Do Sea Horses go to Heaven?

[Hedonist]

:sad1:
Well I lost two of my older females over the weekend.....not sure what happened... I got a call from a co-worker yesteday that we only had 3 horses...

The parameters looked okay today except the NO3 was at about 20 and the was about 7.6... began a Kalk drip to help get he pH back up.... and did a water change

The horses were a few yrs old but we also have a new person on the weekends who has been feeding for me....kinda strange that I lose two at the same time

I also am getting quite the brislte worm population in there.. no predators...... any ideas on how to thin out the numbers?

Denise

[jarofmilk]

:( that really drinks through a straw Denise, sorry to hear it.

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

Hand picking the worms is a start !! let see what my buddy bryan thinks ?

[Ewan]

Sorry to hear about your ponies, Denise.

I'd be suprised if it wasn't due to overzealous feeding. It's extremely common for folks who simply don't understand the husbandry involved in maintaining a small tank. Those mysids are also pretty funky to begin with.

my condolences.

-Rob

[spotfin]

Sorry to hear about your seahorses :( I wonder if it was related to your pH. 7.6 seems really low.
On another note, I just missed you at the Common Ground fair last weekend. I stopped by the booth where Craig (RO systems) was working. I forget the name of the company. He said you were there about 10 minutes earlier.

[spotfin]

How big are the bristle worms? I think if they stay small they won't be a problem in your system. They will help to clean up any leftovers. If the population gets too big, nature will take over.
Jason

[Hedonist]

Ya may be onto something Rob... I do feed often cause that is what 'they' say to do, however I measured my phosphates the other day... my Salifert kit registered nothing however the lab tested at 0.34 ppm :eek2: :eek2:

I am looking for a reactor now for obvious reasons... maybe I should aslo look into a feeding station for the horses... I feed alot so they will find it, with a station at least they will be there where ithe food is...kDavid saxby has the same idea, he has a floating cup with holes in it, the food was placed in the cup and the fish nudged the cup to make the food exit the cup....

Guess letting nature take it's course is what will happen... they are too fast to hand pick, maybe I will try a cleaner shrimp, I saw on epicking at a wom once.....The worms freak the co-workers out
:lol:

Denise

[Ewan]

By "people who don't understand the husbandry of a small tank" I meant any well-meaning co-workers, of course.

-Rob

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

I need one also !

[Hedonist]

I am the guilty party Rob, I confess!!!!:p

I fed anwhere between 3-5 cubes daily ( when I had 5 horses) now I am backing down to 2-3

Co workers only feed 2 daily on Mon and one Sat evening when I am out

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

they all should skip a day a week wish i could !!

[cutting]

sorry to hear about your seahorses.
maybe some kind of feeding tray like this would work:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/3423Waiting_for_dinner_2_RC.jpg

if its too fake/unnatural you might be able to find a small piece of base rock or LR that has a flat smooth surface. If your in the mood to make something you couls also take some coarse crushed coral substrate and and make your own. I believe http://www.garf.org has a "recipe" for base rock.