Diseases and Treatments



 

Introduction:
Proper diagnosis and treatment of diseases can lead to happier, and of course, healthier fish.  Many times, many diseases bear the same symptoms.  Some of the biggest symptoms that one might report with seahorses include listlessness, loss of appetite, scratching, odd colored patches, and open sores.

First, I highly recommend getting ahold of a good book.  I personally own a copy of "Diseases In Marine Aquarium Fish" by Gerald Bassleer.  This book will not only help out the marine enthusiast with diagnosing disease properly, it also will give suggestions on how to treat what ails your horses (or any fish for that matter).  I would like to list some of the diseases that we have encountered, and how I have treated our seahorses for them.
 

Diagnosing:

    Diagnosing your seahorses illness is not an easy task, and as such requires some thought.  Just because a seahorse isn't acting right doesn't neccesarily mean that they have a disease.  When you notice a problem with your fish and don't see any visible signs of disease (i.e. cloudy eyes) you may first want to check the water quality.  Sometimes  too high of a specific gravity will cause problems such as reduced activity, loss of appetite, and heavy respiration.  Other common water problems such as high ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate can also cause problems for a fish.  If water quality is the problem, then improving that will save you a lot of time, money, and effort.  Sometimes people say that their fish refuses to eat.  In these instances you may wish to try a different food or smaller piece of food.  Refusal to eat can be a sign of serious illness, but often times, it isn't.  If the fish won't even look at food or is unresponsive to stimuli (such as a hand in the water, knocking on the glass, or other fish), it's best to quarantine them and treat with a general antibiotic/antiparasitic.  I have had the best results with Paragon II by Aquatronics.  This contains a blend of antibiotics as well as metronidazole, an antiparasitic.

    Of course if you notice obvious signs of disease, such as cloudy eyes or lesions, quarantine immediately.  It is difficult at best to cure an ailing seahorse, however it is entirely possible given the correct treatment.

 

     I hope this webpage will become a database of seahorse diseases and treatments and I come any contributions or experiences you may have.
 
 
 
 

Parasites:
Parasites come in many different forms.  They can be anything from trematodes, to parasitic copepods, "fish lice," and gill flukes.  Often times, fish who have parasitic infections will scratch themselves - this means anything from rubbing themselves on rocks and corals to reaching up with their tails to scratch where it itches.  They often become very bothered and will not eat or will have a very reduced appetite.  Prompt treatment can eradicate parasites.  As a common sense reminder, no treatment should be performed in a reef system or established system.  Every drug on the market will adversely affect corals and invertebrates and kill the biological filter on an established aquarium.

I prefer to have a tank set up that can act as a "hospital" tank.  The most common tank I use is a 2 1/2 gallon hex tank that can be bought from major pet stores such as PetsMart or Petco.  However, if several fish at once are affected, a larger tank, such as a ten gallon glass aquarium may be needed.  This tank should be filled with water from the aquarium that the fish come from to keep the fish's stress level to a minimum.  The hospital tank also should be at the same temperature as the main aquarium.

Most pet stores carry a wide variety of antibiotics, anti-parasitics, etc.  I prefer to use Paragon II manufactured by Aquatronics.  Follow the directions on the label, and add to the hospital tank.  Be aware that this drug does not dissolve very well initially.  We take a cup of tank water, add the drug, and stir it generously; it is then poured into the aquarium to treat them.  The most active ingredient in Paragon II is metronidazole.  You can also obtain metronidazole in its pure form.  SeaChem makes metronidazole.   And if all else fails, commercial Flagyl, usually used on people to treat things like giardia, can be obtained through a veterinarian to use.  It is metronidazole as well.  The pure metronidazole from SeaChem seems to dissolves easiest.  However, the Paragon II seems to also ward off secondary infections that often follow parasitic infestations (such as bacterial infections or fungi).

Another really wonderful method of treatment is with the use of Formalin.  This is a very common treatment and prophylactic.  Be very careful when dosing this drug (as its main component is formaldehyde), and do not splash it on your skin or in your eyes.  One of the nicest things about this drug is that it does not color the water, and it also has a very short "life" if you will - it dissapates out of the water in about two days.  Be careful so as not to overdose this drug, and keep your circulation high because formalin contributes to a reduced amount of dissolved oxygen in the water.

Most external parasites can be killed, or at least injured permanently, with a freshwater bath.  While we have put this toward the end, I would recommend that a person do this first.  Sometimes a freshwater bath takes care of the fish, and then they don't have to enter the hospital to be treated.  To do this, place tap water in a plastic bag (such as a ziplock), and float it in your tank for a time so that it becomes the same temperature as the aquarium.  When it is the same temperature as the tank, the fish should be removed from the aquarium and placed in the bag of freshwater for about one minute.  If the fish looks as if it is having excessive stress, or if it seems to be having extreme equilibrium problems, it should be removed back to the aquarium immediately.  Do not leave a saltwater fish in freshwater for any prolonged period of time, even if it seems to be doing well, as it can injure your fish or stress it unnecessarily.  I usually do not leave our fish in a freshwater bath for more than one minute.  This amount of time is sufficient enough to kill most parasites and bacteria.

Once the fish has been "dipped," you can place the fish in the hospital tank and pour in the drugs.  Try to keep the fish eating as much as possible as this will help them fight off infection.

Bacterial Infections:
Fish can suffer from many different types of bacterial infections.  Treatment can be very difficult because it is hard to choose the right antibiotic at times to treat what they seem to suffer from.  I truly believe that many, if not most, of the bacterial infections that fish suffer are secondary infections - meaning they also seem to have parasitic infections as well and the bacteria enter their body through bites.  Stress, such as that suffered during shipping, can also heavily damage their immune system and leave them susceptible to bacterial infections.

The most common antibiotics on the market include Kanamycin, Maracyn, Maracyn II, Penicillin, Furanace, Ampicillin, Erythromycin, and Tetracyclin.  Some of these drugs can be combined, while others cannot.  Do not combine drugs without having either done your reading, asked your veterinarian, or been advised per the directions on the packaging.  Combining drugs without knowledge of how to do so, and knowing which ones to do it with, can kill your fish.  The common sense warning once again is that using this in a reef system will kill or injure corals and invertebrates.  It will also kill an established biological filter in most cases (as biological filters are mostly bacterial).  Frequent water changes may be needed so as to prevent ammonia spikes, and other adverse effects.

Follow all directions listed and do not overdose.  You wouldn't overdose yourself on antibiotics, so be careful not to do it to your fish.  When using less than ten gallons of water (as most measures of antibiotics are supposed to be dissolved in ten gallons of water), get as close a measure as you can (i.e. only use 1/4 tablet, or 1/2 tablet, or a smaller measure).  Treat for as long as it says on the package as well.  The most we have usually ever had to treat was for a full seven days.

If your fish do not seem to be responding to antibiotic treatment, they may not have a bacterial infection.  This is where diagnosis is critical.  Read a lot - as much as possible - on diagnosing bacterial infections.  It will help lead you down the right road of treatment for your fish, and it will prevent resistant strains of bacteria from developing.
 

Information on medications:

We would like to thank Chris Burns  for the following contribution..
 
 

Furanace (nifurpirinol) - Excellent anti-fungal and used in conjunction
with Neomycin, there ain't a bug on the planet that can survive!!  Well, not
really, but the combo does make an intense medicine.

Kanacyn - The is a broad-spectrum, gram+/gram- antibiotic.  I will
sometimes use this with Neomycin if I am pretty sure there is no fungal infection
present.  Kanacyn is supposed to treat fungus, but I think Furanace is
probably a better choice.

Neomycin - This is the super-drug for marine creatures.  It can be combined
with other meds for increased efficacy, but usually will work on its own.
If you can only get on medicine, this is the one.

Methelyne Blue - I actually just learned this one... Meth Blue helps
relieve the toxic effects of toxic ammonia and nitrite poisoning.  This is a good
thing to add to your hospital tank when treating, especially if you are not
doing water changes.  PLEASE READ YOUR MED LABELS FOR POSSIBLE PROBLEMS WITH USING METH BLUE AND ANTIBIOTICS.

Formalin 3 - This is a formaldehyde based antifungal liquid.  Used in
conjunction with one of the iodine/betadine/Tech-D liquids, it makes the
topical solution you may have seen us talking about.  The solution is
effective so far against Snout-Rot (fungal infection) and flesh eating
bacteria (bacterial infection).

Iodine/Betadine/Kent Marine Tech-D (I recommend the Tech-D) - This is a
fairly good bacterial/parasite killer.  The Tech-D is by far the best.  The
reason is speed.  Iodine requires lengthy contact time to be effective.
Betadine is considerably less, but for aquatic animals this still requires
an uncomfortable amount of time out of water.  The Tech-D further reduces
this time as well as containing some really good anti-pathogenic medicines.

Please read the article on the topical solution before trying to use it as there are some details that need to be addressed.

Finally, NEVER USE COPPER WITH ANTI-BIOTICS!!!  This is VERY important.  I would even recommend not using Malachite Green with them either.  Most
anti-biotics will become quite toxic in the presence of copper sulfate...
This is just an FYI.  As you will notice I didn't recommend copper in the
list.  It is REALLY hard on the fish, and there are other ways of treating...
 
 

An Alternate Method for Treating Bacterial and Fungal Infections in Seahorses
By Chris Burns

INTENTION
This article is intended to provide a possible alternative remedy for the bacterial and fungal infections common in captive seahorses.  It must be noted that any results put forth in this article are purely anecdotal and not empirical.

BACKGROUND
As keepers of seahorses, we may find ourselves and our charges battling dermal bacterial and/or fungal infections.  Often times, bacteria, being highly opportunistic, will cause a secondary infection to an existing fungal infection, or any wounds suffered from erosions, bites, scratches or tears of the epidermis for that matter.  Commonly, we treat with broad-spectrum antibiotics that have the ill effect of decimating the nitrifying bacteria culture present in an established tank, which create a toxic ammonia spike that can, at the least, cause serious stress on an already sick animal and at worst, outright kill the patient.  Hospital tanks are sometimes set-up and used to remove the sick animal and treat it in isolation, but with seahorses, the lack of companionship and natural environment associated with the sterility of a hospital tank can be equally detrimental.

This idea was born when I purchased a female yellow Brazilian horse (Hippocampus reidi) from my LFS that had the telltale pinkish eroded spot of Snout Rot.  Although my LFS is very good, she had been there for at least 12 days and I was sure she would not make it in their holding tank, so I took her home.  I observed this spot for 3-4 days while she was in my care and after noticing that the spot was growing and darkening slightly, I decided to treat her.  Within 14 hours of the commencement of treatment (3 total treatments), I noticed the pink spot losing color and diminishing in size.  I must admit that I ended up losing her several days later to an unknown cause, but at the time of her demise, the visible signs of the Snout Rot were all but gone.  It must be noted that she may have died as a result of formaldehyde or iodine poisoning or from unseen complications due to the Snout Rot.  I find poisoning in this case to be very unlikely as I was very careful not to allow any of the solution to enter her mouth, and there were no signs of any distress for a few days after the treatment.  She was in my care for a total of 10 days.

DETAIL OF TREATMENT
As an alternative method of treating these bacterial/fungal infections, I propose the following topical solution, to be administered directly to the effected areas with a cotton swab:
1. Take 1/8 cup of tank water
2. Mix in 10 drops of 2% tincture of iodine solution (I used Brite-Life brand which is 2% iodine, 47% alcohol, 2.4% sodium iodine and 48.6% purified water)
3. Mix in 10 drops of Formalin  (I used Kordon brand Formalin3 which is a < 3% formaldehyde solution)

Using a cotton swab to deliver the solution, the seahorse can be removed from the tank by gently grasping its body.  Exercise caution not to touch infected areas that you will not spread the infection.  The solution should be given approximately 5-10 seconds to absorb into the wound.  After this time, the horse can be released back into the tank.  If your horse is effected on the body or tail, you can hold the animal underwater with just the infected area exposed to the air.  This will help to keep them calm, and allow more time for the solution to work.  Treatment should be performed 3 times a day until noticeable improvement is shown or 5 days have elapsed.  If your patient is not showing signs of improvement after 5 days, but is still hanging on, then the treatment may be assumed to be too dilute.  You may wish to make a 50% to 100% stronger solution and continue.  In this event, it is highly recommended that you begin a course of antibiotics in order to improve your chances of restoring the animal to full health.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
As of the writing of this article, I have had the opportunity to treat another horse for bacterial/fungal infection.  Another female H. reidi developed a pinkish-gray spot at the base of her tail, where it meets the body.  I immediately began treatment with a new revision of the solution (see formula below), and within 4 treatments, administered over 2 days, the spot was beginning to recede.  Again, I must note that on the 5th treatment, I noticed two other spots adjacent to the original, which could have been due to my own spreading of the infection or natural spreading.  I opted, after losing my other female H. reidi, to place this one in a med tank.  My observations of her in the tank are that she is much more stressed and less happy than she was in her home even with me occasionally removing her to apply the solution.

The new solution is mixed by the following recipe:
1. Take 1/8 cup of tank water
2. Mix in 15 drops of Kent Marine Tech-D coral dip
3. Mix in 15 drops of Formalin  (I used Kordon brand Formalin3 which is a < 3% formaldehyde solution)

The Kent Marine Tech-D product has Potassium Iodide and Potassium Bromide, which are both excellent anti-microbial agents, and are much stronger than elemental iodine or sodium iodine.  If this product is unavailable, it is recommended that you use Betadine, which is iodine/povodine in a solution that liberates more free elemental iodine to the wound, making it much more potent than the originally mentioned medicinal iodine solution.

It should be noted that these mixtures should be diluted to reduce the chances of chemical burns to the patient.  I recommend that a minimum of 1/7 of the solution be tank water (i.e. 3 parts Formalin, 3 parts iodine/betadine/Tech-D and 1 part water).  Chemical burns could easily exacerbate the wound and allow more surface area for the infection to attack.

A WORD OF CAUTION
Be VERY careful when administering this solution to areas around the eyes and mouth, as both iodine and Formalin are poisonous when ingested (in high doses, not medicinal dosage).  The dilute nature of this solution minimizes this risk, but care should still be taken, as the solution, at the very least, cannot taste too good!

JUSTIFICATION
The reasoning behind this treatment is to reduce undue stress on the patient as well as the tank.  Many may think that handling the horse will cause undue stress, but given a gentle touch and short contact duration, this will be easily handled, and is my opinion that it is much less stressful than hospitalization.

The two components to the topical solution treat two separate microorganisms.  Iodine is an effective, but somewhat weak, anti-bacterial.  I say weak because it is not a contact killer, but requires bacteria to be exposed several times for a longer than instant duration.  Formalin is the treatment for fungal infection and is also proven effective against various protozoans as well.  Thus, the topical solution provides a double-edged sword to combat dermal infection.

DISCLAIMER
The author takes no responsibility for any injuries or losses suffered from readers pursuing the use of the suggested solutions.  Please use the solution carefully and conscientiously.

AFTERTHOUGHT
Please, if you do attempt this remedy, send any information and observations to:
Chris Burns – val_tina@pacbell.net
Mike Gilbert - mgilb@ix.netcom.com and Bethany Watson
so that we may collect them and hopefully provide some more profound indications for this potential remedy.

I would like to wish all of your charges health, prosperity and longevity.  In those unfortunate cases where illness arises, I wish you good luck whatever remedies you choose I hope they fare well!

Specific Problems/Diseases

Columnaris:

Columnaris has got to be one of the worst diseases that we have ever experienced.  A marine biologist who works at one of the local fish stores said that columnaris is actually fairly prevalent in aquaculture and aquaculture systems, as well as holding facilities for fish.  So, that might be something to be aware of.

Columnaris usually begins as a fairly silent nusiance.  The fish lose interest in eating.  And they also sort of "hang" in the water like puppets.  This doesn't mean that they won't go out for a swim, or eat even, but their appetite and activity both decrease dramatically.

Also, on your seahorses, you will probably notice that their "triggers" under their snouts begin to hang out or point outward a great deal.  This is the second stage of the disease.

If it progresses far enough, their bodies will be coated in what is often mistaken for fungus.  The thing is that most fungi are actually brown or black when they are on your fish.  These patches look like snow, or patches of cotton.  Regardless of color, they are whitish.  This is not good, and the point at which a fish is usually unrecoverable.  At this stage, it is best to euthanize the fish than to let it suffer.

Treatment should be undertaken in a quarantine tank as soon as it seems that the disease is present.  One of the better drugs to use is Furanace.  It is a really tough antibiotic that is used most often to treat columnaris.  And it saved one of our baby seahorses, so the stuff can work.

One other drug that might be effective (we haven't had a chance to experiment with it enough) is Oxolinic Acid Powder.  You can get this from the FishyFarmacy, or at most koi stores.  It is a broad spectrum gram negative and gram positive antibiotic.  But it is also extremely harsh stuff and should be used with care.

Dose as it says to on the packaging and make sure that you do plenty of water changes.  Re-dose as you change out the water.

This disease progresses fairly slowly, but it is also extremely tough to treat.  With that in mind...
 
 

Gas Bubble Disease:

There are two schools of thought on this.  The first is that gas bubbles are caused by poor circulation.  The second is that gas bubbles are from bacterial infections.  We think both schools are correct to a certain extent.

Most of the time when we see these pop up, it is because the circulation in the tank is not great enough.  That usually requires us to either clean out a powerhead or to add another to the tank.  Increasing circulation usually takes care of the problem.

However, sometimes it does not.  And sometimes the gas is just about everywhere in their bodies - in their tails, under the skin on their torsos, even bubbles develop on their snouts (which can be really fatal if it makes a fish unable to eat).  In this case, treatment is required, and it must be undertaken quickly.

Get them into a quarantine tank (because once again, our common sense reminder is that drugs will mess up your biological filtration and kill your invertebrates).  You will need to evacuate the gas (if possible) by using a sterile needle to pop the bubbles under their skin.  Once they are punctured, gently massage out the gasses inside.  Be very careful not to push the sharp end of the needle into their bodies too far.  This could damage internal organs.  Just barely under their skin is all it takes, and is probably less deep than you would imagine, as seahorses are not thick skinned.  When the gas is gone (or mostly gone), be sure to put an antiseptic on the wound.  We like to dry it a little with a q-tip (of course, this requires parts of your fish being out of the water, and if it is on their snout, that is totally out of the question), and apply bag balm.  The bag balm will come off of their bodies once they are put back into the water, so just be prepared to skim it off of the top so that it doesn't leave residues.  You can also use a little bit of peroxide (applied with a q-tip), or a little bit of weak betadine (also to be applied with a q-tip).  To weaken betadine, pour water into a cup and drop by drop, dissolve the betadine into it until the water is the color of weak tea.  Do not use alcohol.

Your fish will need to be treated with a broad spectrum antibiotic such as Maracyn II.  We also hear that oxolinic acid works for this, but we have no personal experience using it to treat the disease.

Fish can easily succumb to this disease.  For seahorses, it makes it extremely difficult to hunt and to eat.  So, be aware of this.  Try to keep them eating as best you can but know that the treatments may or may not work, and that you may have to euthanize your fish.
 
 
 

Floating:
 

            The first thing to determine when your seahorse is floating at the top of the aquarium is if it's a swim bladder problem or a pouch problem. For male seahorses you should first check the pouch for air. This can be done using a flashlight shined through the pouch. If you see air and a little water you'll need to deflate the pouch as described below. If no air is present or if it's a female it's most likely a swim bladder problem in which case you'll need to treat as described below.
 

Open Sores/Lesions:


Lesion on the tail of an H reidi.


 

    This disease usually starts as a white arear around a spine. A small white area is also common especially on the tail.  The spot will gradually expand and the skin will be seen to peel and the underlying tissue will be slowly destroyed.  Treatment is difficult, although swabbing the effected area with the topical solution and treating with Nitrofurazone and Acryflavin had shown some promise.

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