Seahorse quarantine log: wild caught seahorses

[RSNJReef]

Hey Guys,

Ok, so, thought to setup a log thread of two new wild caught erectus that I had picked up today from one my lfs to log the quarantine and food conversion (live to frozen) process as I go through it.

So, to start off with, going to get into the quarantine system setup and the plan for the quarantine / food conversion cycle

For the quarantine system:

the quarantine system consists of two 5 gallon cube tanks which are about a foot from each other. The tank has been plumbed to have a drain line with a 1 1/2 inch bulkhead at the bottom as well as a 1/4 inch sheet of drilled acrylic at the bottom to make the bottom flush with the top of the bulkhead. To seal the acrylic at the bottom and prevent water from getting between the acrylic and the glass bottom, silicone was put between the acrylic sheet and the glass then a silicone bead along all four corners. The bulkhead also has a small sheet of 1/8 inch hole nylon mesh glued on top of the bulkhead , so this allows food to drain out of the tank with the water without any fish going down the drain. The bulkhead is also plumbed into a ball valve under each tank which allows for fast drainage of the water, and under the ball valve there is a 3 ft length of 2inch silicone tubing which allows the drain water to be dumped into a 5 gallon bucket.

Inside each quarantine tank is a length of rigid airline connected to an air pump, as well as a 90gph fountain pump with a tee adapter glued to the output as well as 1/4 inch tubing drilled and glued on each side. The fountain pumps when on provided enough water circulation to keep the food at the bottom of the tank moving around, which I have found helps with getting finicky fish to eat.

Attached below is a picture of the setup

 

[RSNJReef]

Now for the quarantine plan, the plan is to do a medicated quarantine to rid the seahorses of any potential protozoa and flukes, as well as deworm them and also remove any potential bacterial issues they may have. All of my current seahorses are captive bread and I am cautious about introducing wild caught seahorses into the main tank water without taking the proper precautions.

the steps of the quarantine process are as follows:

first 10 days: daily formalin treatment and 100% water change daily. This is where the two tank system comes in to play because it allows you to transfer the seahorses from one tank to another, and then you can bleach the tank that the seahorses were removed from. Seahorses will be fed a small amount of frozen mysis first thing in the morning, and then fed mid sized amphipods about a half hour after the frozen (the idea is to feed the frozen first when they are hungry, then, if they don’t fill up on or refuse the frozen , they will still have access to some live food.

after the formalin treatment, then the seahorses are sent through a 7 day cipro and amoxicillin bath. Seahorses are again transferred from one tank to another daily, so basically a 100% water change daily while bleaching out, draining and refilling the prior tank in preparation for the next day. During this time, the seahorses are still fed a mix of frozen food first, and the amphipods later on. If by this point the seahorses are eating frozen, I will begin feeding them frozen food soaked in praziquantel. If they still aren’t eating frozen, then I hold off on the praziquantel and still feed the mix of frozen and amphipods.

after the 7 days of cipro and mox, I will then do a 7 day treatment of doxycycline . Feeding regiment is the same as the prior week, feeding food soaked in praziquantel through the third week. ÛIf the seahorses appear to be loosing appetite with the praziquantel by this time, then I back off with the praziquantel until they are eating well again, then I will start the praziquantel feeding again.

Water changes are done by moving the seahorses from one tank to another, and, the prior tank is filled with enough bleach to be over 600 ppm chlorine. The tank is then run with the bleach overnight to kill everything, and then dechlorinated the next morning. The water is then drained and new tank water added to the tank in preparation for transferring the seahorses into in the afternoon (gives the new water a chance to temperature acclimate before transferring the seahorses in).

the seahorses will then be kept in the quarantine tank , getting transferred each day until I can get them onto frozen food. Once on frozen, then they will move into the main tanks.

 

[RSNJReef]

Now, for the log.

Day 1

Got two orange wild caught erectus from the local fish store. They both look to be in good shape. Based on size I’m guessing they are about 8 months old.

The smaller of the two looks to be clearly a female, and the larger of the two is a female still, but the underside of her belly looks to be starting to show the feint outline of a pouch, so, she may be starting to convert to a male.

I temp acclimated both for and hour and introduced them into the tank. The larger one is calm and perched, but the smaller one is a bit stressed and getting used to the new tank.

waited about 4 hours after putting into the tank then fed a little frozen mysis. With the flow in the qt tank keeping the mysis moving, the larger of the two looks to be interested, but not taking a bite. The smaller one still looks a little stressed, but doing ok. I then fed a small amount of amphipods to the tank, added in the formalin to the tank (10 drops for 5 gallons), then walked away for the night.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 2:

morning: Went to the basement to dechlorinate the first tank and drain the water, as well as check on the seahorses. Both seahorses look calm and perched next to each other. All of the frozen food appears to still be there in the tank, but all of the amphipods are gone, so I assumed that the seahorses ate all of the amphipods. Bellies still look round in the morning. Knowing they at least ate something, I siphoned put all of the old food and put in some new frozen food. The seahorses look interested, but look at the food then look at me and don’t peck. I leave them be with the food and walk away for the day.

Night: came back home and all except for one piece of the frozen mysis of is gone (fantastic!!!), so assuming at least one of them ate. Put new water into the other quarantine tank, let it temp acclimate to the room, moved the seahorses to the new water, put some frozen mysis in and fresh formalin (10 drops for 5 gallons). Seahorses again look interested, then look at me and don’t peck. I leave them be and walk away for the night.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 3:

morning:
built a small perch for the seahorses out of some 1/2” plastic tubing I had, and they seem to like it. Fed some mysis again in the morning and they both looked very interested, it again, they kept looking at the mysis and looking at me, and wouldn’t peck. Came back two hours later and most of the food was gone.

Fed them some amphipods from my culture, and they both went after them. They didn’t care this time that I was there, and they both took two amphipods each and stopped pecking, just stayed perched and didn’t eat any more.

Dechlorinated and drained the other tank, and filled it with water, then walked away till evening.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 3:

evening: tried feeding the seahorses frozen food again, and, once again, they looked interested, but did not peck in front of me. This time I walked about 20 feet away from the tank and tried to see if they would eat the frozen without me in their faces. It was difficult to see if they were pecking at the food, but, I did notice them pecking here and there with me away.

came back an hour later and over half the food is gone. I then fed some more amphipods and once again the seahorses chased after the amphipods, and didn’t care that I was there when they ate the amphipods. The bigger one easily ate around 8 medium sized amphipods, and the smaller one took about 5-6. After they ate, I transferred them to the new tank with fresh water, added more formalin, and walked away for the night.

 

[las]

While I think your approach is a very well planned out protocol, you just never know what wild caught seahorse coodies will be left in them after you are done treating them. You seem to be pulling out all the stops here and if theres a chance to pull it off, you will be able to. But, you dont know what you dont know. I think what youre doing is awesome for treating them. But there will still be a risk of some unknown parasite/virus in the wild seahorses. I wish you good luck. Amazing work so far!

 

[RSNJReef]

Hey Ias,

So, two things, and, I want to say this because well done with your post (seriously). I absolutely agree with you (will get into this in a moment), but, the way you articulated your statement was very well done. You included caution within your statements while still being very encouraging. Being honest here, but, very, very well stated.

And second, I 100% agree with you. It amazes me how seahorses have been used in medicine for centuries, but, there's still so little we know about them. It's also sometimes more dangerous caring for seahorses because from what I've seen, some pathogens carried by seahorses are contagious to humans, so there are risks here. I also agree that it is a novice thought to think that we as fish keepers know everything that's out there in the ocean.

Over the first 5 years in the hobby, I never quarantined anything, trying to trust the LFS and really just taking my chances, I've had two complete tank resets, one due to uronema, and the second due to brooklynella, which was especially heartbreaking because my wife lost her favorite citron goby (that was her favorite fish, we basically built a fish tank around that fish and the mandarin), and my mandarin that I had over 3 years, I had been through a lot with that fish to get him to where he was (never got another dragonet with a personality like that one since I lost them. With the brooklynella, I had no idea how to treat it, and by the time I had learnt the treatment protocols, my wife had to watch the goby die right in front of her, and I had to watch the skin fall off my mandarin. That was my lesson in fish quarantine. With another tank about 3 years ago, i had a brown jelly outbreak in my reef tank, lost about $4,000 worth of corals, and had only soft corals in the tank after that. About 2 years later, in the same tank, not a sign of brown jelly since, I took a chance on a $400 torch I wanted, had completely forgotten about the brown jelly, and came home from work 2 days later to see the torch covered in brown jelly. Again, I didn't know enough on how to save it. Since then, I took the old tank out (tossed it and everything in it except for the fish, fish went through a formalin/cipro/amoxicillin treatment over a month), upgraded to a tank twice the size, and have had coral quarantine protocols in place ever since.

The way I look at it now is, everything in my house has now been quarantined and profilacticaly medicated before going into any tank in my house. It might sound harsh and maybe even a little brutal what I put them through, but, I'd rather loose a new addition than loose my entire tank. For all I know, with the medications I give them during quarantine, it's possible I may be damaging their organs and taking a year or so off their life (I sure hope not though). But, at least I'm trying to protect the heard so to speak.

With this in mind, yes, I agree, I'm taking a pretty big risk here. The way I look at it is yes, because seahorses have a different physiology than a normal fish, there's a different list of disasters that can happen here, but, if each of us don't try and take these risks, then the rest of us will need to learn on our own. I figured with this log I'm doing, I'm trying to document either what worked or what didn't in this case. You're absolutely right, there's a bit of a luck of the draw here, because maybe if I'm successful it meant that these seahorses simply didn't have something that could come on another seahorse.

Also, you've brought up a good point here. This log is anecdotal for my circumstance and these seahorses specifically, and should not be taken as gospel. But, the way I look at it is, if enough people do things like this, that's how it becomes gospel, where we all learn from the successes and failures of those that come before us, and then the community learns what has the highest rates of success.

It's very possible I may fail here. I sure hope I don't, and I won't lie, posting these logs are time consuming, and I have very little gain here, but, I figured at least this could be just another story of what worked and what didn't. Building the pile so to speak for the information and if at least one person gets something from this, then, I did my part.

 

[las]

Only thing i can add to what youre doing is that once youre done with everything, do a freshwater dip to see how they react. Im including a clip here by a gentleman much more knowledgeable than me. I hope this helps add to your success.

 

[RSNJReef]

Only thing i can add to what youre doing is that once youre done with everything, do a freshwater dip to see how they react. Im including a clip here by a gentleman much more knowledgeable than me. I hope this helps add to your success.

Thanks Ias. Yeah, I’ve spoken to Dan a long time ago, and, I’m really just a bumbling newbie compared to him. The freshwater dip is a good idea at the end too. this is great info, thank you!!!

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 4

morning: followed my normal routine of feeding the seahorses frozen food, and dechlorinate got/draining the other tank. They are both still doing the same thing, looking at the food and chasing it with their head, but not pecking. Come back an hour later and half the food is gone. It’s not as much food as what they had eaten yesterday, but, figured instead of being reactive, just added some amphipods , which they chased down, and then left them be.

afternoon: all the frozen food is gone from the tank, and followed the same protocol (fed frozen, they didn’t peck again, but this time I’m noticing the smaller of the two seahorses has turned more yellow than orange and isn’t paying as much attention to the food. Breathing is normal, and eyes are darting around like normal, but not showing as much interest. The bigger of the two is following the food as normal but not pecking. An hour later, came back and half the food is gone again. Bellies still looked rounded though. Transferred the seahorses to the tank with clean water, added formalin and some amphipods (which they chased after and pecked/ate), then walked away for the night.

So, I know seahorse conversion is a test of patience and diligence, but, with it being 4 days now and not seeing them eat first hand, debating changing the feeding protocol to now feeding some live brine shrimp mixed in with frozen brine and mysis to try and trick an earlier feeding response. I have live brine on hand that I’ve been treating with formalin to try and remove any external parasites (add 2 drops of formalin per gallon of brine water every day. Have been doing this for 5 days now (was trying it out to test it even before I found out about the seahorses). without loss of the culture. Was thinking of conditioning the brine with some bleach (which would take some time for me to figure out how much adult brine can handle over a 24 hour period without partial mortality), but, for now, may feed some of the live brine tomorrow to see the difference in feeding response.

 

[las]

I think all the transferring from tank to tank is stressing them out. Nothing you can do about it. I Would keep low light levels. And, in my experience the bluer the light the more they relax. Seahorses can go without feeding for a lot longer than you think. Plus, you seem to think they are eating mysis when you are gone. So, maybe they are eating?

Just my opinion but, I wouldn’t want them to eat mysis after they have been thawed for 30 min.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 5:

morning: followed my normal routine this morning with feeding frozen and dechlorinating/draining the other tank. Something interesting this morning though. When I fed the frozen this morning, the smaller of the two seahorses immediately perked up when they saw the food, then dropped off her perch to go to the bottom of the tank, then went to the corner of the tank where some of the frozen shrimp had been stuck in the corner but wiggling from the flow, and, she took two snicks at the pile, taking a shrimp each time. After the two bites, she then turned around, went back to the perch, and sat staring at the food. I walked at that point to leave them in silence.

early afternoon: I had to harvest my weekly culture of phyto today(I culture a couple of different strains of phyto), and, I figured I’d try to feed some live brine. I siphoned out about 20 shrimp, rinsed them with rodi water, then fed them to the tank. The entire time I was there harvesting the phyto (about an hour harvesting in front of the tank)the seahorses kept following the brine with their eyes, but they wouldn’t eat. After about an hour, went upstairs to have dinner, then came back and all the brine shrimp are gone. Go figure…

I then feed some more frozen food and then transfer them to the new tank, then walk away for the night.

 

[las]

LOL- you are the danger.

If they only knew how much you care.

 

[RSNJReef]

LOL- you are the danger.

If they only knew how much you care.

Lol, yeah, tell me about it.

this all reminds me of when I first started caring for a mandarin. It was a wild caught adult male, I was unprepared and did not know how to properly care for it. It just kept getting skinnier and then stopped pecking at pods. Immediately the next day after that I pick up some frozen rotifers and bbs and a syringe and start chasing him around the tank for about 15 min 4-6 times a day putting frozen rotifers and bbs in front of his face. Did that for a week. That was a nightmare, but, as it would have it, luck was on my side and he gained enough strength to start eating pods and even started eating frozen food about a month or two later. Loved that fish for 2 years then lost him to Brook……….

 

[las]

Magical fish those mandarins. I can stare at them for days

 

[RSNJReef]

Magical fish those mandarins. I can stare at them for days

Yeah, definitely one of my favorite fish.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 6

morning: same routine this morning, with feeding frozen, and, they are still eyeing up the food it not pecking in front of me. Walk away and come back an hour later, and most of the food is gone. As I’m looking at the two seahorses though, I’m noticing the smaller female is yawning a lot, which could mean something or be nothing at all. Being at 5 days into the formalin treatment now, figure it’s time for a freshwater dip in the afternoon (good advice from Ias), so, I put some rodi water into a 32 ounce deli container and stick an airline into it to aerate it for around 12 hours before I use it. Then walk away for a bit

Early afternoon: just to try it out, I feed around 30 live brine to see if the seahorses react (rinsed in rodi water before feeding). Within 5 seconds of me adding the live brine, the smaller female starts farting around chasing the brine and pecking at them. She didn’t care one bit that I was there now, and she ate a good 10-15 brine shrimp before slowing down and going back to her perch, at which point she just ignored them. The bigger one stayed on her perch and chased the brine with her eyes, but, did not peck at them. I then fed some live amphipods, and the larger female then dropped from her perch, chased after and ate 4 amphipods, then went back and perched, ignoring all food.

evening: fed frozen as usual, and same reaction, they are looking at the food, then look at me, and don’t eat. Walk away and come back an hour later, most of the food is gone. About 2 hours later I transfer both seahorses into the 10 min freshwater bath. For the first 5 min, the seahorses sit in the water and are as calm as can be. About 6 min in they start moving around a lot. No thrashing or spasms, just circling the container constantly. I pull them out after 10 min, then stick them into the new tank water. They are both disoriented at first, but quickly regain their bearings after a minute or so. This time I added just some live brine. Both seahorses are still a little stressed so pay absolutely no attention to the brine. In looking at the freshwater, there is a lot of particulate in there, so, even if there weren’t any external parasites, at least it cleaned the seahorses off I guess.

I leave the seahorses for the night and walk away

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 6 (continued):

photos from the freshwater bath on the night of day 6

also, to confirm, I did still continue the formalin 10 day bath by putting in 10 drops of formalin into the 5 gallons of water they were placed into and walked away for the night.

 

[RSNJReef]

Day 7:

morning: everyone woke up late this morning, so had to run out the door, so tossed some dechlorinator into the prior tank, and fed the frozen food to the seahorses. They looked at the food but didn’t peck, so I left them to it and went to work.

afternoon: came home and there’s still some frozen food left over. I fed them some more live brine. The smaller seahorse immediately perked up and started darting around the tank eating. The larger of the two though just sat there looking and following the brine, but not eating. I’m also noticing since last night the larger one looks a little skinnier and has turned more yellow. Thinking I might need to change my approach. Will wait to see if he continues to not eat in front of me.

night: all the live brine is gone. I feed some more frozen. Same as normal, and they don’t eat in front of me, but look at the food intently. I leave them to it for the night.