Mandarin fish QT

[ThisCityIsDead]

Hey everyone, so I have been QT my fish for about a week now. My friend gave me a Mandarin fish as a gift. It's a very plumped fish and big. I've never seen one this big before. Anyhow, how do I quarantine this fish? So far I've been pulling it out and placing pods in a creature box so it can eat. I haven't seen it eat yet... I also put fixed food in and food pellets.

I was reading online and they're not immune to ich, but is harder for them to get it because of their mucus coat. I don't want to put it in my display tank because I don't want to run the risk of the ich going into its gills... And living.

Suggestions.

 

[hotelbravo]

Hey everyone, so I have been QT my fish for about a week now. My friend gave me a Mandarin fish as a gift. It's a very plumped fish and big. I've never seen one this big before. Anyhow, how do I quarantine this fish? So far I've been pulling it out and placing pods in a creature box so it can eat. I haven't seen it eat yet... I also put fixed food in and food pellets.

I was reading online and they're not immune to ich, but is harder for them to get it because of their mucus coat. I don't want to put it in my display tank because I don't want to run the risk of the ich going into its gills... And living.

Suggestions.

most people do not QT mandarins..
they will not survive in a QT without a steady pod population they need 1 pod every 5 seconds to stay healthy and only eat during the daytime so on average they eat 8,640 pods a day. a QT which likely hasnt been setup to have a huge lasting population of pods wont work unless there are many rocks or chaeto or something that the pods have created a massive breeding ground in..

just my 2 cents... hope others will chime in and verify.. always like to have second, third, and fourth opinions

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I commend you on wanting quarantine your fish given this will be difficult but it is doable. How long are you planning on keeping him in quarantine? Some options are to use bottled pods, transfer pods from the main. Try feeding vitamin enriched prepared foods like mysis, cyclopeeze, caviar/ova, NLS pellets, etc.
I had to quarantine mine twice (Brook and fluke outbreaks) so it can be done.

 

[ThisCityIsDead]

I commend you on wanting quarantine your fish given this will be difficult but it is doable. How long are you planning on keeping him in quarantine? Some options are to use bottled pods, transfer pods from the main. Try feeding vitamin enriched prepared foods like mysis, cyclopeeze, caviar/ova, NLS pellets, etc.
I had to quarantine mine twice (Brook and fluke outbreaks) so it can be done.

I purchased a bottle of pods. Like I said, it doesn't really eat them. It just swims up and down.

Is it safe to add it to the DT if there's ich in there?:/

 

[Deinonych]

Is it safe to add it to the DT if there's ich in there?:/

No.

 

[Paul B]

I won't get into a quarantine debate, but you are going to lose that mandarin if you keep him in there with pellets. That is not the place or food for that type of fish. Sorry.

 

[snorvich]

I won't get into a quarantine debate, but you are going to lose that mandarin if you keep him in there with pellets. That is not the place or food for that type of fish. Sorry.

I agree that this food is not appropriate.

 

[hotelbravo]

I have my mandarin that eats pellets, flakes, mysis, "LRS Fish Frenzy". But I would never count on him eating those as his main source of food. I have tons of pods in my tank and I just ordered a 12,000 pod count bag from algaebarn today. They need the pods the other food is just a filler food IF you can get them to eat it

 

[snorvich]

I have my mandarin that eats pellets, flakes, mysis, "LRS Fish Frenzy". But I would never count on him eating those as his main source of food. I have tons of pods in my tank and I just ordered a 12,000 pod count bag from algaebarn today. They need the pods the other food is just a filler food IF you can get them to eat it

Most (all?) mandarins will eat supplied food if they can get it (they are poor competitors) but no mandarin will be able to survive long term only with supplied food.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I purchased a bottle of pods. Like I said, it doesn't really eat them. It just swims up and down.

Is it safe to add it to the DT if there's ich in there?:/

Where did you get him from and how long did they have him? From what I've read mandarins that are not caught properly have a tendency to stop feeding.
As stated above I would not add him to an ich infested tank (or any other disease).
I had forgotten that I had ordered pods online and began cultivating them in a 5 gallon bucket. He made it through 8 weeks of quarantine although it was very time consuming and expensive. But he is worth it.