Preggo or faking it?

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

oooooh He's still preggo lookin' !! If he's not really preggers, this is the longest he has gone without deflating his pouch. He HAS to be preggers. He's not even courting his woman anymore. He's always hiding behind the big macro bush. For a guy that had no problem strutting his stuff, he's sure shy about it now. 10 more days and I will know for sure. He's already in another tank....they all are while I replace the leaking 75g with a new one. He's in a 20g High. I ordered him some extra special live shrimp (1/4-1/2 in.). Gotta keep the daddy well fed.
This is crazy. Every morning first thing, I check to see if he is still fat. Every feeding, and every night before bed I do the same.
Let's see......if he's due the 19th and I check him 5 times a day, only approx. 51 more checks before I know if he was faking it or not. YUP, I'm nuts. But I'm ready. I have the 10g tanks scrubbed and ready along with the kreisels. Air pumps checked, mega e-z eggs, brine shrimp hatchers ready. 32g RODI water made and airrating. Fry log set up in the computer. I don't know what I'm gonna do with all of them, but it will be fun getting there.

Angie

[seahorsedreams]

The horses that were exposed to the myco boys had fry after the boys were long gone. I sent the dead fry off to Marty at different stages. No myco. BUT... you can never be sure. I wouldn't give or sell the fry to anyone. But not to push my ideals on anyone else. But you wouldn't want to hand the situation you are in to another horse lover.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

No !!!!!! I would never want anyone to go thru all that I have. It's heart breaking. What am I to do with all of the babies then? I'm thinking I'm going to have to set up 2 smaller tanks then.One for the boys and one for the girls. I will order new seahorses from either Draco Marine or seahorsesource for my "breeders" On Monday. I will order 2 unrelated pairs.
Good thing I'm setting up the new 75G on Friday. I will not reuse anything from the old leaky 75 that had the myco exposed seahorses in it. I will use that stuff in the 2 tanks I will set up for the myco exposed boys and girls. I have to seperate them because I know I won't beable to destroy all of the babies. Sadly It's the only responsible thing to do.

Thanks,
Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Anyone have any xtra macros since I can't use any that I have in the new tank? I have razor caulerpa in the sump of my 65. (No seahorses in there) There goes all my nice macros I just bought, damb this is gonna be expensive.

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I sent a message to Marty about the chances of my seahorses having myco. At the time the male myco seahorse got ill there was only 1 female seahorse with him. He was moved to the QT tank About aug. 1st. The female was left in the 47G tank alone. The 2nd pair of seahorses that I had in a different QT tank were added to the 47g with the female about aug. 7th. (before I was aware of the myco) The sick male was never with them, and the female never had any skin or tail leasions. The pair that was added never had any skin or tail lesions either. This was all in the beginning of August. It is now November and still no sign of skin or tail lesions in any of the seahorses. No deaths and no illnesses. No mystery spots or discolorations. I do not think myco is a factor here, since I have 4 seahorses that have never shown any signs of it. It has been over 3 months. But I will still keep the newest pair I just bought seperate from them. Marty said that if the others had myco, they would eventually have the skin and / or tail lesions. Since Myco can be cultured from live animals, I will have it done to be 100% sure. I will have 4 seperate cultures done. 1 asap on the female that was with the sick male before he got sick. In 3 months I will have her tested again. I will have the now preg. male tested. I will also have a few of his babies tested. If all are negative for myco, I will be able to raise the babies. I called a friend of mine who works in the pathology lab to see if he can do the cultures for me. He is going to ask his boss on Monday. If he can not do it, I will send the seahorses out fedex to another lab.

Angie

[seahorsedreams]

Angie, I have big concerns over this. Do you plan on selling these horses?

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

If all of the cultures come back negative, yes I do. If even one of them comes back positive, no I will not. They will be euthanized. I understand your concerns, and I am doing everything I can to ensure none of them have myco before I do. I will be spending hundreds of dollars for the cultures to be done. It is $65.00 per culture plus overnight shipping there and back. about 160.00 each horse.) That is a lot more than most people do before selling their fry. I cannot believe that every breeder that has a seahorse die in their tank had it tested to make sure it wasn't myco before selling fry that came from parents that were exposed to the one that died. I do believe I am being responsible and taking all possible precautions. More then most people.
IF I do sell any of them I will let them know about the possible myco exposure and I will also let them know that I had the parents tested.

I understand you are concerned, I knew you would be. You assume that all of my seahorses (except the new pair that is separate) have myco. That is not a fair assumption and it also makes it look to others that I am not being responsible breeder by wanting to sell fry from horses that were never ill or exposed to the 1 that was. We don't even know if he had myco when he was with the other seahorse. It could have developed later in the QT tank. It costs $$ to buy them and raise the fry. It is not a crime to want to get the costs back. The real question I have now is.... even if all are negative; will anyone want them after all of this? Probably not. If you have any other ideas I’d be glad to hear them. I cannot see killing thousands of babies that are not sick, from parents who are also not sick.

Again, If myco is present....all will be euthanized.

Angie

[seahorsedreams]

I'll butt out now.......

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Don't do that. I wasn't trying to sound rude or anything.. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do now? (The 30- 5 week old fry are not from my horses, I rescued the fry from the lfs so I know they are ok.)

I have over $1000 dollars invested in my seahorses and all of the tanks, stands, fry tanks, kreisels, plants, sand, E-z eggs, hatchers, cultures, pumps, feeds, etc. with the intent of breeding them and selling the fry. That is why I got h. Erectus. To breed, raise them, and sell them. I never said I didn't want your opinion. I do believe I asked for it actually. The "all of this" I was referring to was the fact that I did have a horse with myco that I would have to explain to "potential buyers". I do not sugar coat anything and I post the good and the bad. If I wanted to hide the fact that I had an infected horse I would not have posted it here. I also believe I stated in the 2nd to last sentence that if you had any more ideas I'd like to hear them. I didn't ask you to "butt out", lol.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, (besides have them all tested.) Just euthanize the 4 of them for an illness they may not have? Discard everthing they may have come in contact with and take the losses? I can't afford to do that. Most people can't unless they have a way to recover the costs. If I euthanize all of them and toss everything out, I have no way to recover the losses.

Angie

[seahorsedreams]

Angie, I don't know what to say. I don't agree but I'm not trying to tell you what to do. Money, space, time, effort, blood, sweat and tears doesn't change the base facts for me.... it's why I have a lone erectus sitting in a tank. Remember I faced the same thing. I never like to send people off a site where a discussion is taking place but Tim, who is also breeding at the moment... AND selling on the Org, went through the same thing you and I have. Contact him and see what he has to say.

The skin culture that you speak of is not 100% accurate. I sent off a CHUNK of an actual lesion and it didn't show anything. Then when I put my horses down they were absolutely loaded with it internally.

I never said to euthanize everything or anything for that matter. I did not euthanize mine or the fry. I'm enjoying them as any hobbyist would. You are putting words in my mouth all over the place. I know you are probably feeling very sensitive about the matter at the moment so I thought it best if I bowed out of the discussion. I've been directly involved in seahorse diseases for a nice while now.... I know how these talks can sometimes go once they start down a certain pathway.

I'm not insensitive to your plight. You have a lot of hard decisions to make. But the opinions I have formed is from all the exposure I have had in this area.

I wish the the best in whatever road you choose.