Should I Force Feed my Seahorse?

[AmberOwl145]

Hi all,

I just lost one seahorse after 9 months, and it seems the other is now affected by the same sickness (heavy breathing, lethargy, not moving much). It could have been when I introduced a cardinalfish without a QT (I've learned my lesson). After using API General Cure almost 2 days ago (first dose of 2), it seems to have been helping in a sense he's still standing upright and faring better than the first seahorse, who was by this point laying sideways, dead-looking eyes, etc.

I'm concerned because I'm on day 3 that my seahorse has not eaten, and today I am going to give the second dose of General Cure. I've heard it may affect their appetite, and the fact he's 3 days in with no feed tells me it may be almost too late.

Could anyone suggest a plan over the next 2 days that might help?

Perhaps I should do the next dose of General Cure, and then try feeding him again tonight to see if interested, and then if not, maybe by tomorrow evening try something more drastic? I'm not sure if I'm brave enough for Clove Oil, but maybe just holding him in the display tank, and trying a catheter or something? I tried dangling food with a tweezer but he just swam away, nervous that I was lifting his hitching post closer to the tweezer. I really want this guy to get food and he's just ignoring it completely now.

Thank you so much.

 

[KrisReef]

Keep using the General Cure and pray that the fish recovers. I would add a UV sterilizer before I tried to "force feed" it. The extra stress from your hands on intervention is more likely to kill the subject than starvation from skipping meals for a few days.

lf you are medically trained in Seahorse IV administration then forget what I said.

I presume you have live foods to offer the fish?

Good luck.

 

[DED65]

You can try a a small syringe without a needle to force feed. Liquify the food and try to get some in the mouth. You would need a really small catheter to fit in the mouth and then you would need to get the catheter in, this is where the clove oil comes in. I would just keep up with the General Cure and see what happens. When Seahorses become ill, it is very difficult to cure them and some of the treatments will do more damage.

 

[AmberOwl145]

You can try a a small syringe without a needle to force feed. Liquify the food and try to get some in the mouth. You would need a really small catheter to fit in the mouth and then you would need to get the catheter in, this is where the clove oil comes in. I would just keep up with the General Cure and see what happens. When Seahorses become ill, it is very difficult to cure them and some of the treatments will do more damage.

Thanks.. this is helpful.

Just an update, I completed my 2nd dose of API General Cure yesterday, and tomorrow i'm due for the water change. It didn't seem like he was in any better shape, so I did one dose of Rally yesterday which actually seemed to have restored his breathing to normal. His eyes are moving, and he's breathing regularly no huffing.

Now I'm just worried he won't eat still - I see I have two options:

1) I just wait until tomorrow, doing nothing more, and do the 25% water change, and put the filter back in. Hoping that after that I can feed him again. The thought is any further medicine might impact his appetite so just wait it out and try to feed tomorrow.

2) I apply another Rally later today, seeing as it helped yesterday, and then do a water change tomorrow as planned. The risk is maybe it impacts his appetite, and ironically I cure the disease but he dies of hunger.

Wanted to see what you thought?? Thanks so much!!

 

[DED65]

I have never used Rally. If it seems to help and you are following the dosage guidelines, you may want to try again. There isn’t much else that you can if the seahorse won’t eat, except for force feeding. Force feeding carries it serious risks. I really enjoyed keeping seahorses, but once they start going downhill it is very difficult to get them to recover. I gave up on them after I lost my second pair. Sometimes you can do everything right, but we still really don’t know what they need to be kept long term.

 

[Doctorgori]

are your water temps at or above 78F?
do you have access to live bbs?

 

[AmberOwl145]

are your water temps at or above 78F?
do you have access to live bbs?

no, it's at 72-73 range. I have seahorses in here, so 78 is not recommended for them.

 

[Doctorgori]

no, it's at 72-73 range. I have seahorses in here, so 78 is not recommended for them.

yeah I was wondering because warm temps sometimes can make it favorable for vibrio
I was asking about the live brine shrimp because the movement of live foods can trigger a feeding response