Aging Horses

[Poniegirl]

Hi all! New to this site today.
I wonder if anyone has experience with horses that are going through old age?
I'd really like to hear some experiences and ages.
The one I'm concerned about is a Pacific...
Anyone?

[pledosophy]

Pacific what?

I had a reidi who I obtained as a WC. The seahorse was 8" on purchase. Full grown, age not determined.

He was kept in a variety of systems fed live food through his time with me.

I kept the horse for 5.5 years.

Towards the end of the horses life he began to o through pigment changes. He would have random patches of white which would go away or stay for weeks. They moved over his body without any noticable pattern.

He began to have problems with his site. He would stay on his hitch all day never moving. When he was young he could see a ghost shrimp a foot away, when he was older it was a few inches.

I began to feed live in a net and and place the net in front of his face so he could eat food He no longer actively hunted. This lasted for about 6 months, then he seemed to loose appetite. He eventually showed signs of bacterial infection on his tail, snout, and torso within a 24 hour period. Since he was no longer eating and or moving from his hitch, I put him down.

Putting him down, was very hard, but I beleive it was the right descion. Next time I will use MS-22, clove oil which I thought was the most humane, seemed painful and cruel.

JME

[Poniegirl]

I am amazed for a couple of reasons. I guess #1, an 8" reidi, wow! And hearing, without much variation, 4 to 6 years lifespan...5.5 is awesome!
I have had my ingen for two years, full grown at purchase and very tame, so I would safely add a year to my time with her.
She looks perfectly healthy, eats well. Like yours she has some vision issues. She also has problems with directional control, which seems to come and go. Sometimes she seems to be doing well, other times she misses her hitch and if she goes after a floating piece of shrimp, it takes a few tries.
Long story, but I moved her to my 20 long, where it is easier to care for her and the tank is calmer.
What is MS-22?

[luvabunny]

I purchased an 8" reidi as my first seahorse in 2000. He was an adult WC, and had been in captivity for at least 8 months before I received him. The day after I took him home, he gave birth to approx 700 babies. I "guessed" at his age at approx 1-1.5 years at the time.

I lost him earlier this year, after having him for 5.5 years. If my "guess" at his age was correct, he could have been almost 7 years old.

I recognized that he was getting "old" about 6 months before he actually died. Up until that time, he was producing babies about every 19 days. Prior to that, his batches kept getting smaller and smaller until eventually he stopped delivering at all. Like those fish described above, he appeared to have some vision issues, stopped hunting, and remained hitched to his favorite spot most of the time. I also noticed sunken places on his head before he died. I assume those were from lack of nutrition. Eventually, he just laid down on the sandbed and passed on.

His mate has about the same story, altho I purchased her about a year later. She was also WC and full grown, always very active. She agressively tried to "talk" her mate into moving around and eating, even going so far as to bully him into it, with snicks about his head. On his last night, she was never more than a few inches from him in a 75g tank. After he passed, she became very lethargic and adopted his attitude. She would not eat, and would remain hitched on his same hitch. I lost her about 2 weeks later. I'm guessing she was about 5.5-6 years old.

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8260602#post8260602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Poniegirl
I am amazed for a couple of reasons. I guess #1, an 8" reidi, wow! And hearing, without much variation, 4 to 6 years lifespan...5.5 is awesome!


Ya he was pretty cool. I have no idea of his actual age, just how long I kept him which was the 5.5 years. I think it mut have taken him some time to get to that size.

I think with our recent advances seahorses are living longer. In my readings with others who have lost horses that were old, many times it was to blindness. I just don't think there eyes were meant to hold up so long. I often wonder if the lighting system in my tank played a role. I ran a nice amount of wattage, but hind sight is 20/20.

MS-22 is a chemical used to put seahorses down. I tried clove oil, it seemed, wrong. Since MS-22 is availbale to hobbyist now, I'll use that from now on, or maybe the knife to the head method, which I consider more humane to the seahorse. You keep a pet that long, you only want the best. I'm one of those people who was way to attached to his seahorse. :D

[Poniegirl]

I don't want to think about what it would take for me to have to put one down..
Luvabunny, so sorry for your loss. I know when they are gone you still kind of look for them for a while.
Thank you both for the info. There just isn't much around regarding SH geriatrics.
They are magnificent, even so.

[Samala]

Its usually noted as MS-222, or tricaine methane sulfonate (sometimes 'methanosulphonate'). Its an anesthetic, not widely available as far as I know, but can be found. Short exposure and low concentrations induce anesthesia in fish, and recovery is in well oxygenated clean water matching the fish's original holding tank. It can be used to euthanize, certainly, and is very easy on both the fish and the person. High concentrations work very rapidly - seconds.

>Sarah

[BruceW]

I have only been breeding seahorses for 3 years but my close friend Liisa has been at it since 1999. Horses born in her tanks usually live between 5-7 years. Liisa is one of the most conscientiuos fish keepers I know. So the 5-7 year lifespan would be "under ideal conditions".

Bruce
P.S. The literature in my library lists the average adult size for H. reidi as 9.5 inches.

[BruceW]

Oops, the species she raises is H. erectus

[DanU]

MS-222 (Trade name - FinQuel) is readily available to the hobbyist. Guess where! :) It should be used with caution though. It can be absorbed through the skin, so gloves should be used and extreme caution is warranted to those who are allergic to the caines such as Novacaine or Lidocaine.

Reidi can get quiet large. It is a misconception that they are a small seahorse since they are sold at such a small size. They are also relatively slow growers and appear to grow throughout their lifetime. We had 5 that had be successfully been kept in captivity for 7 years and were adults when first obtained. They grew approximately an inch and a half during their 2 year stay with us. They are now retired into a very large aquarium in a resturaunt. At the time we gave them up they ranged from 9 1/2 to 12 inches with the males being larger.

Dan

[Poniegirl]

Interesting about the size. Perhaps they are thought small because the mortality rate from improper care doesn't allow many to achieve their full adult size..
I have thought Sophia is an ingen because of her size, maybe I should rethink that..she has not grown since I bought her 2 years ago, though some friends that only see her once in a while believe she has. Not sure.
I have also had suspicions that she was a brood mare; she had definitely had a lot of human contact through some means! She had lost her mate in shipping, I was told; I never did see him.
Thank you for sharing that.

[lakehorse61]

God bless you --- luvbunny.....

700 babies every 19 days ... i would have gone insane. i will only keep females now. no males.

my two new babies from DanU are doing great and growing like weeds. they are kudas. Kelly

[VWD]

Cool Thread. I have had the ones now for a years. H. riedi, not all that big.

[pledosophy]

Nice to see you here Vince,

Give your Reidi time. It'll get big. Mine did grow a bit during the time I had him, but not much more then his originl size. JME

[Poniegirl]

Hi Vince! I'm guessing these reidi are not your first horses? How many do you keep now?
Like Lakehorse, I keep only females. Sorry, men, but they just seem hardier.
That would be interesting to know, also, if females lifespans are generally longer than the males.

[reefD]

funny you say that as i have experienced a higher death rate in new setups for males verses females...i have seen seahorses cycle a tank but twicw=e the male died and the female survived no issues. interesting study as i work for a lfs and femals seem to dominate the trade. more femals make the shipping than males. in otherwards we get more females than males always. sometimes and more common latly is all females!

[Poniegirl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8331627#post8331627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefD
[/B] i have seen seahorses cycle a tank but twicw RED
How awful, that someone would do that! I wouldn't even put a damsel through a cycle.
Have you kept seahorses, yourself?
The horse that caused me to to start this is still in the 20 gal, still looks fine, still wobbles and has to make several attempts at reaching a specific place. I hitch her by hand to her feed station. But she swims upright and eats quite well..I can stand it as long as she can.

[VWD]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8286880#post8286880 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
Nice to see you here Vince,

Give your Reidi time. It'll get big. Mine did grow a bit during the time I had him, but not much more then his originl size. JME

How are You doing , I get out once in awhile, LOL


poniegirl, I have been doing them for sometime, I started in the mid 80's, But took time off from them, I have 1 male and 2 females right now.


Iwant to add here also, That to cycle a tank with them is pretty hard on them , I also won't cycle with anykind of fish. let alon a seahorse. Plenty of other ways to do it. JMO

[pledosophy]

IME males have lasted longer. JME

Each hs there own concerns. Males can have pouch disease, but females can have problems reabsorbing the proteins from the unreleased eggs.

I would be surprised if there was a difference based on sex. Not saying there is or isn't just that it would be surprising.