I know the care requirements they need, as it is my wife's favorite fish, i've put a lot of thought into what will need to be done. My question though is, i've already dealt with one ich outbreak, should i put the dragonette directly into the d/t or my other plan was to put my 20g into use, put a pile of rubble rock and some chaeto into it, and see it with pods first, and put him in there for a week or two to watch him and try to ween him onto prepared foods. Has anyone had any problems with diseases/parasites after adding a mandarin directly to the d/t? What would be the best route to take here?
mandarin, directly into d/t or q/t for a while?
- Thread starter Art13
- Start date
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
Personally I would do this. Be prepared to add extra pods if needed though.
Lots of people advise against quarantining dragonette's but I would personally not take the risk. The chances of ICH are reduced because of a thick slime coating but this doesn't rule out the fact it may be carrying ICH or any other infections/parasites/whatever.
Also, much easier to get fish eating prepared food in a QT than a DT IME.
Thats the way i'm leaning, with the link provided, it looks like its a toss up but more times than not there isn't a parasite present, but still a chance like everything else. I'll have to do a bit of research into who i get him from as well. Those bumps on the head of the mandarine in the other link though don't look like ich to me, i could be wrong, it just looks different. Anyone have a confirmed case of ich from or on a mandarine?
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
yeah those bumps are a strange one. they don't look like ich i've seen, but i don't know how different fish may alter the presentation, since i've never seen it on a mandarin either in person or photograph.
Neptune 555
New member
Share your experiences either way of what you do w/ your mandarin. He is also my absolute favourite fish and am planning on adding one in the next few months.
Neptune
Neptune
My thoughts exactly, did you drop him right in? and if any issues came about from this.
ReeferBill
New member
I read a thread yesterday about feeding Mandy's with live white worms instead of red worms that die in saltwater. The white ones stay alive in the saltwater and they love them. He also said you can order them online and breed in a plastic shoebox plus they eat instant mashed potatoes. Now that's awesome news for all these Mandy owners.
mkoop
New member
I read that as well. Paul B is on the cutting edge of Mandarin keeping :thumbsup:
I ordered some white worms already, my new girl while feasting on pods hasn't taken to the pe mysis at all yet, and I'd like to get her some supplemental as I can't stand to see the spine line for the next month until she fattens up on pods a bit.
Just to reiterate my comments from the other thread, I have not, nor do I plan to with any replacements I may need in the future, QT a mandarin.
This is a risk I am willing to take based soley on my experiences and I can't advocate anyone else do one or the other.
edit:
I have drip acclimated both of my mandarins. I purchased them both locally at a reputable shop who unfortunately (as do most LFS) keep their salinity a bit lower in order to save costs. I've only experienced two vendors who keep their salinity at .025-.026, one of which being a higher end LFS the other being divers den.
Your main concern with the drip acclimation comes into play with 'shipped' fish, as they are in that bag normally for several hours with detritus build up. Once the bag opens it allows the chemicals to start converting to ammonia. Fish that are shipped usually have significantly more time for this detritus to build up, which causes the ammonia to spike higher, quicker. Thus you see many recommendations about how to set your QT to match salinity, float for temp and transfer. Unfortunately if you are buying locally and adding direct to your display, this often takes that option away. However, if you are buying locally, then it is likely you can drastically cut down the time that fish is in that bag thus less detritus generation. So I guess my point being, while it is ideal to purchase from a vendor with matching salinity that you can just temp acclimate the fish, it's not always an option. Drip acclimation works very well and isn't something that should be feared, just know when to use each respective method appropriately.
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Yeah, i've done drip before when i pick up from my local LFS, and while i get the majority of my fish there, I haven't seen a mandy there that i thought would be a good idea yet. I'm just trying to figure out how to handle it if it comes in with a lower salinity, as i don't really want to drip acclimate in the bag at that point due to ammonia like you said. I was thinking of possibly getting another container, let the fish float for 15 minutes, take some tank water and mix it with r/o water until the it comes down to the 1.021 or whatever is needed, and then drip acclimate from there.
geckoejon
Active member
Ime, agreed!
My lfs had about 10 in a tank. They added some ova. I picked a couple that started pecking at it right away. I dip acclimated them, and added straight to the dt. The female killed the male in less then 24 hrs. Oh snap! She was biting him in the gill flap on the ride home. should have known. found out later that the male should be bigger than the female. Anyway...
The female still gets ova every other day and is a chunk! She is fatter now then when I bought her by a long shot. She knows the routine... Every time I turn off the pumps, she heads to a little cave. I squirt the ova in there and she goes to town :spin3:
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
yes it is frozen.
i haven't been able to find it local to me, although some people in different areas have. it all depends on your particular fish stores.
i ordered mine from Dr. Foster & Smith, but if i recall either BRS or Marine Depot also carries it. the shipping can seem a bit costly, but if you order7 or more flat packs it evens out. they last quite a while.
i've been sharing out samples of it whenever i can to fellow reefers. trying to get others hooked on it too. i even took half a pack to my favorite LFS to try, and they're considering ordering some. only problem being is that at the wholesale level they have to a huge amount, so i'm hoping i can turn more locals on to it so that they will have a market.
EllieSuz
Premium Member
The Nutramar recommendations are right on. I persuaded a local LFS to carry it and you could always see if any of your local Reef Central members would like to participate in your online order to share the shipping costs. I put my Mandarin in QT for a week and gave him the Nutramar several times a day. He never hesitated to gobble up every single egg he could find. I did not add any rock. After a week he went into the DT and gets his little dose of Ova every morning. He would do fine on the pods on hand, but it's fun to hand feed him too.
accordsirh22
New member
not true at all. period
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
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