As some problems can take up to six weeks to materialise, even with apparently healthy specimens, it is highly advisable to quarantine and observe the animal in question in a separate tank for a sensible time period before adding it to the display tank. Look for feeding behaviour, eye movement, hitching at odd angles, scratching, unusual markings or bumps, macroparasites, cloudy eyes, bubbles under the skin, floating at the surface, white patches or white tail tips, cobwebbing, fast respiration, discolouration or animals eating but still losing weight and treat accordingly. Adhering to this will prevent any potential parasite/bacterial infection/fungal infection that the animal is carrying from infecting your other seahorses. As always, prevention is better than cure –seahorses are very susceptible to various contagious diseases and one infected animal can, in the case of diseases like Vibrio sp., quickly wipe out all the others in a previously healthy aquarium.

The quarantine tank is simply another aquarium equipped for the species you are keeping that is not connected to your main tank, so contamination cannot occur. For this reason it is also important not to use the same feeding tongs, nets etc with both tanks without sterilization. Lighting is not as critical as providing the optimum water quality, salinity, aeration and temperature for the species.

A number of common medications will kill the gram negative denitrifying bacteria in biological filters, or harm corals or inverts. Because of this, broad spectrum or gram negative antibiotics or potentially harmful antiparasitic treatments should be carried out in a separate hospital tank. Using a seeded sponge filter will control ammonia and nitrite buildups but with antibiotic treatments that preclude the use of biofilters, large daily water changes are often necessary along with frequent testing of water quality.

Assuming there are no animals in quarantine, and the tank is not suspected to be contaminated by previous inhabitants, the QT tank can double as a hospital tank if you are on a budget or have limited space.

Related Topics:
Disease and Pests