My seahorse twitches uncontrollably, help

[sea_horses]

Hi there:

My female seahorse twitches or like she's having seizers

She eats as normal but every now and the she does that (the twich).

Anyone here is or has experience/ed this?????

Please, I need to know what could be causing this..

Cheers.

[timinnl]

What size tank is she in? What are your test results showing? Please post the test results. What type of seahorse is she? Captive bred or tank raised?

Twitching could be from a parasite load or from ammonia.

Kind Regards,

Tim

[sea_horses]

Tim, thank you for your response.
The tank is 86 litres. The test are normal. I have been checking the water twice a day. I have done a water change.
pH between 7.8/8.0
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
salt 1.025
temp 26 degrees C

They are (I have 4 in total) common seahorses. They are captive bred. They eat frozen food.

Cheers.

[timinnl]

Originally Posted by sea_horses

Tim, thank you for your response.
The tank is 86 litres. The test are normal. I have been checking the water twice a day. I have done a water change.
pH between 7.8/8.0
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
salt 1.025
temp 26 degrees C

They are (I have 4 in total) common seahorses. They are captive bred. They eat frozen food.

Cheers.

What country are you located in?

Do you mean H. kuda when you are refering to them as common seahorses? How long have you had them for? Also your tank is too small for even one pair, let alone two pairs. Minimum is 120liters for the first pair and 55liters for each pair after that. The twitching could be from her carrying a parasite load? Also if it is at all possible, please lower the temp to around 23C. 26C is too high and will lead to problems due to bacteria reproducing quickly at the higher temp. The PH could be a little higher also, you want it around 8.2.

Kind Regards,

Tim

[sea_horses]

Yes Tim, they are Hippocampus kuda.
I will consider the size of the tank, thanks for that tip.

Regarding the other things that you've mentioned. Done. Temp lowered to 23/24.
Oh, I am in Australia.

I will keep it post it. Thank you very much.

Laura

[timinnl]

Originally Posted by sea_horses

Yes Tim, they are Hippocampus kuda.
I will consider the size of the tank, thanks for that tip.

Regarding the other things that you've mentioned. Done. Temp lowered to 23/24.
Oh, I am in Australia.

I will keep it post it. Thank you very much.

Laura

Hi Laura,

If possible, please move them to a larger tank. I think in the next few months you will be running into more problems with them. A tank that size will not be able to handle the bio load produce by 4 seahorses for very long and problems like Gas bubble disease, bacteria infection and illness will take hold.

Also in all likelyhood, they are tank raised kuda being called captive bred. What size are they and how much did you pay for them?

Kind Regards,

Tim

[sea_horses]

Tim:
They are between 8cm and 14 cm. I've paid AUD $65 each.

In Which country are you located?

Laura

[amazo]

I bought 2 kuda females after 3-4 months I vaccummed my sandbed and must have kicked up something (ammonia?) and my smaller one started to get jerky and then she died about a week later after getting progressevly worse. My other girl was a little bigger and suffered no ill effects and is going strong a year later.I replaced her with an almost identical female (don't want fry yet) and I don't "deep" clean my sandbed (I also added a watchmen gobbie who slowly turns some of my sand seems to help keep sand a bit cleaner).I guess the point of all this would be did you do anything different from normal(stir sand,top off the tank,...ect)?

[amazo]

I hope she pulls through.

[sea_horses]

hi amazo, the only thing that I did different was to introduce live food for a new fish (Mandarin dragonet)... obviously the girls (seahorses) LOVE the live food but it seems like this episode started the twitches in one of them.
I am sorry to hear about your seahorse

[sea_horses]

Thank you

Me too

[WallysWorld]

It's parasites, do you have Formalin 37% if not get some and treat asap. I only say this because your parameters are perfect.

[timinnl]

Originally Posted by sea_horses

hi amazo, the only thing that I did different was to introduce live food for a new fish (Mandarin dragonet)... obviously the girls (seahorses) LOVE the live food but it seems like this episode started the twitches in one of them.
I am sorry to hear about your seahorse

Hi Laura,

You are really asking for problems with your stocking level. Beside the seahorses and the mandarin, what else do you have in the tank?

Kind Regards,

Tim

[sea_horses]

thanks, I will try to get it asap

[sea_horses]

nothing else Tim/;

[sea_horses]

WallysWorld:
I am not sure about Formolin bcoz as far as I know is use to treat external protozoans and flukes.
If there are parasites, should not I be giving her flagyl, Niclosamide or Praziquantel ?
cheers

[sea_horses]

she seems getting better.
Thank god!!

[Psyops]

Originally Posted by amazo

I bought 2 kuda females after 3-4 months I vaccummed my sandbed and must have kicked up something (ammonia?) and my smaller one started to get jerky and then she died about a week later after getting progressevly worse. My other girl was a little bigger and suffered no ill effects and is going strong a year later.I replaced her with an almost identical female (don't want fry yet) and I don't "deep" clean my sandbed (I also added a watchmen gobbie who slowly turns some of my sand seems to help keep sand a bit cleaner).I guess the point of all this would be did you do anything different from normal(stir sand,top off the tank,...ect)?

Try some nassaria (spelling?) snails. They turn the sand over better with no ill effects. I actually have my Mustangs in the deep sand bed tank with bunch of macroalgae.

[taijiguy]

You can also do a fresh water dip for parasites. Match the temp and ph and dunk the sick one for up to 12 minutes. It will likely twich and spasm like crazy after a few minutes, that's a good sign; it means the parasites are dying, sometimes you can literally see them free floating in the fresh water during the dip as they flee the host.

[WallysWorld]

Originally Posted by sea_horses

WallysWorld:
I am not sure about Formolin bcoz as far as I know is use to treat external protozoans and flukes.
If there are parasites, should not I be giving her flagyl, Niclosamide or Praziquantel ?
cheers

No, use Formalin 37% it works where others fail! This is from experience...

[WallysWorld]

Originally Posted by taijiguy

You can also do a fresh water dip for parasites. Match the temp and ph and dunk the sick one for up to 12 minutes. It will likely twich and spasm like crazy after a few minutes, that's a good sign; it means the parasites are dying, sometimes you can literally see them free floating in the fresh water during the dip as they flee the host.

Agreed, fresh water dips are great. However this doesn't solve the problem of parasite already living in the tank. That's where the Formalin comes in.
The fresh water dip is good to get the some temporary relief.

[taijiguy]

Originally Posted by WallysWorld

Agreed, fresh water dips are great. However this doesn't solve the problem of parasite already living in the tank. That's where the Formalin comes in.
The fresh water dip is good to get the some temporary relief.

I don't know what alternatives there are, but I don't think Formalin is readily available in the states anymore. It's basically formaldehyde, which isn't an OTC product. I even tried to go through our vet (who we've been with for years and years) and they wouldn't even consider selling me any. I practically had to sign a statement of use just to get them to sell me an iv syringe so I could tube feed my erectus.

Edit: Wow, that last part looks like a joke just waiting to happen.