Bloated Pouch - aka - gas bubble disease

[gem]

Posted in the sticky about this, but not sure how often/soon anyone will look.
I've got a SH afflicted with this now. The manual syringe/pouch massage method scares the crud out of me. Anyone have experience doing this? Want to talk me through it? Would love to save my pony! TIA

[ChadTheSpike]

It scared me more than I think it scared my SH the first time I did it. I dont use a syringe, I use either a pipette or the teflon sleeve part of a catheter (remove the needle). Just as an FYI, as rayjay said in your other thread, bubbles in a pouch are not necessarily gas bubble disease. If you have a repeated problem where you have to clear the pouch frequently, you will need diamox (a prescription drug you will need to get through a veterinarian, work on this now in case you do end up needing it, usually a local club will know of a vet or two who are willing to provide it). There is a good walk-through of the pouch evacuation process here. (http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/pouchevac/pouchevac.shtml)

[Peka]

You can do a pouch evac, just relax before doing it and make sure you are in a well lit area so you can see what you are doing. They used to scare me at first as well but once that first bubble comes out, you will get that feeling of relief. Btw, be prepared, your horse may snick at you while you are doing the evac so don't let it scare you if he does. Let us know how you do.

[gem]

Chad - Thanks - yes I read about Diamox and am in the process of trying to find out where I can get it to at least have on hand. I did some reading before posting here. I figured, since I don't have that but have to do something, as I can't just sit here and watch the poor guy suffer, I would try the evac first. Where is the opening to the pouch located? My fear is puncturing the pouch.

[rayjay]

I'll post in both threads.
If it is just gas in the pouch then you probably don't have to go all the way down, but most successful hobbyists find it best to keep the temperature at 74°F or as low as 68°.
The opening to the pouch is at the top of the pouch, just below the anal opening, which makes me wonder if that in itself might be a source of pouch problems.

[gem]

Rayjay. Thanks much for your help. Tank is down to 73.5 from 76 right now. The pouch seems smaller this afternoon than last night and this morning. Not sure if that's related to the drop in temp or just pure luck. Haven't had to try the evac yet....but at least, should I have to, I know where to look for the opening. Also, found a guy through a frined here in town that has experience with this and is also a vet. So, hopefully she can get him to give me a call. Maybe I can get some diamox to have on hand. I appreciate your help. = )

[gem]

Just an update on my horse. I dropped the temp in the tank and that seemed to help tremendously. It took a day or so but the bloating is gone now. I didn't have to take any drastic measures. But, just for the sake of being more prepared incase I run into this again, I did closely examine the pouch to be sure I would be able to locate the pouch opening. I have a pipette standing by and am waiting to hear from someone to have diamox on hand if needed.
I appreciate the feedback here. It's nice to have knowlegable people available to ask questions rather than just reading info on stuff. This is my first experience keeping seahorses and pipefish.
I currently have the one H.Kelloggii, a banded pipe, and a dragonfaced pipe. I feed frozen mysis and brine for the pony and frequently stock live copepods for the pipes. They have yet to show any interest in frozen, but they are both constantly hunting pods. The SH I have had for a couple months now. The banded Pipe I got about a month ago, and the dragon a week.
Thanks again!

[rayjay]

Wrong post

[TamiW]

I just wanted to jump in and say that in my experience, you should avoid any "massaging" of the pouch. I have seen too many pouches that were bruised or rubbed raw from people trying to expel air. Avoid any type of rubbing, rather apply a small amount of direct pressure while using a pipette or catheter.

Here is to hoping you don't need to worry about it!

[gem]

Appreciate the advice FishGrrl. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I won't need to ever do that.

[Elysia]

Another note on pouch evacs -- and this is just general FYI for anyone w/ a horse who hasn't done a pouch evac -- don't be so scared of doing one that you allow your horse to be buoyant for too long. The first time I had to do an evac, it was on a horse at the LFS, and his pouch was so bloated it had been out of the water for some time. This made things worse because I ended up leaving a finger mark on his pouch in that delicate skin. I felt horrible. But the mark wasn't because of massaging, but rather because the poor horse was out of the water for so long.

Glad your horse is doing better, Gem. I suggest keeping the tank temp below 74 for as long as possible, so the horse can build his immune system.