Maintaining nutrition in Seahorse longterm.

georgeclowney · 04/02/2017, 03:09 AM

Hi, I volunteer at a "not for profit" marine education facility here in Western Australia.

We have some Seahorse on display which we have had for some time now. We were feeding them commerical brine shrimp, but have now moved on to wild caught Mysis shrimp enriched with cod liver oil and calcium.

Unfortunately, several of our Seahorse continue to develop a weak "snick" and are unable to ingest the Mysis shrimp.

Can anyone suggest how Seahorse may be kept such that weak snick does not affect them longterm?

Any advice would be gratefully received,

King Regards,

George.

vlangel · 04/02/2017, 08:06 AM

I think if they were fed mostly mysis, frozen or enriched they would do better. I would enrich mysis or brine shrimp with Dan's Feed (from Seahorse Source)or Vibrance, (from Ocean Rider).

vlangel · 04/02/2017, 08:08 AM

Both of those enrichments have been formulated by Seahorse farms that have been raising seahorses for years.

rayjay · 04/02/2017, 08:24 AM

Have you tried a fresh water dip for affected seahorses to see if there is a parasitic problem? (up to 12 minutes in matching temperature and pH)
While I think mysid shrimp are a superior food to frozen mysis, I WOULD NOT use wild caught source for them as I believe that the seahorses will end up with pathogens that affect them negatively.
In Canada I don't have access to live cultured mysids in sufficient quantities for my needs so I culture brine shrimp to adults and enrich them in two 12 hour stages (with new water and new enrichment each time) before using them as feed for the seahorses. I use this live feed once or twice a week but the other regular feedings are Hikari frozen mysis.
The enrichment I use for the artemia is spirulina and Algamac 3050 (very high DHA) which are the largest components of Dan's Feed. Dan's Feed is superior as it has many more components that I don't have access to.
Have you asked Seahorse Australia for any helpful hints for this problem?
Another thing that is common to seahorse problems is water quality issues. As seahorses degrade water quality very quickly, and, as no test kits are available to warn us when the conditions have become more suitable for nasty bacteria expansion, we need to do much better husbandry and larger water changes than say for a demanding reef tank. (IMO)

georgeclowney · 04/03/2017, 10:38 PM

Hi and thankyou to all who replied to my query.

We have tried the freshwater dip and were thinking about a formalin treatment, however, I fear that the problem is most likely water quality as I don't think that the water gets changed often enough in that tank and we tend to just drop the Mysis in without checking that there are none remaining. We do have a file fish that seems to pick up any leftovers, however, I can't tell for sure.

Thanks again,

George.

rayjay · 04/04/2017, 07:08 AM

I agree that if you don't see the thrashing of the seahorse when placed in a freshwater dip, then likely it is water related.
On that note, when you mix other fish in the system, or if the seahorse system is connected to a system containing other fish, you decrease the chances of success at keeping the seahorses.
For water quality, its NOT ONLY the pieces you see that are so problematic, it is also what you DON'T see.
When the seahorses snick their food pieces, they masticate it and in doing so, pass particulate matter out through their gills and into the water. Sometimes you see a "cloud" coming from the gills but in my case, more often you DON'T see it.
An easy to clean filtration method is needed but it is best to have a method easily done so you don't get "lazy" and start to spread out the intervals of frequent cleaning needed.
I usually recommend cleaning ANY mechanical filter material every four days, most certainly no longer than a week. As the trapped crap decomposes, it provides food AND bedding for the nasty bacteria that cause internal and external problems with seahorses.

WitsNWrasse · 05/11/2017, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by georgeclowney

Hi and thankyou to all who replied to my query.

We have tried the freshwater dip and were thinking about a formalin treatment, however, I fear that the problem is most likely water quality as I don't think that the water gets changed often enough in that tank and we tend to just drop the Mysis in without checking that there are none remaining. We do have a file fish that seems to pick up any leftovers, however, I can't tell for sure.

Thanks again,

George.

Hi George ! I volunteer at a local aquarium. We feed all of our horses a mix of (depending on snout size) small krill, San Francisco Bay mysis, hikari, live brine, and cyclopeeze in the morning, and do live feedings in the afternoons. Our ponies tend to do very well. You mentioned that your specimens are suffering from weak snick, have you had any mortalities ? Have you been able to do a necropsy ?

When our ponies have problems that we can't figure out we might do a live skin scrape to see if there are any parasites present.

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04/02/2017, 03:09 AM	#1
georgeclowney Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 3	Maintaining nutrition in Seahorse longterm. Hi, I volunteer at a "not for profit" marine education facility here in Western Australia. We have some Seahorse on display which we have had for some time now. We were feeding them commerical brine shrimp, but have now moved on to wild caught Mysis shrimp enriched with cod liver oil and calcium. Unfortunately, several of our Seahorse continue to develop a weak "snick" and are unable to ingest the Mysis shrimp. Can anyone suggest how Seahorse may be kept such that weak snick does not affect them longterm? Any advice would be gratefully received, King Regards, George.

04/02/2017, 08:24 AM	#4
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	Have you tried a fresh water dip for affected seahorses to see if there is a parasitic problem? (up to 12 minutes in matching temperature and pH) While I think mysid shrimp are a superior food to frozen mysis, I WOULD NOT use wild caught source for them as I believe that the seahorses will end up with pathogens that affect them negatively. In Canada I don't have access to live cultured mysids in sufficient quantities for my needs so I culture brine shrimp to adults and enrich them in two 12 hour stages (with new water and new enrichment each time) before using them as feed for the seahorses. I use this live feed once or twice a week but the other regular feedings are Hikari frozen mysis. The enrichment I use for the artemia is spirulina and Algamac 3050 (very high DHA) which are the largest components of Dan's Feed. Dan's Feed is superior as it has many more components that I don't have access to. Have you asked Seahorse Australia for any helpful hints for this problem? Another thing that is common to seahorse problems is water quality issues. As seahorses degrade water quality very quickly, and, as no test kits are available to warn us when the conditions have become more suitable for nasty bacteria expansion, we need to do much better husbandry and larger water changes than say for a demanding reef tank. (IMO) __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

04/03/2017, 10:38 PM	#5
georgeclowney Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2017 Posts: 3	Seahorse Nutrition Hi and thankyou to all who replied to my query. We have tried the freshwater dip and were thinking about a formalin treatment, however, I fear that the problem is most likely water quality as I don't think that the water gets changed often enough in that tank and we tend to just drop the Mysis in without checking that there are none remaining. We do have a file fish that seems to pick up any leftovers, however, I can't tell for sure. Thanks again, George.

04/04/2017, 07:08 AM	#6
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	I agree that if you don't see the thrashing of the seahorse when placed in a freshwater dip, then likely it is water related. On that note, when you mix other fish in the system, or if the seahorse system is connected to a system containing other fish, you decrease the chances of success at keeping the seahorses. For water quality, its NOT ONLY the pieces you see that are so problematic, it is also what you DON'T see. When the seahorses snick their food pieces, they masticate it and in doing so, pass particulate matter out through their gills and into the water. Sometimes you see a "cloud" coming from the gills but in my case, more often you DON'T see it. An easy to clean filtration method is needed but it is best to have a method easily done so you don't get "lazy" and start to spread out the intervals of frequent cleaning needed. I usually recommend cleaning ANY mechanical filter material every four days, most certainly no longer than a week. As the trapped crap decomposes, it provides food AND bedding for the nasty bacteria that cause internal and external problems with seahorses. __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

04/02/2017, 08:06 AM	#2
vlangel Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,409	I think if they were fed mostly mysis, frozen or enriched they would do better. I would enrich mysis or brine shrimp with Dan's Feed (from Seahorse Source)or Vibrance, (from Ocean Rider).

04/02/2017, 08:08 AM	#3
vlangel Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 2,409	Both of those enrichments have been formulated by Seahorse farms that have been raising seahorses for years.