seahorse scratching

[JY13131]

Wow they are SNOOTY over there at that other website! Anyway I just got 2 juvenile kudas for my 24 gal nano. No one else in there except cleaning crew. THey have been eating fine and active. THis morning I noticed though that one of them was scratching its head on the red algae. The guy at LFS said to give freshwater bath. Does that sound right? Do they ever itch for any other reason than they are sick?

[Twitterbait]

FW bath sounds good. Horses are prone to skin disease issues.

[mdcorcoran]

like atopic dermatitis? poor things...

[JY13131]

You sound like a doctor!!!
Ok I will do the freshwater bath for both today. They are really cute. At first they were in their own seperate spaces in the tank, and then they discovered each other and are now together almost all the time! I saw them this AM with the lights off hitching on the same branch like two peas in a pod.
My nano runs a little warm for them. Does anyone have any ideas? (NOT ice cubes)!

[Twitterbait]

start with a fan but you may need to get a thermoelectric chiller depending on the tank size.

look at these http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?...eccc67fc41d40c

[JY13131]

I looked at that, but I am not good at "modding" anything! WHere is the best place to put the fan?

[Twitterbait]

so it is blowing on the surface of the water.

[pledosophy]

Scratching can relate to several things. Can you take a picture? Try to get as clear of a sot as you can. If you have to use a flash then hold the camera at an angle so the flash won't reflect so badly in the glass.

A freshwater bath is a good idea. Make sure you match the temp and pH.

When you say a little warm, what do you mean, 77F? ? ? YOu need to get the temp in the low 70's IME for long term succsess. The DIY mod is not to hard and there are directions o the how to's on many sites. If you need them let me know.

The things that worry me are the running warm, and the comaprison to dry skin. If there is an apparent flaking of the skin, we are going to have a whole different course of treatment.

This is one of those things that you need to act on sooner rather then later. If it is bacterial or parasite related the faster you act the better your chances are.

Curious what is the source of the Kuda's?

[pledosophy]

Pics?

[JY13131]

I am officially OUT of the seahorse hobby!!!! I could not deal with the stress of trying to keep the tank cool and worrying they were getting sick! They were so cute and I did not want to kill them. They went back to the fish store (they were JUST thrilled) and it cost me 100.00 (half the price of horses) to learn my mistake!

[Twitterbait]

Bummer man... maybe some other time.