Hi RayJay --
I have northern pipefish in the tank -- no seahorses (at least not yet) -- I never know what the neighbors will bring me in a bucket. But it's winter now, and I don't expect anymore surprises
I also got a 56 gallon for my birthday that I was going to set up as a saltwater tank with some corals, but it will now be home to my LI tank.
I knew I would have to feed live foods if they were to survive, so I fed live brine shrimp -- they gobbled that up! Then I gradually started adding some frozen mysis in with the live food, as well as some plankton (they DON'T like plankton), and a frozen invertebrate diet (they went for that!).
Thankfully, I have not lost a single pipefish -- and they are now happily eating the frozen diet.
I didn't know how to best accommodate them, so I have seaweed-encrusted rocks, hermit crabs, grass shrimp, snails, small crabs. Everything in the tank is from LI waters. All looks good, but I am concerned about the bacteria you mentioned? Vibrios? Will google it, but it sounds nasty --
Thank you so much for the feedback!
I will be on the watch for water quality issues --