Simply Seahorses.co.uk

Can anyone please advise?

My beautiful barbouri female appears to be suffering with weak snick. she has previously not eaten for 4 days! After considering some of the desperate alternatives such as tube feeding or liquid food she could breath in through the water i have since found out that if i place her in a bag of tank water ontop of the tank, and place some mysis in, she can eventually eat them off the bottom (she ate 20 yesterday using this method but has a very weak snick)

I had previously fresh water dipped her, where she did no thrashing or anything I would expect from parasites. I also treated her with some oodinex (although i do not think this was white spot now, just hard to tell with her colouring) the water parameters are all ideal. Added a small amount of liquid calcium.

I think this may be a mechanical injury, due to no signs of distress, laboured breathing etc. she is very willing and determined to eat - and has eventually amnaged 4 big mysis this morning (It takes her a while to suck them through).

Is this a problem with barbouri (from what i have read on here) as ive never had this problem with kuda or reidi in the past??


any advice or ideas?? I am hoping this will heal if I can keep her eating.

Hi there

Unfortunately I don't know much about Barbouri's but I had a similar thing happen with one of my Comes recently. There could be a chance that she has snicked up something like a piece of sand and it could just be sore for her. My Comes healed up fairly quickly and is eating normally now. What has your calcium level been at?

Hi Joanna,

It was actually hard to tell, i bought a really expensive kit that was difficult to use as the last few steps were unclear. I seem to recall it being around 350, but just incase i added a small amount (2ml from a syringe).

Did you find that this problem was calcium related?

I have managed to get her to eat about 10 a day at the moment - with a lot of persistence on my part. However in the last few days she has only had about 5 a day. I am not too worried because she does not seem thin and is happily swimming around chasing them. she has always been a funny eater aswell - very picky.

I am preying that this is just an injury that will heal. She seems to do a bit of yawning, but i do not think this has anything to do with parasites as she has had this problem for about 3 weeks and is showing no signs of ill health.

How long did your seahorse have this problem? what did you do?

Thanks for the response.

Hi

Personally I would recommend that you use a Salifert Calcium test kit. Your calcium level should be quite a bit higher. Gradually increase it to around 425. It could be calcium related but could just be that she's snicked up something that's hurt her snout. Mine had the problem for a few days and gradually started eating better although the snicking was a little slow. I just put food around him and watched him carefully. He recovered by himself. I would continue to spend the time feeding and increase the calcium level, keep us informed as to how she is over the next few days.

Hi Joanna,

Devastating news unfortunately, my little beauty passed away yesterday following 2 daysof not eating. she was no longer interested anymore and there was nothing I could do to encourage her to eat.

My calcium levels are now nearly at around 400. I am not sure f it was the calcium that did it but during the last few days she became quite stressed and uninterested in anything.

I gave her another freshwater bath on Tuesday as she looked like she was rocking back and forth at one point. I don't no what it was that caused it as my substrate is large pieces of gravel that she could not possibly get into her mouth.

Think I'll go for a hardier breed next time following 2 really unpredictable and unlucky deaths of the barbouri.

Thanks for all your help hope your seahorses are well.

Hi

I'm really sorry to hear that. Reidi are pretty hardy, why not try them next time.

All the best.

Joanna