It never ends......

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Thank you sweetpea. I was talking to Susan today before I did the wc and he didn't look like he was any better. No worse either. Then after the wc I really looked and I was suprised to see the improvements. If he didn't show signs of improvement I was going to biopsy the "bubble" and send it out for a pathology study. It's always nice to know "what" your fighting. Knowing the "what" sure helps with the "how" to treat.

Once he's better I can start my next project. That's a secret for now, but I will share when I get it completed. More madness, but fun for sure.

Angie

[Sweetpea]

You're quite welcome, Angie. I think I told you once before that I have followed your pony posts and have been rooting for you for a while now. You are a seriously dedicated mommy!

What's the secret? HMMM??? You know you can't post a teaser like that and not deliver promptly, right?

[mutts]

we all follow your posts and root for you. i know i feel your pain when something like this happens, i have to agree with tracy you are a very dedicated mommy!!!

and you have a secret?????????????????? your going to drive us all crazy with that angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I have posted the secret in it's own thread, lol. I'm hopeing to start it soon. It all depends on when my husband can get some time off of work to build it. The thread is in this forum. He may make me wait till after Christmas, but I will use kind words and if that doesn't work I will beg. If that doesn't work I will whine. If that doesn't work I will have to get nasty, lol. As a last resort I will hire someone to build it and it will get done anyways, lol. I always get my way.....in the end.

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I finished the triple sulfa and neomycin. I did the complete 10 day treatment with no cure. I then treated with furan 2 for a few days and it didn't show any signs of improvement. It was suggested that I try to get some baytril. I called 23 vet offices to get the baytril, but none of them would perscribe it for me. "we don't treat seahorses" was the general reply. I was getting fed up and discouraged so I finally called the university of Wisconsin vet dept. It took some lengthy phone calls and a few emails but they did agree to perscribe the baytril for me. The only problem there was they would only give me enough to treat orally. Because of the bubble / sore on the seahorses's snout, he has a hard time eating anything but tiny P. Vulgaris. They are not big enough to inject the baytril into.

On to plan b.... I decided to call a large animal vet up the road from me. (baytril is used in cattle as well) She does a lot of VERY low cost work in our area. I called her and explained the situation. 10 min later I had 19ccs of baytril in my hands.

Yeah!!!! The elusive baytril is obtainable!!!

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I got the baytril yesterday but I couldn't use it since I had already treated with other meds that day. It would have to wait untill today. I did a 100% water change and washed out the tank. Here is the dosage of baytril for a 10G hospital tank.

NOTE: Baytril is 100mg per CC. This is not the same for all meds. Densities are different for different meds. Remember to ask before treating with other meds.

Baytril is a 5 day treatment


Standard treatment is 38mg per gallon
38mg x 10 gallons = 380mg for a 10G hospital tank
since there are 100mg of baytril in 1 cc I needed to use 3.8 cc's of baytril in the tank.

On days 2-5 I will be doing 50% water changes daily. (adding back the 190mg (1.9cc) I remove with the water change)

I will let everyone know how it goes. As of the end of today the redness around the sore on the chest is almost gone. There is NO change in the bubble on the snout.

Angie

[mutts]

wow, nice job traking down the meds... i hope they work for you

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I'm on day 2 of the baytril. So far so good. The red sore on the chest is slowly shrinking. I'm still worried about the bubble on the snout. It's still there and as big as it was in the beginning. I'm going to try to feel it in the morning to see if it is soft or if it is a hard mass. I don't want to break it, so I will try to be careful.

Angie

[Reef_Angel]

I'll be curious to find out what more happens with that snout! I would be nice to have a Seahorse doctor right between our two homes, wouldn't it? I'm glad to hear that your big guy is doing better for you! Let's hope he stays on that course and then it goes to work on his nose to. Does he have any trouble snicking his food? That's one heck of a pimple! He must be a teenager huh? If it could only be that simple.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I'm leaning to a biopsy. I'm just a little squeemish about hacking the bubble / growth off the side of his snout. If I can get up enough courage to do it, I can send it immersed in Alcohol to a lab. It is possible it is Glugea heraldi. If that is in fact what it is, sadly there is no cure and it is deadly. If that is the case, I will put him to sleep. He has put up a good fight and I don't want him to suffer. Hopefully the biopsy will be good news. Now I just have to be able to cut it off, hmmm that may take me a day or two to work up the courage. I may wait a little while longer. If it starts to look like there is no other option, I will do it. I need to pick up some batadine to treat the open wound the biopsy would create first.

It is effecting his ability to eat. I am now feeding him live mysis because he can't snick the live feeder shrimp.

Angie