Mandarin dragonet not moving-stopped eating and swimming had for8 months

[Travler83]

Have a mandarin dragonet frozen trained. Aggressive. Will push hermits and shrimp away and eat frozen. Last two days doesn't swim nor eat.

 

May have been stung by anemone.

 

Any advice?

 

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Quarantine....?

[Travler83]

Nothing is bothering him though. Its a step I would do if he was being preyed upon. Nothing will go near him.

 

He rules this tank.

 

 

Quarantine....?

[BLoCkCliMbeR]

http://www.plaquemaker.com/Headstone/?gcli...CFQjc4AodIWu1Ow

[Squared]

how often and what were you feeding him

 

fuge or pod clutures?

 

how big is the tank

 

looks starved

[Travler83]

Looks starved with a rounded body? Seems you have body issues.

 

how often and what were you feeding him

 

fuge or pod clutures?

 

how big is the tank

 

looks starved

[StevieT]

observe for a few more days. 2 days of not eating doesn't tell you much

[broxxor]

Is it eating stuff other than pods (i.e. do you have it trained to eat prepared foods)?

 

How big is the tank? What kind of pod production do you got going in it?

[Travler83]

I feed twice a day frozen. I always see pods so i feel I have a good population. As well in my refuge.

She is very aggressive when frozen is placed in and eats very well every feeding.

 

Her main diet is frozen pc mysis.

 

Is it eating stuff other than pods (i.e. do you have it trained to eat prepared foods)?

 

How big is the tank? What kind of pod production do you got going in it?

 

 

Steve do you think I should QT her? At the moment nothing is bothering her. So I feel I should leave her in the tank. Which is a 29G Biocube.

 

Perhaps I should QT and add a med? And if so which med?

 

observe for a few more days. 2 days of not eating doesn't tell you much

[Travler83]

I think he was stung by mt RBTA.

 

Possible ? Not moving alot. But slow breathing, random swims. I dont see any disease, bacteria, parasite...

[JaneG]

I would guess that it got stung before I would think it's diseased. Mandarins have a thick slime coating and very rarely get diseased at all - I hope yours makes it out ok! I would leave her there for a while before doing anything.

[Travler83]

I would guess that it got stung before I would think it's diseased. Mandarins have a thick slime coating and very rarely get diseased at all - I hope yours makes it out ok! I would leave her there for a while before doing anything.

 

 

Ok. She seems to be improving. She trys to swim which makes me believe she was stung.

 

Which goes with the logic of your opinion..

 

Thanks for your advice.

[fishez4alivin]

how often and what were you feeding him

 

fuge or pod clutures?

 

how big is the tank

 

looks starved

+1

 

That Mandarin looks like it's starving. I've owned a Mandarin for years and it's body doesn't appear to be as "sucked in" as yours does. Mine grazes all day in a 110 Gallon tank that's been running for a couple of years, along with the fact he eats pellets 4 times a day when I feed my other fish. I'm thinking the BC29 isn't producing enough pods to sustain your fish, and you can't feed enough mysis without creating algae issues. Maybe try pellets, more bang for your buck nutrition-wise. Doubt the fish got stung and got away......damn looked at your tank thread and see you have two mandarins in a lil cube.

[JaneG]

I've seen MUCH worse - besides, the picture isn't good enough quality to show us if it really is or not. If the person has owned it for more than 8 months, I doubt it's starving. Mandarins also have a thick slime coat, which I would assume could help it guard against a sting - which could still hurt it but not kill it.

 

Additionally, if pellets are better nutrition wise, I would assume that this would cause worse algae problems, as algae grows with excess nutrients...assuming you properly rinse off the frozen food

[pheonixsoul25]

I've seen MUCH worse - besides, the picture isn't good enough quality to show us if it really is or not...

 

Additionally, if pellets are better nutrition wise, I would assume that this would cause worse algae problems, as algae grows with excess nutrients...assuming you properly rinse off the frozen food

+ 1

[peasofme]

i'd get rid of the anemone. a trained mandarin is hard to come by.

[njasmin]

Sorry to wake up an old thread. I just acquired a mandarin a few days ago. He doesn't seem to be swimming around exploring much. There are a lot of pods in the system and he is nice and fat. In everyone's experience, is he just adjusting to his new home? Just throwing out more info, my LFS sells alagen pods/rotifers and phyto so i could always add more. I'm just wondering if maybe they just aren't known to swim around very much. I had a scooter blenny a while back and he was all over the place...always.

[metrokat]

Have a mandarin dragonet frozen trained. Aggressive. Will push hermits and shrimp away and eat frozen. Last two days doesn't swim nor eat.

 

May have been stung by anemone.

 

Any advice?

 

 

Bella, my female Mandy goes into a coma for no reason. Starts to hide, doesn't eat, doesn't swim about. She's a healthy little fish that eats everything and is very active. I'm not sure why she decides to scare me with this drama but she's done it twice in the year I've had her. I thought it might be stomach related as in maybe she ate a small bristle worm or something that she shouldn't have and didn't agree with her. She takes a full 7-10 days to come back around to being normal. Silly fish.

 

 

Doh. Old thread.

 

 

 

 

Sorry to wake up an old thread. I just acquired a mandarin a few days ago. He doesn't seem to be swimming around exploring much. There are a lot of pods in the system and he is nice and fat. In everyone's experience, is he just adjusting to his new home? Just throwing out more info, my LFS sells alagen pods/rotifers and phyto so i could always add more. I'm just wondering if maybe they just aren't known to swim around very much. I had a scooter blenny a while back and he was all over the place...always.

 

 

Was he eating at the store?

[njasmin]

Was he eating at the store?

 

Yea, i saw him eating at the store. He was with 2 others. all of them weren't really actively swimming around too much but they were scurrying the rock searching for pods and such. I don't really care to 'train' him to eat frozen foods, I can keep him well fed on pods. I was just wondering if this is normal behavior or if maybe its just a little shy. Only time will tell I guess

[Travler83]

They are a tough fish. I hand fed 2 of them in my time with the hobby for them both to expire within a year.

 

A friend of mine with a larger 200+ tank has had one for years but doesn't maintain the tank all that much.

[BulkRate]

Congrats on a fine bit of thread necromancy!

 

It can take awhile for them to settle in post-addition. Activity level & lighting in the room the tank is in can keep them spooked for several weeks - so long as they have a quiet, dark & cavern-like section of the tank to retreat to most will eventually adjust. The little female mandarin in my tank was added in early December 2013, didn't routinely see her until early March 2014 outside of feeding times. Nowadays she's hopping around all over the place.

 

IMO it's a good idea to train your mandarins onto prepared foods of some sort even if you've got a big 'ole honking bathtub of a tank to house them in. Pod populations can boom & bust all on their own, and these fish benefit from a varied a diet as you can get them to accept. My tank's too small to count on foraging alone to keep mine hale & hearty... I dose pods in every 3-4 weeks and have a couple of passive 2-liter bottle cultures breeding up to harvest-able levels.