seahorsecrazy

Yeah thats right. Good or bad? Thanks about the shrimp.

Thanks for the help and the encouragement. I hope that we manage to win this one. On another note, do you recommend a particular type of cleaning shrimp? I would like to be able to add one or two to the tank - still waiting on a bigger tank, but feel it may be time to start with a cleanup crew of sorts. I have a couple of catseye snails and limpets that came with the live rock, but they dont eat what leftover food gets caught in the liverock or the 'grasses' that are growing from it. Suggestions? :lol:

Do they come right or am I just prolonging the inevidable?

Definately trouble swimming upright, although slowly improving over today from the last few days, can stay upright a bit longer. can see no obvious marks anywhere nor a tear in the snout.

She is a kuda, so tropical, and about 5-6cm in total length now. She is very small compared to her brood sister who is about 8-9cm in length. I have changed the water on their tank to get the nitrites back under control from the feeding I have been doing. When I transfer her to the other tank to feed her, I am using the same water from the main tank so as to limit the stress on her being moved regularly. Moving her only seems to be motivating her even though i know it is not the best thing to do, but she does seem happier when she is in with her two flatmates. I was wondering about swim bladder problems seeing as she just lies flat. When she is able to swim she goes straight to the bubbles. Not sure if she wants bubbles in particular or just the waterflow that is associated with them. There is plenty of bubbles in both tanks so a lack of air doesnt seem to be the main problem. Do they have strokes? Just grasping at straws here, but it almost looks that way... Paula.

My baby seahorse has been sick for the last 4-5 days. She was fine in the afternoon swimming and playing happily, but then suddenly 'fell out of the sky'. She literally fell to the bottom of the tank and has been really sick since. She was not able to move at all as if she was paralysed. She could move her eyes and breathe, but that was all. I have had her suspended in filter wool so she is upright, without it she lays on her side. After force feeding her for the last few days she has started to regain some strength and is now able to swim for approx 30 seconds before hitting the bottom again. I am using a syringe and gently blowing live baby brine into her mouth while she is breathing to get at least something into her. She is refusing to eat otherwise. Any mysis I manage to get into her mouth, she just spits out. I know I must be doing something right because she is still alive even though she is unable to hunt for herself. I have had to take her out of the tank and feed her seperately from the others as the nitrite levels went through the roof with all the brine that was in the tank with the feeding I was doing. It seems hard on her to move her for every feed, but she is doing alot better when I let her with her mates during the day. The water is fine, I have been BB for approx 6 weeks and the live rock I have been given has had the nitrites to 0. I am at a total loss. My Husband says I must be doing the right thing as she is very slowly improving but man, what hard work! Does anyone have any suggestions as to why this may have happened? Up until this point she has been growing and playing really well. I am stumped. Nothing has changed to cause this. We even refuse to spray for houseflys now and use a swat (with huge graveyards in the lounge to clean up) to make sure I dont upset them. Where to from here? :-?

Thanks for the help Cam, much appreciated. Welcome to call in anytime, you have my number.

Thanks Wasp, that is the creature alright, I will get straight onto 'pest destruction'. As that I have them in another tank, I hope that I can control them fast. I am however, watching my seahorse tank to make sure I hadnt missed any of the original little beasts. :bounce:

Hi DJ, they are doing great, the large tank never turned up, but they are really happy at the moment in their smaller one. The live rock has brought the nitrite levels to zero! Couldnt beleive it... Anyhow, my two babies are growing fast. Have photos on my phone, just need to get them off and post them for all. My smallest now seems to be more in proportion and eating like a trooper. The other two just play once fed, but she is constantly hunting around the live rock. I have a small glass dish that I am feeding them in now, and they are racing me to the dish at breakfast and demanding but I am only feeding small amounts twice a day. They have put on weight, and filled in their bellies. I am so happy to see them happy i their surroundings. Found lots of strange new creatures in my tank from the live rock, limpets, snails, tubeworms, coralites, and when I seperated the anenomes as not sure if they were harmful to sh or not, they multiplied and what looked like a jellyfish was in the tank with them. Could it hav been a baby anenome swimming? Anyhow, they are still seperate. They look a glassy brown with really long tentacles but only a few, not like many of the colourful ones I have seen with hundreds of tentacles. They tend to get extremely long and skinny when looking for food, but shorten and fatten once fed.

Thanks again to all who have helped me. I have been given a rather large tank that will arrive just after Christmas - approx 1.5m long and nearly0.8m wide and high. Im really looking forward to it. All the pumps and filters are supposed to be with it also. YAY A big thank you to my friend in Whakatane who has helped with setting up live rock. Im amazed at what tiny creatures are part of this miniature ecosystem... I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and of course a safe New Year.

How did you fare? I had to put a cover over the top of my kokopu tank to keep the water in it, as it was running about 3 inches up the sides of the tank. My seahorses fared OK, they were just happy feeding - must have thought it was an extra wave in their tank?! How are you all out there? Hope no major damage to any of the tanks. It would be a disaster if they have cracked or broken...

Thank you all very much for your information. I see I may have taken on a task beyond my estimations. I am not sorry though, I am now looking forward to improving my tank with great interest. I have started to thaw and rinse my brine and mysis shrimp, and upon visiting a local with Kudas, and he showed me his feeding reigime along with his gorgeous colourful Kudas. I now have two beautiful baby kudas which I have introduced to my girl, and they all seem to be getting on really well. The smallest of which is about 4cm in length and still slightly out of proportion, but beautiful just the same. The tank is improving by adding a finer filter media following the filter wool and it seems to be slowing the growth of the red algae. I havent managed to get any live rock as yet, but I think when I do, I will go BB so the tank is easy to clean and monitor. Again, many thanks to you all. much appreciated. Paula.

Can this algae be harmful to my girl, or will it eventually go away? I have no coral rock, just coral sand, and Im not sure what live macro algaes are. The water in Kawerau is not purified and is only rarely chlorinated. Would cleaner shrimp be of any help? Read somewhere that they are good with algaes. Have rams horn snails in my cold water tank with my Banded Kokopu and they keep that clean is there anything similar and inexpensive? It has cost just over $700 to set this up with really nothing to show for it and Ive gotten way over budget already... She is loving her mysis shrimp. I started her on brine as I was told by the pet shop I got her from, but she seemd lifeless. Once she got her first sniff of mysis in the water she has totally changed!

Not too sure what is happening, but I have set up a tropical marine tank and have a Kuda Seahorse. The tank keeps getting a red/brown slime-like algae in it and it covers the coral sand, artificial plants, pump, glass, etc. Really cant get rid of it. My girl gets a bit down if I cant get it out and I feel i am cleaning it too often and upsetting her with changing her water every couple of days! What do I do with it? Is there a particular filter that will get rid of it? I only have a small tank (32litre) with a basic filter with filter wool and noodles. Is there a basic filter that will take out finer particles and hopfully rid me of this slime? My girl is eating well and growing so she isnt overly stressed. Oh yeah, anyone got a small male Kuda that needs rehoming? Her flat mate died when I first set up the tank and she follows me all around the room and dances for me when I sit and watch her. She needs company...