4 Juvi H. Reidi

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

On Monday April 24th I ordered 4 H. redi from an online vendor in Washington. I paid on Monday and they were shipped on Thursday for Friday delivery. Friday I check the online shipping to see the approx. time of delivery. May 2nd! What???? I quickly call the vendor and explain what is going on. I then call DHL and ask them what happened and explain that the shipment contains 4 live sea horses and they can not be in the box until May 2nd. They will die. I also ask why they were not delivered overnight like the invoice states they should have been. The customer service rep. proceeds to tell me that they made a mistake when accepting the package and never told the vendor that they could not be shipped to my town overnight because we do not have DHL service In my location. Where are the sea horses now, I ask. They are in Minneapolis, MN. This is 4 pm on Friday. I can not get there before they close so the customer service rep. offers to have them shipped to Rochester, MN which is only 2 hrs. from me and 1 hour from where they currently are in Minneapolis. They can be picked up on Saturday morning at the DHL facility in Rochester, MN by 7 am. Ok I will be there. I call the DHL office in Rochester and ask them if they are aware that I will be picking up a package containing 4 live sea horses at their facility in the morning. Yes they are aware and they will hold it there for me. Ok, I think all will be ok if I get there to get them early. Hmmm wonder if they will survive the 2 days in the box? I'm frantic at this point because I'm afraid they are going to die in that box.

Saturday morning 5 am. I call the the DHL facility in Rochester to tell them i am on my way and to verify that the package is there.

NO.........IT WENT TO OHIO !!!!!!!!!!!!!


What the #@*! ????? Sorry, our mistake they say. But.....they have good news (ya sure) it is on a plane on its way back and it should be back in Rochester, MN by 9am. GRRRRRRRR GRRRRRR GRRRRRRR

I'm out of patience and thinking not nice thoughts, lots of not nice thoughts.

We leave for Rochester, MN and hope they are there when we get there. The entire way I'm thinking they will all be dead since they were not packaged for this long of a trip. They only had a 24 hr. heat pack and limited oxygen. Not to mention they haven't eaten in 3 days. Water is going to be nasty. They have been routed and rerouted in unheated cargo planes and who knows how much they were bounced around. (the box was marked live Fish, not sure if that helps any)

9am Saturday DHL facility Rochester, MN. The package is there. I want to open the package to see if they are alive. A DHL employee says I can't open it in the building for security reasons. Bull sh*t. If they are dead, I want them to see it for insurance purposes. Ok, he agrees. (not like I was giving him a choice. I was opening them anyways) I can't do it. I'm so afraid they will be dead. How could they not be? My husband opens the box for me and I look away fearing the worst. Silence........"honey, you might want to look at this" Crap. He slowly lifts out 4 bags one at a time.

THEY ARE ALIVE BUT NOT WELL.

All 4 are laying on the bottoms of the bags, not holding onto the macro hitches in the bag. We get them out to the car and i open every bag to let in fresh Oxygen. The water is like ice and they stink bad. It was a very sninky trip home since we rolled up the windows and cranked the heat in the car to try to warm them up.

Did you ever see someone pray for sea horses? I was praying all the way home. We made it with all 4 still alive. I dipped them all in fresh water and then treated them to a meth blue soak. I then acclimated them to the QT tank that they will spend the next month or so in.

All 4 were tiny!! I'm glad I had Hakari mysis on hand. There is no way they could have eaten the P.E. Mysis. Even the hakari, as tiny as they are, seemed large for the smallest one. They ate like pigs Saturday afternoon.

I'm worried about the 2 smallest ones, I don't think they will make it. One of the larger ones has an infection and the largest one is hiding in the back of the tank.

I will keep you up to date on them.

Maybe I'm just not supposed to have sea horses????? Then again, maybe I just have bad luck.

Angie

[JustDavidP]

Angie...

One of the fish was delivered with an infection? I'm sorry to hear that. I'm guessing that an infection doesn't just "show up" within a few days. For it to be a noteable infection, it may have already been in process before shipping. Can't say for sure... but it may be true.

Why are you worried about the smaller fish? I've found, with my H. Reidi, that the juveniles are MUCH tougher than the adults. I've pulled them out of overflows, filters etc. and they bounce back. The adults are not as resiliant. Is there something about the smaller ones that makes you think they will die?

The larger one, hiding in back, is just doing what he does. When it becomes more comforatble with its new surroundings, it will show itself more.

Dave

[mutts]

angie... OMG girl! i hope everything works out... that really sucks. make sure you keep us posted on their recovery!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

The 2 smaller ones seem to have the same mystery white patches as my 2 original ponies. "loss of pigmentation". I have never seen such tiny horses in person before. 1 1/2 inches is the smallest and that includes the tail. I named her thumbalina. (if infact it's a female, lol.) They all look like females right now.

(I ordered from this vendor because I was told that is where my original 2 sea horses came from. I have read that it's not a good idea to mix horses from different vendors)

[JustDavidP]

They will all look female until they mature sexually. Can you get pictures of these mysterious "white patches". I'm concerned.

D

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I don't have a digi cam right now. My husband took it in the semi to California with him. I have pics of my older horses withthe same patches. Do you want them?

Thanks David

[JustDavidP]

Yes...if you could post them, I'd like to see them. My herd does change colors from time to time, but it is more of a conformed color change. I've not seen them leave "Spots". Unless you are referring to the "encrusting" look that some Reidi get. This is where they get salt and pepper colored bands or spots like the ones I've pointed out in the picture below.



Otherwise, if it bacterial, formalin dosing may be in order.

Dave

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

The white spot is on the stomach.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I've seen the spots both large and small. They sometimes have more than one. It would be easier if they wouldn't change size, shape, and location all of the time. The female isn't as skinny so I'm thinking they are completly better as they act happy back in the main tank.

On another note. The 4 juvi sea horses no longer have the spots. The "poop" is well formed and they are eating like pigs today. They are the most active seahorses I have ever seen. Especially the smallest. Fot its size, it sure gets where it wants to go in a hurry.
How long do you think I should keep them in the QT tank? I just thought I'd get some expert advise. There doesn't seem to be a hard fast rule about how long to keep them there. I have read anywhere from 2 weeks to a month or more. Thanks DavidP.

Since I now work part time at a LFS, I can't wait to go to work. The owner called me yesterday and told me she got 6 erectus in, so I'm going to check them out at work tonight. (probably redo the tank and take them offline from the rest of the tanks if she didn't do that already. gave her a short list of do's and don'ts when she said she was going to order them. Hopefully they will be healthy. I told her not to sell any for atleast 2 weeks. Just take names and numbers and I would call the perspective buyers and make sure they atleast understand the basics and can properly care for them. I feel like I'm on a personal quest to save all of the sea horses I can. My new obsession I guess.

Angie

[JustDavidP]

Keep them in the QT for at least two weeks. Longer if the mystery white spots are still there. Watch them for bacterial infections.

I photoshopped that picture... seems like it should be okay. The spots are not raised, or otherwise disfigured. It is, as you said, as if it is just pigment loss there. Maybe they are just coloring up...and doing so in patches? Dunno... but it doesn't look fungal to me.

D