QTing a Mandarin

fatoldsun

fatoldsun

New member
I picked up a green mandarin yesterday - she's wild caught and the LFS said she's been there about a week. I know the mandarin's have a slime coat that makes them a little less likely to carry anything from the LFS but I have mine in a small QT as I've done with everything I've introduced to my tank - I'm trying to import some pods from my DT system (using a plastic scrubby to mimic chaeto in my drain sock - the scrubbies populate pretty well in a day or two) but I can't imagine I'll be able to introduce enough that way, not with a diet of several pods a minute - what have folks done to QT these guys? Generally I QT for 4 weeks - I don't see this lasting 4 weeks unless I use rock from my fuge to move pods into QT but that will deplete my fuge pretty fast b/c the rock will have to be cooked before I return it to the fuge once it's gone into the QT. Can't establish a QT for a year+ just for the mandarin QT but I'm afraid of skipping the step? any thoughts? abbreviated QT, etc..
 
I would add the mandarin to the DT. Many people have done this before without issue. I can't see it surviving in a QT more than a week.
 
Thought I'd bump to see if I get a few more opinions. I'm really unsure about adding something from an LFS this quickly but I want the mandarin to have a chance
 
Start hatching some baby brine shrimp. You can produce as many as you want every day. You can even turn off the tank lights and shine a flashlight into a corner to congregate the brine their mking it easy for the dragonette to find them. This will also allow you to train it one to frozen foods, by slowly mixing more and more frozen foods like cyclops and reef plankton.
 
If you can get it eating I would continue to quarantine it. I've seen mandarins carry some nasty stuff in spite of their slime coat, and it's a good time to get it eating prepared foods anyway. I quarantine mandarins and add a mix of 3 or 4 small foods to the tank daily; my staple mix is Ova, daphnia, and reef plankton cubes, but I'll also add a cube of rotifers, cyclops, or BBS. The food settles on the bottom and on the PVC and they forage as usual. I've never had a problem getting them to eat that right away, and from there I can get them onto mysis and other foods. Good luck with him. :)
 
cjk76 said:
I would add the mandarin to the DT. Many people have done this before without issue. I can't see it surviving in a QT more than a week.
Click to expand...

+1. I've never QT'd my mandarins and have never had an issue with them. One of three types of fish I'd do this with.
 
I QT all my fish but i decided to just add my mandarin right to the DT and happy I did. If I were you I would watch if for a few more day and try to get it to eat frozen. If you are not able to I would not keep it much longer in QT. Good luck!
 
Well, 4 stores and no luck w/ BS eggs. Not sure ordering and shipping + 36 hatch time will work. I found daphnia, but no royofers, cyclops or BBS... There's a decent LFS about 45 minutes from work so if things are the same Tuesday I'll try there..
 
Daniel Reef said:
I would like to know as well.
Click to expand...

Heh, heh ... Steve and I are pretty much on the same page. I do, though, QT my Macropharyngodon for a while as they are typically small enough to get down my sump grate when I get them ...

The others that I do not QT are: Myrichthys (with a diameter of more than 0.3") and Anampses
 
Ok, so I added a cube of frozen daphnia (what you see on the tank bottom) and some pods from my system filter sock. The larger pods disappeared quickly but I saw the mandarin acting as if she was eating. The mouth motion appeared that way. I took a video with my phone, it's kind of grainy but if you watch, at around 30 seconds you'll see what I mean. I saw this many more times. I just caught it once. Any thoughts. Should I be encouraged?
http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee503/dzipin/1c6eae46.mp4
 
Ok, so I added a cube of frozen daphnia (what you see on the tank bottom) and some pods from my system filter sock. The larger pods disappeared quickly but I saw the mandarin acting as if she was eating. The mouth motion appeared that way. I took a video with my phone, it's kind of grainy but if you watch, at around 30 seconds you'll see what I mean. I saw this many more times. I just caught it once. Any thoughts. Should I be encouraged?
http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee503/dzipin/1c6eae46.mp4
 
Looks like she spit it out but she's on the right track. The fact that she'll mouth dead food means she will eventually eat it. A better food will help for sure. Make sure you clean all that excess out. You might even think about a few hermits in there to eat what you miss during cleaning.
 
Thanks Jason. I'm glad to hear its a good sign. I try to clean the bottom with about a 20% daily WC. I use 1g from my DT & 1g NSW. I siphon out the 2g and try to clean the bottom. Do this before I add the food so I can try to keep an eye on things. I wish I could find BS eggs locally.
 
Well, at least I know the little guy's eating... I picked up some live blackworms. He likes those. Interestingly enough the fish in my DT didn't seem interested. I'm sure that will change but for now just the lil guys getting them. I also picked up some BS eggs. I'll be putting together a hatchery tomorrow hopefully w some food by Wednesday.
 
Had this guy a week - still eating the blackworms if he finds them before the die due to the water temps (or salinity, not sure which gets them first) and I finally got my brine shrimp hatchery going - it's a temp hatchery with a poland spring bottle. - so the question is, do I try and train him to eat prepared foods using the baby brines while he's still in the small QT or do I put him in the DT after a week of QT since he's been fine - no signs of any QT issues? My concern with the DT is that I have a 6-line that eats so much it looks pregnant - I'm sure that's taken a toll on my pod population - I have lots of stuff in the fuge but I used to see some of the larger pods out and about and I only see them now when I change my filter socks. I also thought about setting up a mandarin dinner but I'm not sure that will work with live BBS - melev tried it several years ago and abandoned the BBS in favor of prepared - his mandarin was getting bullied but already ate preparred - hence I'm thinking now is the time to try and train this guy. Of course I have a job and feeding 4-5 times a day isn't an option because I'm not home from 8AM-8PM....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Mandarin acting strange
Replies
4
Views
1K
OrionN
OrionN
D
Coral beauty Sick - how do i treat
Replies
3
Views
1K
leebca
L
BigEZ77
How Many Days To Run UV When Adding A New Fish?
Replies
3
Views
572
leebca
L
AZBigJohn
Thinking of culturing some pods...
Replies
7
Views
775
jrill
J
BigEZ77
Urgent Help Requested - Wrasses Won't Come Out - CB Blue Tang Arriving Today (NO QT)
Replies
8
Views
679
rrrrob
rrrrob
Back
Top