Mandarin sluggish and not eating, Help!

[Vagabond]

As the title says, my Mandarin, as of two days ago, has become very sluggish and isn't eating.

Normally he is very active; constantly hunting for pods in the LR, always racing to be front and center when anybody approaches the tank, and eating mysis voraciously when I feed.

For the past couple of days he has been hanging around the back of the tank on the sand bed, not venturing very far, and has no interest in eating.

His color is still good, he does not appear to be having any respiratory problems, fins and gills all look fine.

I have not added any other tank mates and my clowns and firefish are doing great. All of my corals are very happy as well as all inverts.

Water parameters as of today and after a 15% water change yesterday are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates <1
PH 8.1
S.G. 1.025
Temp 79-81

I am about ready to feed the little guy some prozac!

Any ideas out there or something I may be not testing for, or seeing please fire away with questions.


I do have 2 BTA's in the tank Is it possible he got into it with one of them?They have never bothered each other before.

[danny zubot]

How's his stomach looking? Sunkin or plump? I think the anemone theory is valid, it could also be a bristle worm sting.

[Vagabond]

Danny - He is still nice and plump, however this is going on the 4th day of this behavior and I am quite concerned for my favorite fish .

If the little guy was stung by the anemone anybody have an idea how long it might take for him to recover?

As of today his colouring is still excellent and he is alert but just doesn't move around much and still won't eat. Perhaps I will soak his mysis in garlic to see if that will entice him to start eating again.

Any other ideas to help him recover are welcomed.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Do you have cyclopeeze? Mine like that stuff alot.

Anthony

[Vagabond]

Anthony - I feed cyclopeeze and its like "fish crack" to everyone in the tank, except for the mandarin, he's never even looked twice at it.

[OCDP]

Hahaha it really is like crack for fish.

Your mandarin might not be interested in it because he can't get at it.. mandarins will eat what is underneath their face, and I am not sure if a mandarin would swim to the top of the tank to get soem cyclopeeze.

Try this.. ( i have NO idea if it will work ) i seen it on RC somewhere.
Get an empty container of jam, put pellets, frozen foods (whatever he eats...) and set it on the bottom of the tank (assuming none of your other fish are big enough to get in the jar) ... hopefully the food will stay in the jar, thast why pellets work best (try what you can it wont hurt anything)

The objective is to setup a "diner" for the Mandarin, allowing him to enter the jar and eat without having to compete for food. Just make sure your mandarin notices the jar ....

I honestly don't know if it will work..... just trying to help

Good luck

*edit* doesn't HAVE to be a jam jar... just some type of jar with a small opening , or big enough for the mandarin to get through, and to keep out any other fish (assuming your tankmates are biggers)

[EmilyB]

Maybe he's lonely....

You using the PE mysis?

I have some homemade you could try, my mandarins are nuts for that stuff.

[forde_11]

Here is the article that descrides that way of feeding if it is an issue of him not being able to eat, check it out http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...nftt/index.htm I hope he recovers for you.

[OCDP]

well then. that would have been easier

[Bob I]

I honestly don't know if a lot is known about Mandarin feeding habits, but I know mine has been around for far more than one year. I pay very little attention to him, but I know he likes mysis. He roams around the tank doing his thing. Aside from that I can offer little advice.