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Samala · 07/20/2006, 11:16 AM

How long are you intending to run this poll?

If you use the last set of questions you are going to end up with a single snapshot in time of some keepers of seahorses who may or may not have SH with GBD and may or may not run a skimmer.

How will this single point in time be meaningful to a larger population of SH keepers who keep their horses over large scales of time?

Who's to say GBD incidence rates do not increase or decrease in response to seasonal patterns? Perhaps high temperature variations in tanks causes stress that leads to disease.. it is summertime.

Or.. perhaps tanks go longer between cleanings and this effects GBD rates.

Also, do we know the typical rate of GBD occurrence in captive seahorses in any environment? What is the real likelihood that in this short capture survey you are going to get cases of GBD at all?

For instance: I kept H. zosterae for six months, no skimmer. One GBD case only, that lasted two days before decompression treatment was used to cure the problem. No re-occurrence. Two days out of 182 total. Incidence rate something like 1 in 90 days for 1 seahorse out of a group of 20~.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, just curious to know how you apply the data that will result from these polls any better than the data from the other survey.

>Sarah

07/20/2006, 11:16 AM	#82
Samala Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 2,930	How long are you intending to run this poll? If you use the last set of questions you are going to end up with a single snapshot in time of some keepers of seahorses who may or may not have SH with GBD and may or may not run a skimmer. How will this single point in time be meaningful to a larger population of SH keepers who keep their horses over large scales of time? Who's to say GBD incidence rates do not increase or decrease in response to seasonal patterns? Perhaps high temperature variations in tanks causes stress that leads to disease.. it is summertime. Or.. perhaps tanks go longer between cleanings and this effects GBD rates. Also, do we know the typical rate of GBD occurrence in captive seahorses in any environment? What is the real likelihood that in this short capture survey you are going to get cases of GBD at all? For instance: I kept H. zosterae for six months, no skimmer. One GBD case only, that lasted two days before decompression treatment was used to cure the problem. No re-occurrence. Two days out of 182 total. Incidence rate something like 1 in 90 days for 1 seahorse out of a group of 20~. I'm not trying to dissuade you, just curious to know how you apply the data that will result from these polls any better than the data from the other survey. >Sarah __________________ "Seaweed is cool, seaweed is fun, it makes its food from the rays of the sun!"