upset the kids were.....

i've had 3 seahorses in my d&d 24g nano for about a month or so now. a larger yellow (what i'm told is a) male and two quite small grey ones. all tmc sourced via my lfs. i understand that the grey ones are definitely tmc bred, not sure about the bigger yellow (?).

anyhow, all 3 have been feeding really well on either frozen mysis, frozen brindshrimp or live brine shrimp (frozen all enriched with new era spray), and were feeding fine yesterday morning. got a call at work mid afternoon to say the smallest grey was dead.

got home last night and the other two are fine - tested main params (nitrite 0, phos 0, nitrate about 2, alk 7.4 or thereabouts). temp has only fluctuated 1 degree c (25.6 to 26.6) since tank has been running according to digital stat.

my lfs did say at the time that one of his regular customers who breeds her own seahorses did say she though the tmc greys were a little on the small side to be sold on - but he said that is the usual size they seem to be available for sale @ tmc.... ????

no signs of any damage or bullying, only other occupants are a pom pom crab (which i've checked safeness of on another thread), 2 hermits, 2 snails. the dead one did look a lot smaller than the other grey one though, and that despite them both feeding well.

i'm guessing i'll just have to put this down to maybe a "runt of the litter" that didn't make it in the long run (?) or is there anything else i should check/test/do ?

thanks

marc

[t1gerbee]

sorry to hear that Mark. With a set of parameters like that i doubt it was anything to do with your water.

Maybe it just wasn't able to compete with the bigger seahorses, and didn't manage to get enough food to sustain itself.

:(

[rt456]

you might want to drop the the temperature down a degree i think 23-24 is better for the tropical SH, tho possibly not your corals.

Are there any aptasia or aggressive bristle worms in there? They have been known to injure SH. Also do you have any corals with stinging tentacles?

Watch the others for signs of an infection too. some times fish just die.

[Marc Foord]

never seen a bristleworm in there and the only coral is a small blasto frag that was struggling in my main reef but is doing fine in the nano with the horses....

don't think it was an issue of outcompeting and all 3 seemed to get on ok and all feed ok together.

i think i'll stick to the slightly bigger ones from now on just in case......

re: temp - 23-24 ? i want to be able to keep some small fish and a few easy corals (possibly rics/zoos), so with the tank breds do they really need the lower temp ?

cheers for replies so far.

marc

[Peculiar_Clown]

I have bristle worms, more aggressive fish and at least 3 aiptasia, and my 4 sea horses are fine and have been for several months. They are all yellow TMC bred Reidi.

I suspect the lady who breeds her own is right and that they just weren't ready for the big wide world yet.

I seem to recall that they change colour as they get older, moving from grey/black to yellow, unless these aren't Reidis. Sexing is also easier as they get older, I found that out from the horses I have, the pouch becomes more pronounced on the males as they mature, when he was younger it was hard to tell which sex he was.

Enjoy the two that are left Marc

[Andy]

sorry about the little dude :(

marc, quite a few corals and fish do fine with lower temp. softies are ok and also catalina gobies like cooler temps. look for deeper water fish/corals as the temperature as you know is alot lower.

thats if you want to go cooler.

i know nothing about horsies im afraid.

[Marc Foord]

thanks...i'm not sure if they are reidis - the one i lost was tiny - prob less than an inch, and the remaining small one is probably double that. the big yellow one is a lot bigger of course.

[rt456]

That seems overly small to me mine are normally 4 months old when i let them go so range from 2.5-3 inches and eat whole frozen mysis.

The temperature reduction will make them more active and will help prevent rapid growth of any bacterial infections. Also Ive been told that not all TMC horses are actually captive bred maybe this one wasn't.

The colour of the seahorse change with their mood so they may be grey now but could be almost any colour tomorrow normally they try to blend in with the tank.
Do the D&D tanks have a black ground if so they may sty dark to blend in?

[Marc Foord]

thanks

yep, the background is black - but the yellow one has retained his colour nicely.

learn from mistakes i think, and don't buy them that small again - you just take for granted if they are for sale and from tmc that they have let them go at a suitable age....

[Peculiar_Clown]

At that size they would be very difficult to sex. I also wouldn't buy them that small.

Here's a diagram of the sexual differences:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Seahorses/seahorse_male_female.gif

Here's a shot of my male

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Seahorses/SpottyGender.jpg

and a female:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Seahorses/GenderBuster4.jpg

And the male 1 month later:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l167/Peculiar_Clown/Max/Horses/Picture149ajpg.jpg

[rt456]

the yellow one looks a bit h.kuda ish to me? is the skin texture different from the more orange-yellow one?

i get mine from a shop up north not sure if they are sponsors so wont name them but they import their SH from Australia and are all captive bred and have loads of different species, just had two H.barbs from them now have 35 extras. much simpler to rear than the Reidi and kuda.

[denise.gardner]

sorry to hear your news sometimes it happens i lost two kudas a few months ago i think it was a bacterial infection i set my uv and touch wood the others have been fine.but as some people have said sometimes it just happens for no apparent reason and no matter what you do you couldnt have stopped it from happening.there are alot of imature seahorses being sold out there at the moment 3months ago my local shop got some very small reidi in and they all died before they were sold

[Joanna]

Hi Marc

I'm really sorry you lost your seahorse too. :cry: I know how you must feel.

I would recommend you drop your temperature to 24° ish too. Mine even drops as low as 23° and my coral gobies, other fish and corals are fine. Seahorses prefer the lower temperature. Of course, that doesn't mean it was the reason for you losing one of yours.

Joanna

[saltyell]

Sorry for you mate, I hope this doesnt happen to seahorses often its making me scared. :(:lol:L

[Dive Master]

The kudas are not as tough as reidis imo.

Did you study their eating habits? Healthy specimens will much at least 30-40 mysis per day.

I've also heard that there was a dodgy batch of tmc raised stock around. But rumours......