Sudden Seahorse death?

[Lilah]

I recently got 3 female yellow Erectus seahorses from my LFS to put in my fully cycled tank. I got them two days ago and today I found one of the smaller ones dead. All of my levels are fine I have slightly high nitrates from overfeeding the past couple days, I have two others and do not want to lose them too. She was eating this morning and seemed healthy whenever I was near them, does anyone know what happened, or if I should move the others to another tank?

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

I recently got 3 female yellow Erectus seahorses from my LFS to put in my fully cycled tank. I got them two days ago and today I found one of the smaller ones dead. All of my levels are fine I have slightly high nitrates from overfeeding the past couple days, I have two others and do not want to lose them too. She was eating this morning and seemed healthy whenever I was near them, does anyone know what happened, or if I should move the others to another tank?

How did you acclimate them? Do you know what the parameters at the lfs were like? Did yours match theirs? A quick raise in salinity could have done it maybe.

 

[Lilah]

How did you acclimate them? Do you know what the parameters at the lfs were like? Did yours match theirs? A quick raise in salinity could have done it maybe.

Drip Acclimate for about one hour, not sure on the exact parameters but my salinity is at 20 ppm, I don't know what their exact salinity was

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Drip Acclimate for about one hour, not sure on the exact parameters but my salinity is at 20 ppm, I don't know what their exact salinity was

Woah, that’s super low. Salinity should be 35 ppt. It’s measured in parts per thousand, not million by the way.

 

[Lilah]

oh, ok my lfs told me it was fine, I guess they must've misheard me, should I move the seahorses while I raise it?

 

[steallife904]

at this point slowly raise the salinity up in the tank. do small waterchanges for a few days and add in the correct salinity water. That salinity was really low! How big is the tank, how do you measure salinity, do you use a refractometer? If so needs to be at 35ppt or 1.025-1.026

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

oh, ok my lfs told me it was fine, I guess they must've misheard me, should I move the seahorses while I raise it?

Moving them into a container with correct salinity could shock them and cause even more harm. Slowly raise the salinity with water changes by 1 or 2 ppt every few days until it’s at 35 ppt.

 

[Lilah]

at this point slowly raise the salinity up in the tank. do small waterchanges for a few days and add in the correct salinity water. That salinity was really low! How big is the tank, how do you measure salinity, do you use a refractometer? If so needs to be at 35ppt or 1.025-1.026

My salinity was 30 ppt or 1.020 , ok will do

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

My salinity was 30 ppt or 1.020 , ok will do

That’s not as bad as it first sounded. 20 ppt is a lot lower than 1.020. It needs to go to 1.025 or 35 ppt.

 

[Lilah]

That’s not as bad as it first sounded. 20 ppt is a lot lower than 1.020. It needs to go to 1.025 or 35 ppt.

Ok, I will raise that slowly, do you think that that could be the reason the first seahorse passed? my lfs said that it just might not have traveled well from the store to my house, but I can't be sure about that.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Ok, I will raise that slowly, do you think that that could be the reason the first seahorse passed? my lfs said that it just might not have traveled well from the store to my house, but I can't be sure about that.

If I had to guess, the seahorse was shocked from the quick change in salinity. I kind of doubt that it didn’t travel well. Sure, fish don’t like being put in plastic bags, but that’s not something deadly to them.

 

[Lilah]

If I had to guess, the seahorse was shocked from the quick change in salinity. I kind of doubt that it didn’t travel well. Sure, fish don’t like being put in plastic bags, but that’s not something deadly to them.

ok, thank you so much I'll make sure too fix that and keep an eye on the others.

 

[vetteguy53081]

With the low salinity, acclimation should have been 3-4 hours.
I received fish Tuesday shipped at 1.014. I floated then added water to fish I placed in bucket almost 6 hours until salinity matched my tank. Fish were eating within 10 mins thereafter