Female Southern Erectus died

[sueandherzoo]

When I came home for lunch yesterday the female erectus didn't come running over for lunch like she usually does - she stayed hitched at the back of the tank. When I got home last night she was on the bottom of the tank, not lying down, but with belly on sand, and I HOPED she was looking for food so I made sure to squirt some mysis back to where she was in addition to the usual feeding spots. Before I went to bed I checked on her and she was very weak, almost lying on the bottom and kind of floating in the current.
I had ordered a box of various seahorse meds from SHS just a week ago (to have on hand, just in case) so I went and got that and tore open the box and started reading all the bottles. Since I have no idea what she was suffering from I didn't know what to treat for so the med that sounded the least risky and possibly most beneficial was the Methylene Blue. I put a teaspoon in my 10 gallon tank (the one I've had up and running for QT, hospital, or hopefully seahorse fry) and moved her in there. This morning she is gone.
Basically I have two questions (at least for now):
How do you diagnose what is ailing a sick horse? There are no outward visible signs and she didn't display any strange symptoms except for being reclusive at lunch yesterday. I have all these meds I possibly could have helped her with but without knowing what's wrong, how do you try to help without ulitmately doing more harm?
Secondly, the Methylene Blue, have I pretty much destroyed the cycled 10 gallon tank I had kept running "for emergencies"? Do I need to tear it apart, disinfect it, and start fresh, including the bio filtration on the sponge filter? I hope I never have to use that stuff again - I have blue stains on my hands and on other things that may not come out - I had no idea it was so INTENSE!
Unless my male is already pregnant I guess I have no need for a running fry tank right now and I hesitate to buy another female until I figure out what killed this one - but will I ever know? So sad, and frustrating.
Sue
There is now one male S. Erectus in the tank with a female Reidi.... both seem fine.

 

[teresaq]

Sue I am so sorry for your loss. Sorry I cant really help with what went wrong?? It is strange that she showed nothing wrong. Did you check the body good for any signs of stings.There are so many things that it could be. Do a lot of research on mixing species. check with the ladies on our other site. They have a lot more experiance in seahorse illnesses.
T

 

[sueandherzoo]

Thanks Teresa - I'm there reading right now. If I wasn't able to save this female the least I can do is continue to research and learn and hopefully be able to more successfully save ailing horses in the future. It's just that we lose them so darned fast - they go from looking great to dead in a day or two!
Your babies seem to be eating? Got a successful brine shrimp hatchery going? Seems the cycle of life continues - I lose one, you gain 70.

Sue

 

[redsea]

Very Sorry To Hear That

 

[dive girl]

So sorry.

 

[novahobbies]

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear about the lost erectus. I wish I could say "she died because of x...." but like you said, it's frustrating when there are zero outward signs. How are your other horses doing? They acting fine?

 

[dingus890]

So sorry for your loss Sue.I know how sad it is to lose a horse.It sounds like what happened to my horse.One day she was eating fine,dancing when I came by the tank.The next day she was just hitched starring and not eating.The next morning she was gone.I still do not know what happened but she was a Kelloggi and they have not been doing well for all seahorse keepers.
Did you check the water quality in the 10 gallon before putting her in there?As I recall you were having Ammonia problems when you had the fry.
I don't know it is very strange.She could have had a bacterial infection or vibro infection which I don't think they have any outward clinical signs.The stress of moving to a new tank is also a problem when fish are sick.
I just lost a black and white clown that I had for 6 months from ich and have been very sad missing my boy.
Are your other horses showing any signs of stress/sickness?
Again very sorry for your loss.

 

[sueandherzoo]

Thanks for the thoughts and condolences.... it's so nice to have people around who understand the sadness and frustration.
I don't know if it's connected or not but I recently remembered that I had lost a huge blue linkia starfish in the horse tank. The star hadn't moved around much for a day or two so I reached behind a rock to bring it closer where I could examine it and found it was dead with an open wound (or erosion?) I discarded the starfish and immediately tested the water parameters and they were all very acceptable - I guess I was lucky in that the star must have just recently died.
So I can't help but wonder if the death of the star someone sickened the female seahorse. I do know that I have to be more prudent about tankmates - I probably should have never put such a high-risk starfish in the fish tank but you know how it gets when you see something really "cool" and want to add it to a tank. Excitement overrules common sense.
The water in the 10 QT was new and cycling for weeks. After the fry were gone I emptied it, cleaned it, and started fresh with a new sponge filter. I now have to tear it apart again to get all the Blue medicine out of it.
Don't know who said it or where I read it (I think the SH forum?) but the saltwater tank hobby is similar to going to the casino: you put money in and try to enjoy it while it lasts because you never know how soon it will be gone.
Probably no coincidence that I love this hobby and I love the casino.

Sue