Help, seahorse acting very strange

[davi135]

One of my male seahorses (erectus and I have had him one year) is acting very strange. He has been courting his partner lately but no signs of pregnancy. Today I have woken up to him with his pouch enlarged and very erratic behaviour. He is fine when not moving and is eating but if he tries to swim (such as when i tried feeding him) he starts doing 360s on the spot extremely quickly and then realises he can't swim and lies down and eventuall brings himself upright. Apart from the large pouch he looks physically fine and all water conditions are perfecr. It's very odd, from.what I've read it could be pouch emphasymia but the spinning on the spot i have not read about, what do you think?

[nutbar29]

Aires trapped in his pouch


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[nutbar29]

Air


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[rayjay]

Originally Posted by davi135

One of my male seahorses (erectus and I have had him one year) is acting very strange. He has been courting his partner lately but no signs of pregnancy. Today I have woken up to him with his pouch enlarged and very erratic behaviour. He is fine when not moving and is eating but if he tries to swim (such as when i tried feeding him) he starts doing 360s on the spot extremely quickly and then realises he can't swim and lies down and eventuall brings himself upright. Apart from the large pouch he looks physically fine and all water conditions are perfecr. It's very odd, from.what I've read it could be pouch emphasymia but the spinning on the spot i have not read about, what do you think?

Does he lie down on the bottom or at some point near the top, unable to go lower?
With pouch emphysema it would have a buoyancy problem keeping it elevated, or at least making it very difficult to swim lower in the tank.
If it is pouch emphysema and it is keeping the seahorse from going lower in the tank, you can use a rubber tipped bobby pin to gently search for and open the pouch to allow the gas to escape. It sometimes can be difficult to find the opening.

[davi135]

Hi. Thanks for the replies. No he does not seem to have a buoyancy problem at all. I have seen him at the bottom middle and top of the tank and he seems fine like that it's when he goes to swim he just starts spinning very fast on the spot

Originally Posted by rayjay

Does he lie down on the bottom or at some point near the top, unable to go lower?
With pouch emphysema it would have a buoyancy problem keeping it elevated, or at least making it very difficult to swim lower in the tank.
If it is pouch emphysema and it is keeping the seahorse from going lower in the tank, you can use a rubber tipped bobby pin to gently search for and open the pouch to allow the gas to escape. It sometimes can be difficult to find the opening.

[davi135]

I have just gone to try a pouch burp and his pouch has already returned to normal size but he's still having the same problem.

[rayjay]

Often a male will inflate it's pouch as a means to tell the female he is ready for a transfer.
As for this specific problem, I don't have any other thoughts unfortunately.

[nutbar29]

Originally Posted by davi135

I have just gone to try a pouch burp and his pouch has already returned to normal size but he's still having the same problem.

Can you post a video so that we can see as it is happening. It hard to help without seeing the seahorse.


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