dwarf seahorse

**Larry Mc** · 02-07-2008, 11:20 AM

Checked the tank . Doing good . All acounted for. It is wierd that some of the babys really grow so much slower then the others, I know there is a accouple of days differents in some of them, but there is some that don't even look like they have grown any. Runts. All the horses were white when we started , now we have only 1 or 2 that is white and that is counting the babys too. They realy bend in. I have to count them 3 or 4 times to get a good count. Some are so small that they look like part of the root of the Mangrove trees.

**JustDavidP** · 02-07-2008, 11:41 AM

Some of the fry are probably hitched or associate with differing areas of the tank and therefore have differing opportunities to catch prey. H. Zos don't travel much to catch foodstuffs. They are kind of lazy in that regards. They just wait until the shrimp or whatever come to them. Maybe feeding the tank, introducing the brine in a different area, or changing up flow a little could help.

Dave

**Larry Mc** · 02-07-2008, 01:10 PM

Just davidp
I will Try that. I just wonder if I have lost all my copods that was on the glass and plants. I got some from Aquaculturestore.com. Have you tried any of their pods? I put some in the 10 and the 5 back in Dec. and they were all over the glass. In the 10 there is still some and when I turn the pumps off for a few minutes you can see them zipping around in the tank.
Sachs Systems Aquaculture Welcomes You!

**JustDavidP** · 02-07-2008, 01:48 PM

No, I've tried tiger pod brand from someone else, but not from Sachs. Personally, I like to keep a couple "offline" tanks, with rock and algae etc. and keep pods going there. I do the same for mysid shrimp. I use chaeto balls in the systems and bring them to other tanks and "Swoosh" them around. The buggies come flying out into that system.

Dave

**CarmieJo** · 02-13-2008, 03:00 PM

Hi Larry, how are they doing?

**Larry Mc** · 02-13-2008, 05:23 PM

BOY THAT S$@#!... I had logged in and made a replay and it didn't take. ........
We have 7 babys and 3 adults . The male is due anytime. We put some Methylene Blue in the tank since we don't have any sub in it. We figured it would be less stress on the male. They get to rubing sometimes and I thought it might be due to so much brine geting around thier gills or something, but they also sometimes start to spasam alittle.

**CarmieJo** · 02-14-2008, 12:36 AM

I hate it when that happens. And it is never when you made a one sentence post, it is when you have written a book! Thanks for the update. Keep us posted.

**Larry Mc** · 02-14-2008, 12:05 PM

I found 1 of the babys died this morning, it was a rael small one . I thought they all were eating good . I change water again this morning (2 gal).We have 1 of the babys that swims around and swims right for the air bubbler and then goes back after it is pushed away from the curent.I'm not sure what else to do so I guess I just keep on trucking.....

**CarmieJo** · 02-23-2008, 01:26 AM

Bummer. Sorry for your loss.

**Skurvey Dog** · 02-23-2008, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by JustDavidP

I use chaeto balls in the systems and bring them to other tanks and "Swoosh" them around. The buggies come flying out into that system.Dave

Dave, that is such a brilliant idea! Where do you come up with such, simple, easy things?

**Skurvey Dog** · 02-23-2008, 10:01 AM

Hello Larry, sorry to hear about the baby. I keep hoping that things will stable out. I'm trying to remember all of your posts and your set up there with the horses. I did a little surfing and from what I can tell the #1 cause of infant mortality is parasites because the babies are stationary and very vunerable for the first 14-17 days. I also saw where gas bubbles can get trapped inside of them and cause the bends.

Leslee Matsushige, assistant aquarium curator at UC San Diego's Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography has done specific research on sea horses and jellyfish with amazing findings and positive results. I'm wondering if a person could contact her and see if she would be willing to point you towards any of her research papers and publications. I'm sure they are full of very valuable information. It's just a thought. I know you probably have cases of books and papers, I just wanted to try to help, because I know you are trying so hard.

Here is the site that I found an article on her.

University of California - UC Newsroom | Aquarium curator doesn't horse around

**Larry Mc** · 02-24-2008, 05:13 PM

Well i thought I'd update this . We have 1pony and 2 adults now. The pony is 35 days old. The male I thought it was preg but when we tranfered him to the other tank he was nolonger preg. Not sure what happened. Any way he don't look preg now. We haven't lost any more for 5 days now.So maybe things are ok now. i'm starting a new filter up in the 5gal. tank while they are in the 2 1\2gal. I change 2gal. of water aday to keep everything in order. They seem to be eating good . I need to figure away to get the older brine out of the tank with as little disturbing action to the horses as possible.Right now I sifon it out with a airline, about a gal. and then gravity flow back in with a airline. They don't seem to get to stressed out that way.

**Larry Mc** · 02-28-2008, 11:30 AM

We still have the 3 horses so I guess the die off has stopped. I started useing the HOB filter to get all the old brine out of the tank. I use a stocking on the end of a siphon tube in the over flow side to the tank. Works good takes about a hour and nomore brine in there. I think the filter is trying to kick start now because yesturday it showed a little nitrite and ammonia. I'm still changeing 2gal a day of water.
The pony is 39 days old now and looking good, I haven't seen the male and female courting anymore so I guess they decided it was time yet.

**Larry Mc** · 03-07-2008, 11:32 AM

Well we have lost the pony at 40 days old. We just have the adult male and female. I tried some of that BIO-SPIRA bacteria and it did not seem to do much good with the filter. I still after 3 days have a high nitrite level so I don't think much of it. maybe some one else has had better luck with it but I used a whole pouch in a 2 1\2 gal tank and it didn't work....So much for 15.00. So I'm back to 2 gal. water changes. This will be my last up date on this thread. I thought we had the die off taken care of but ....... I'm not going to give up on the DSH, I will try some more . hopefully we can feep these 2 adults.