New Seahorses arrived!

The situation has deteriorated further. The reidi are still not eating. There breathing seems a little fast to me.
I have moved them to a small ten gallon hospital tank with no distractions.
My water tests fine, mybe slightly high on salinity (.026) so I dropped it to .024 in the hospital tank. I'm out tomorrow to get some live food to try and get them to eating. I've even got the brine shrimp hatchery going.
Wish me luck. I'm going to start calling tomorrow to see what the LFS have in stock for live food.
 
Thomas, call me up. I can give you some food for your horses tonight.

817 246-8353
 
Thomas, how are they making out today? The bbs won't help much as most juvis/adults don't recognize them as food. Enriched brine shrimp would help. Mine always hunt them down very quickly. Was Fosters able to tell you what they had been feeding them? They might have just been feeding the brine shrimp in which case you'll have to convert them to frozen which can be a long process.

You might consider ordering some live mysis online if you can't find any locally.Keep us posted, here's hoping that you have found some goodies for them that they like!

Carolyn
 
Went by fish paradise today but they were out of adult brine shrimp. They'll get a shipment in tomorrow. I got some ghost shrimp to try. they were a little big and as you can see in the picture (Bad pic) one is actually sitting on the back of one horse. I'll keep shoving the mysis at them and get the adult brine tomorrow. I'll also have some BBS hatched in about 12 hrs.
 
Thomas, I am so sorry that this first experiance has been a little shakey. But it will get better. I am surprised that foster/smith didn't tell you what they were eating. Was it not listed on their site? Wish I were there I have a little of everything. Even some enrichment supplements. Good luck and please keep us updated.
 
I got the live brine in yesterday but I'm afraid they were too weak. I lost one last night and the other is not showing an interest. I've talked with some people on reef central and seahorse.org and after so long they can't eat even if they wanted to. This whole situation has me me sick. I was so certain this was going to go smoothly. The second one still seems to have his strength, but no will to eat. This has been such a disappointment. It will be a long time (if ever) before I attempt them again.

If anyone out there has some experience thinks they may be able to save him I'm willing to part with him, I live near the southeast TCC campus. I am going to continue to try and feed several times a day but the odds against him right now.

I went with Hikari mysis which according to most of my information has been rated second only to PE mysis. Foster and Smith was feeding Gamma, The different brand of food or the possibility of rough/traumatic shipping are the only things I can think of that have them unwilling to eat.

Thank you all for your help and I will keep updated one the lone survivor
 
That is so sad :( Hopefully your remaining horse will pull through. I think shipping is very hard on seahorses especially at this time of year. I received some fry last week via fedex express and they all arrived dead. I think we worry about keeping them cool and then forget that the airplanes temperatures can be pretty cool at the high altitudes they fly at...I think that perhaps they get too cold. I just don't think shipping seahorses (or other marine life) during the summer is a very good idea. I know I won't be trying it anymore.

Don't give up on the horses though, they really aren't that tough. I just got to witness my juvi's dancing and mating for the first time, I had 4 dancing all about. It made me feel pretty good since I raised these guys from day one.

Carolyn
 
I didn't think they would be too tough either, especially CB. If/when I try again I think I'll buy local so I can see they are eating and exactly WHAT their eating and avoid the overnight shipping stress.
 
I"m so sorry Thomas. I know you tried your best. :cry:
 
I am sorry to hear about your loss. It is hard to lose a seahorse.

Seahorses can be hard enough to take care of so it is important to find a healthy one. Next time I would try a local breeder like equinecpa. I would also start off with erectus. Reidi are known to be finicky eaters.

I personally love Ocean Rider. I have ordered 4 seahorses from them at different times and they all came in eating like pigs. I won't buy from anyone else.
 
thomas, i want to share my similar experience with you. I ordered cb redi sh a month ago, 2 died within 2 weeks and i still have one. I tried all of above food. But i found decap bbs and hiraki mysis the best because their size. I also feed PE in the same tank for other 3 erectus sh. All the erectus sh are from oceanrider eat like a pig about 2 months. So, liveaquaria said they fed gamma mysis?? I never tried that and dont know where i can buy it locally. But I think the heat in transit contributed the poor eating beside the changing of food. I agree with nicki that i will buy sh again only from ocean rider or locally.
william
 
Thomas, I am truly sorry for your loss. Any new experience is traumatic w/o the overlay of incorect or not enought informatioin.

In checking Drsfostersmith(liveaquaria) description they only said frozen foods not the brand. If they are going to have Seahorses available to the public, they shoud state which foods they are trained to eat.

However, I have to admit, that when crunch time comes.....I can not get PE Mysis shrimp or any other brand only the Hakiri. My younger SHs train to it, my older ones are spoiled to live.

I wish I was closer to assist in your sorrow.
 
Just wanted to keep everyone informed. Doug and Joanna (waterbeing) came over Friday and picked up the redi that I couldn't get to eat. Last I heard he was eating fairly well for them. They are feeding the same things I was trying with the exception that they are enriching their food with (I thing it was selco) and it turns the food red. I don't recall live aquaria saying they enriched thier food but this apparently has made the difference.

Thanks to Doug and Joanna for making the trip from Richardson!
Keep us informed on the progress and Let me know when you guys have babies.
 
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