Seahorse death

hanging upside down

My favorite seahorse died.  The tank was infected with a bacteria that they couldn't fight off.  I lost 3 of my 4 to it.  First was "Fry" (named for Phillip J. Fry on Futurama), his mouth was horribly affected.  He had these little white bumps forming around it until he couldn't close his "lips" anymore. he couldn't eat. Then Simon died.  Simon went through what we call a hunger strike a few weeks ago.  he just stopped eating for no apparent reason.  All of our seahorses have done this.  He became quite emaciated; his sides were sunk in.  Then he started eating again, but hadn't gotten up to full strength before he got sick. I only had a little hope for him.  I had high hopes for Bailey, though.  She was my special project, born small, slow growing, never got up to full adult size. I had to take prodigiously attentive care of her.  I was very excited when we put her in the big tank from the nursery tank a few months ago.  She even grew larger in there. A couple days ago, I

showing off her ability to change colors

 couldn't find her.  My husband finally did, hiding behind our rocks.  When she was still there the next day I made him poke at her to see if she'd even move but she didn't.  She'd been dead for a while. This saddens me.  I named her after my friend's daughter, Bailey.  She is very interested in sea life and loved seeing my pictures of the tank. Now I'm down to Malcolm.  He's doing much better, physically.  His blisters are shrinking, and he can swim upright without much effort.  Unfortunately, he had bonded to Bailey and is now depressed.  They hadn't mated yet since they were both sick, but I had hopes that they would. He was eating a little, but not much.  Now he's not eating at all again.  He hasn't moved either.  He's hooked up to one of our rocks and just stays

hanging out with her big brother

there, head down. His food falls right in front of his face and he doesn't even look at it.  Hopefully he snaps out of it soon or we start from scratch.

got herself stuck head first in the rock