pipefish emergency

[lulabulla]

i have a dragonface pipefish. she was completely normal yesterday but this morning i noticed she was not acting right. as a matter of fact i looked at her with my magnifying glass just to check her out last night, & i just looked at her after she had some spasm swimming and is laying on the ground breathing hard and her top fin is frayed. there is noone in the tank that could have attacked her that i can think (all snails in there with her) i examined her body a bit more and noticed some bumps by her tail area. cannot tell if it anything or not but she is deffinitlay not doing well. i also just noticed that i may have hydroids again since about 2 or so days. (the kind that are on the glass) and i have been trying to take care of this problem. is there a chance they are on her stinking her? a fungus? parasite? anyone with any ideas and how i could possible help her please let me know.
i know you can fw dip seahorses, could i do this with a pipefish as well?
any help is greatly appriciated
thanks

 

[novahobbies]

It's doubtful hydroids would be such a problem with an animal as large as a pipefish, but you may be looking at some kind of parasite. Yes, you can freshwater dip a pipefish the same way you would a seahorse, but be very observant of the animal while in the dip and be ready to take him out if he looks like he's taking it poorly. Make sure the temp and pH of the freshwater dip is the same, of course. If you have a QT tank set up with "clean" saltwater, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep him in QT for a little bit if you're worried about a problem with the tank. Check on seahorse dot org in the pipefish section and post his symptoms there.....see if anyone has had a similar issue. Otherwise, make sure the water cnditions in the QT remain pristine, and add some selcon to the cyclopeeze when feeding him.
I forget, do you have one pipe or two? Is the problem only with one of the animals?

 

[lulabulla]

Originally Posted by novahobbies
http:///forum/post/2839517
It's doubtful hydroids would be such a problem with an animal as large as a pipefish, but you may be looking at some kind of parasite. Yes, you can freshwater dip a pipefish the same way you would a seahorse, but be very observant of the animal while in the dip and be ready to take him out if he looks like he's taking it poorly. Make sure the temp and pH of the freshwater dip is the same, of course. If you have a QT tank set up with "clean" saltwater, it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep him in QT for a little bit if you're worried about a problem with the tank. Check on seahorse dot org in the pipefish section and post his symptoms there.....see if anyone has had a similar issue. Otherwise, make sure the water cnditions in the QT remain pristine, and add some selcon to the cyclopeeze when feeding him.
I forget, do you have one pipe or two? Is the problem only with one of the animals?

thanks for the response...
i dont have a qt set up, she is the only one left i did have another one who died suddenly one day about 1-2 weeks ago. she had no visible signs of anything wrong so the death of her was a mystery. as for her, her fins are, the best way to describe it the spins of the fins are there but the webbing in between are dissapearing. could it be ich? or a parasite? i have not intorduced anything in the tank recently. she stopped eating frozen shortly after i got them and i stock my tank well with pods for food.
i have posted on seahorse and am trying to give more detail but so far nothing.
as for the fw dip is there anything i add to the water and what would be the recommended time to dip? i know signs of stress pull her out but whats the max? and would a fw dip get rid of not only parasites but ich if it could be a possibility?
i dont want to unessisarially stress her out.
thanks again

 

[lulabulla]

ok she has gotten in to the death stare phase. from what i have read this is a helpless phase and nothing can be done. this is so horrible to watch

i wish i could help.
i also noticed she she is doing something that looks like coughing. does anyone know what that means?
hopefully i can learn from this so it wont happen again or if it did i can try to prevent it or fix the problem. im having such a bad week and this puts it over the top.
i feel so helpless.
thanks for all the help everyone, saddly now its just a matter of time!

 

[novahobbies]

the fin rotting away from the spines sounds like a possible bacterial infection. :-( If so, only really fast intervention would help save the fish. I wish I could help, but I'm terribly ignorant when it comes to pipefish illnesses! Did anyone in sh.o have any clues.....and is the pipe still with us today?