? Sick Seahorse :(

[jacoblowe]

I have 2 kuda's. They are about 8months old now one male and one female.

The male recently has been acting a little odd, not showing himself as much. Yesterday he and the female were 'dancing' and wrapping tails together and he opened his pouch. This morning I have noticed he has got a white coloured patch at one side of his lower part of the pouch and a small ball/blister/egg in the centre.

I am unsure what this could be, to begin with I thought he may need gas excavating from his pouch but he had opened his pouch and would assume any gas would have expelled when he did this.

I have attached a photo, sorry for the poor quality had to zoom close.

We monitor the water regularly and our heater is set to 23oc.

I appreciate and help and suggestions, Thank You in advance

[2divers]

It almost looks like a burn. If he held onto the heater when it was running that may have caused it. Wouldnt take very long. Could be some type of an ulceration (bacterial) which would be due to poor water quality, but hopefully that is not the case. You could try a product called biobandage, but see if anyone else chimes in. If he was holding eggs the pouch usually lightens up on both sides and is slightly enlarged. It will get more enlarged as the days go by if there are eggs/fry.

[jacoblowe]

I have actually replaced the heater today with an intelligent fluval heater which is enclosed, but this appeared this morning before I changed the heater.
Thanks for your reply, will keep an eye out on him :)

[funkejj]

We have a horse that has the identical type wound right now in a hospital tank. To me it looks like a ulcer. We are on day four of furan treatments and she seems to be getting better. The spot has reduced in size and hope she can go back in the regular tank next week when treatments are over. I have read where a guy cultured the same type of spot and found that it was salmonella and used antibiotics but with out the ability to culture I can't tell. Hope this helps. And rayjay for when you chime in the skin is white but not eroding away like you typically see with vibrosis.

[rayjay]

Picture quality is not sufficient for a definite answer but I certainly looks like flesh erosion caused by bacteria like some strains of vibriosis which in turn is usually caused from water quality conditions.
Why do you have a heater in the tank? Does the room the tank is in get below 68°?
I'd be putting it in a hospital tank and treating with Furan II at a temperature of 68° (20°C)
Flesh erosion disease if caught in time, won't necessarily slough off.
I have also had success with using the Maracyn and Maracyin II together, preferably the salt water version.