qt-ing a mandarin

[ryanpal]

good afternoon everyone.

i recently had to QT all my fish to stop ich breakouts. a mandarin was one of the fish, and after doing a post here, i decided he had to come out as well. i did not want to chance the mandarin being a "vector" for the ich cycle since they can be affected by ich.

i've had my mandarin for months which he was eating healthily until i put him in the QT tank. i never noticed him eating, but tried to feed a variety of foods in hopes he was eating when i wasn't watching. i even purchased some copepods to put in the qt tank, but never saw him eat these either unfortunatley. just recently he died from starvation.

my concern is that i eventually want to add in another mandarin but i don't want to just add him into the main tank w/out qt-ing. i don't want to starve him either. what's the right way to safely QT a mandarin so that he won't starve, but he won't introduce any disease to the main tank either?

 

[luke33]

The only way to QT one imo is if you have a mature tank with lots of pods in it with no other fish. Many will argue this but i'd just give him a malchanite green dip for 20min, rinse him off in another bucket of tank water, then add him to your main tank. The mandarin's have a slime coat on them and supposedly don't get ick. But everyone has an opinion on the matter. : )

 

[rbursek]

If you buy one from Dr.s F and S, LiveAquaria, you will not need to QT, all there fish are QT when they get them and then they put them in there tanks and do not sell them till they are assured they are OK, I buy all my LS from them, never QT and NEVER had a problem, same as a friend, he NEVER had a problem.

 

[snorvich]

QTing a mandarin can only be done as luke suggests. Otherwise they will starve.

 

[ryanpal]

thanks for the replies guys.

assuming i had another mature tank with no other fish....how could that stop the ich cycle? i'm not seeing how that method would defer from having the mandarin be the only one in the display tank by himself for a while...he technically can still be a vector for the ich parasite..right?

 

[ryanpal]

nightime bump

 

[tinmanny]

scales

scales

Mandrins do not have scales and are not suseptiable to this disease so if you qt your tank with the mandrin in the tank it will be fine and the disease has no host

 

[ryanpal]

tinmanny,

there's been many posts that say mandarins can in fact get ich. i imagine that means they are not immune to other types of diseases either.

ryan

 

[ryanpal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12190115#post12190115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luke33
The only way to QT one imo is if you have a mature tank with lots of pods in it with no other fish. Many will argue this but i'd just give him a malchanite green dip for 20min, rinse him off in another bucket of tank water, then add him to your main tank. The mandarin's have a slime coat on them and supposedly don't get ick. But everyone has an opinion on the matter. : )

what im still trying to find out is. if you have a mature tank with pods, sand, rock etc. what will prevent a cycle of disease (ich or other) from happening? it seems theres no difference from this route to keeping a mandarin in a main display tank.

 

[TWallace]

Personally I wouldn't QT a mandarin unless you had an established QT with live pods in it (unlikely). I've never seen a mandarin get ich. Maybe it's possible, I don't know. I've also never seen a hawkfish get ich, even in an ich infested tank. They're remarkably resistant.

 

[MThompson]

Mandrins do not have scales and are not suseptiable to this disease

tinmanny....catfish don't have scales either and they definitely can get ich. Not sure if the marine version (Cryptocarion ssp.) is different, but I think all that is necessary is an epithelial cell layer....the mandarin mucosa might help prevent the parasite from getting to that layer. I am sure if the mandarin was sick and not making that mucus effectively, it could come down with Cryptocarion .

 

[rioshilo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12283036#post12283036 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TWallace
Personally I wouldn't QT a mandarin unless you had an established QT with live pods in it (unlikely). I've never seen a mandarin get ich. Maybe it's possible, I don't know. I've also never seen a hawkfish get ich, even in an ich infested tank. They're remarkably resistant.

My arc eye hawkfish was the one of the first fish in the tank to show spots, along with the goatfish, when the velvet infestation hit. Not the same as ich, I know, but very similar parasites. I just noticed that looking back at that statement, maybe I need to quit buying fish with non fish names...:lol: Anyway, he did seem to handle it better then the other infested fish (only increased respiratory rate for him). I'm still battling it in the qt tank and have lost two fish so far. Hopefully that's it...

 

[ryanpal]

a little update...

i was told that i could qt a mandarin and feed him live brine shrimp. although i know they aren't the most nutritous of foods, has anybody went this route? if so, what was the outcome? also, what are some other foods that have a high rate of success to feed mandarins which are in a qt tank that isn't established with live rock?

 

[snorvich]

They will not survive on live brine shrimp. the ONLY food that has a high rate of success for mandarins is copepods. anything else is a myth and wishful thinking.

 

[ryanpal]

oh. i didn't plan on making this their only food. i was hoping that it could at least carry it through the qt process if that was the only food it would eat. my main display has plenty of copepods for it to feed off of. my biggest concern is the 6 week qt time period.