Quote:
Originally Posted by
bennbrad http:///t/390825/need-help-sick-seahorse#post_3463325
ohhhh...that doesn't sound fun, but I will do what ever it takes, she is looking alot better tonight, but she has a spot on each side of her that kinda looks like her skin is gonna peel, kinda hard to explain, her breathing is still labored too. When I fed tonight, she looked like she wanted to eat, but I didn't see her take anything. I have some brine shrimp eggs in the fridg...is that what u think I should try next? Also LFS has some live brine shrimp in a bottle I think. I will check on here first thing in the morning then try what is suggested next. Then I will get another pic of her and post.
The skin lesion issue is a common symptom of a vibrio bacterial infection. If this is the case, the infection is probably mostly internal which would also explain the edema. Furan-2 is indicated in Vibrio infections, so you're on the right track already. I gotta say, this may not end well.....vibrio infections are particularly nasty and can easily wipe out a seahorse. Just keep doing what you're doing and let's hope for the best. I'm very happy to hear she's looking a little better..it's certainly the right direction!
Couple questions: First, do you have a chiller on this tank? One common way for bacteria to start blooming out of control and overwhelming your horses is the tank's temperature. Try to keep it in the low 70s....I keep mine at 71, personally. Even so-called "tropical" horses like the southern H. erectus can benefit from these cooler temperatures by keeping bacterial populations low. Also, water quality can obviously affect the horse. Reduced water quality may or may not help the background pathogen population, but it certainly reduces a horse's ability to combat these critters. I'm not implying anything regarding your tank care (you're obviously cautious enough to notice this and have a hospital tank on standby, so I'm sure your maintenance is good!) but since this horse is in another tank, now is probably a great time to do a thorough spring cleaning of the display tank and siphon out any excess gunk with a major water change....I'd go for 50% WC if you can. I've had a vibrio infection that manifested as tail rot on one H. reidi horse who I was able to cure, but less than a few months later all three horses in that tank died within a week or so of each other from what I believe was an internal vibrio. I did not have a chiller on this tank at the time, and I'll be perfectly honest....my water change schedule during that time was probably also below par. These things matter in smaller tanks such as our seahorse setups.
Second question (without the short story attached): Did your vet let you get a Diamox prescription? I have some on standby just in case.
I definitely worry about the eating issue. If today is day 4 with no food, you will almost certainly need to try tube feeding. The small catheter and syringe will be something you should be able to get from your vet. Remember -- just like in people -- the horse can't ever get better unless it has some fuel to help it along!
Fingers crossed....let us know!
