I hear you, tecwzrd. I've never fw dipped any fish because it just logically seems too stressful. I think the point behind it is that seahorses do not have a stomach and therefore have to eat preferably a couple times a day. They're basically a living funnel. Starvation happens relatively quickly. So, if a horse stops eating, we're talking a matter of a couple days to remedy the problem. So, low salinity QT and treatment may be too lengthy of a process. FW dips can kill bacteria extremely quickly and in some cases horses seem to snap back to eating the same day as the treatment. The need to get them to begin feeding again quickly, as apposed to a fish which may last a lot longer without food, I guess is why dipping is so prevalent in seahorse keeping. It's just that the alternatives (tube feeding) are even more stressful.
But, I've clearly taken this thread off topic (as I usually do).