Mandarin Help

rdnyva · 05/14/2007, 07:25 AM

I have a nice fat, happy female Mandarin. On Friday I bought a male to put in my 180 with her. Friday night everything was fine, they were swimming around together and looked good. Saturday everything was fine. Saturday night I noticed sand was loosely sticking to him, almost like his slime coat was coming off and sticking sand to it. On Sunday he just stayed in one corner and would not move, I knew something was wrong but didn't know what to do. By Sunday night he was dead. What happened?

frederickk · 05/14/2007, 03:45 PM

Bump

kfowler · 05/14/2007, 04:37 PM

Sound to me like you just got a bad fish. Was he thin when you bought him. This is often the case. How did you acclimate. Mandarins are pretty hardy fish.

rdnyva · 05/15/2007, 06:37 AM

Ya know Kfowler, I went back to the LFS yesterday and they said the same thing. I asked a million questions on why this would happen and all they could say was you must've gotten a bad fish. And they were gracious enough to replace him.

Both of the males are/were very large and in good shape. Probably need a little fattening up due to their shipping ordeal, but definitely not skinny. The second male is doing fine as of this morning, but so was the first, in fact he was OK for the first 2 days. That's why this is so puzzling.

I acclimated in a specimen container floating in the tank. Poured LFS water into about 1/4 of the container. Added a dixie cup of tank water every 10-15 minutes. I emptied the container and did this twice, it took about 2 hours. Netted the mandarin and placed in tank, discarded lfs water. Thanks for the advice.

650-IS350 · 05/15/2007, 09:06 AM

A lot of times most mandarins that you get from LFS are already starving.... its not like they are in huge tanks with tons of liverock for them to feed on... they are usually in small holding tanks or community tanks... since they're slow feeders, they usually get outcompeted....

Unless you get one that is taught to feed prepared foods... I've got mine trained to eat sinking pellets and cyclopeeze granuals...

tkeracer619 · 05/15/2007, 09:20 AM

Nice LFS. Though I think your meathod of acclimation is requiring too much effort on your part and not gentle enough on the fish.

Use the drip method, or atleast take it down to a shot glass of water each time. Though dripping is set it and forget it untill its time to put the fish in. It is also less stress on the fish due to the constant drip rate. Anyways I doubt the water was that far off to make a difference, just thought I would recomend something a little less time consuming.

rdnyva · 05/15/2007, 09:56 AM

Yeah I usually do the drip method but I didn't have any replacement water mixed, plus I know Mandarins are hardy fish so Ijust did it this way.

How do you teach them to eat prepared foods? I don't think I need to do this since my tank is literally crawling with "bugs" after lights out.

Yes very good customer service at this LFS. A small mom and pop shop (actually father and daughter) and very nice people.

Thanks for all your help.

650-IS350 · 05/15/2007, 04:47 PM

you can do that by doing this..

http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

or like me, I usually turnoff ALL pumps , feed all the other fish first so that they don't bother the mandarin while eating... drop sinking cyclopeeze granuals... he tasted a couple... then finally like it then I feed him the same place constantly... then experiment with other foods with the cyclopeeze.... now he loves eating sinking pellets...

05/14/2007, 07:25 AM	#1
rdnyva Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Central Florida Posts: 1,106	Mandarin Help I have a nice fat, happy female Mandarin. On Friday I bought a male to put in my 180 with her. Friday night everything was fine, they were swimming around together and looked good. Saturday everything was fine. Saturday night I noticed sand was loosely sticking to him, almost like his slime coat was coming off and sticking sand to it. On Sunday he just stayed in one corner and would not move, I knew something was wrong but didn't know what to do. By Sunday night he was dead. What happened? __________________ 150 gal mixed reef Apex Lite 2 - MP40 QD Vertex Omega 180i Skimmer ReefBreeders Photon 50 V2

05/14/2007, 04:37 PM	#3
kfowler Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,095	Sound to me like you just got a bad fish. Was he thin when you bought him. This is often the case. How did you acclimate. Mandarins are pretty hardy fish. __________________ Kevin "You cannot achieve what you are not willing to pursue." Current Tank Info: 20g Mixed Reef

05/15/2007, 06:37 AM	#4
rdnyva Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Central Florida Posts: 1,106	Ya know Kfowler, I went back to the LFS yesterday and they said the same thing. I asked a million questions on why this would happen and all they could say was you must've gotten a bad fish. And they were gracious enough to replace him. Both of the males are/were very large and in good shape. Probably need a little fattening up due to their shipping ordeal, but definitely not skinny. The second male is doing fine as of this morning, but so was the first, in fact he was OK for the first 2 days. That's why this is so puzzling. I acclimated in a specimen container floating in the tank. Poured LFS water into about 1/4 of the container. Added a dixie cup of tank water every 10-15 minutes. I emptied the container and did this twice, it took about 2 hours. Netted the mandarin and placed in tank, discarded lfs water. Thanks for the advice. __________________ 150 gal mixed reef Apex Lite 2 - MP40 QD Vertex Omega 180i Skimmer ReefBreeders Photon 50 V2

05/15/2007, 09:06 AM	#5
650-IS350 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 14,555	A lot of times most mandarins that you get from LFS are already starving.... its not like they are in huge tanks with tons of liverock for them to feed on... they are usually in small holding tanks or community tanks... since they're slow feeders, they usually get outcompeted.... Unless you get one that is taught to feed prepared foods... I've got mine trained to eat sinking pellets and cyclopeeze granuals... __________________ * RETIRED FROM REEFING * Just enjoying the box of water from afar

05/15/2007, 09:20 AM	#6
tkeracer619 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Westminster, CO Posts: 17,289	Nice LFS. Though I think your meathod of acclimation is requiring too much effort on your part and not gentle enough on the fish. Use the drip method, or atleast take it down to a shot glass of water each time. Though dripping is set it and forget it untill its time to put the fish in. It is also less stress on the fish due to the constant drip rate. Anyways I doubt the water was that far off to make a difference, just thought I would recomend something a little less time consuming. __________________ Hobby Experience: 9200ish gallons, 26 skimmers, and a handful of Kent Scrapers. Current Tank: Vortech Powered 600G SPS Tank w/ 100gal frag tank & 100g Sump. RK2-RK10 Skimmer. ReefAngel. Radium 20k.

05/14/2007, 03:45 PM	#2
frederickk Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,712	Bump

05/15/2007, 09:56 AM	#7
rdnyva Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Central Florida Posts: 1,106	Yeah I usually do the drip method but I didn't have any replacement water mixed, plus I know Mandarins are hardy fish so Ijust did it this way. How do you teach them to eat prepared foods? I don't think I need to do this since my tank is literally crawling with "bugs" after lights out. Yes very good customer service at this LFS. A small mom and pop shop (actually father and daughter) and very nice people. Thanks for all your help. __________________ 150 gal mixed reef Apex Lite 2 - MP40 QD Vertex Omega 180i Skimmer ReefBreeders Photon 50 V2

05/15/2007, 04:47 PM	#8
650-IS350 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 14,555	you can do that by doing this.. http://melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html or like me, I usually turnoff ALL pumps , feed all the other fish first so that they don't bother the mandarin while eating... drop sinking cyclopeeze granuals... he tasted a couple... then finally like it then I feed him the same place constantly... then experiment with other foods with the cyclopeeze.... now he loves eating sinking pellets... __________________ * RETIRED FROM REEFING * Just enjoying the box of water from afar