What happened to my fish??

[navafamily]

We bought our first mandarin about 2 days ago, and last night when I looked into my tank, I saw that he had passed away and there was this.........web? of stuff that seemed to be wrapped all around him and made a trail through out the tank. What is this???
The web looked like a spider web and trailed off the the center of the tank but I couldn't ever see exactly where it ended.

When I took him out of the tank, there was a very thick gooey (snot like) substance hanging off of the net.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[~reefchik~]

Sorry about your gorgeous mandarin

I guess nobody warned you that mandarins tend to do best in established tanks with plenty of copepods/orthopods and similar organisms to eat?

As far as the slime is coming off him, I would guess it's just the beginning of decomp. Mandarins have more of a natural slime coat than other fish with scales.

 

[navafamily]

The tank has been established for a while now, has about 50lbs of live rock in it (which I figured was plenty for copapods), as well as I bought a bottle of copapods the night before he passed just in case there weren't enough in the tank.

Any ideas on the web?

 

[luther1200]

When you say established for a while now, do you mean a year or more? I am not trying to be mean, I just don't want to see you or anyone make the same mistake again. And if you plan on getting another I would set a refugium if you don't have 1 already. They are great breading grounds for pods which will eventually make there way into the DT. But like I already mentioned I would wait around a year after setting up the fuge, if you don't already have 1. Some people might get away with putting in a Mandarin before that but they are definitly the exception.

 

[BlueTangarang]

So we all know how picky Mandarins are about diet, but a death after only two days makes it hard to believe that it was from starvation. Plus, from what the pictures show, the animal does not seem to be that emaciated. My first inclination would be to go back and check water parameters. Not saying that malnutrition was not the culprit, just that there might be other factors playing into this situation.

 

[Ohiomom]

Also, how did you acclimate the fish?

 

[luther1200]

It may not have starved in his tank in 2 days. But who knows when its last meal was before that? Did the OP witness him eating in the LFS?

And in the last pic you can just see it behind it pectoral fin and its stomach does look sucked in.

 

[stuccodude]

my LFS sold me one for my tank that was 2 DAYS old and he knew it. i dont go there anymore. you need to see alot ofpods at night with a flashlight to keep that goby and a fuge is a must. good luck.

 

[El Diablo]

I had this problem with my first and my tank is well established and I am thinking it was just sick when I purchased it.

I have since bought another and its doing fine.

 

[jenglish]

Mandarins ship poorly, stress easily, and are often starved and on death's door at the LFS. If it isn't fat and eating at the LFS, don't buy it.

 

[ludnix]

That doesn't look at all like a starved mandarin. When a mandarin is starved you can see a lateral line across the back of the body. This fish looks pretty normal for one that is eating.

The "web" stuff is likely the mandarin's slime drifting off.

 

[BuddhaKiss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15267769#post15267769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jenglish
Mandarins ship poorly, stress easily, and are often starved and on death's door at the LFS. If it isn't fat and eating at the LFS, don't buy it.

This isn't necessarily true. Or maybe mine was the exception. When I bought mine, it had a rather pronounced pinched belly and as mentioned, a very visible line going down both sides (could be its lateral line, i'm not sure). But in any case, I was able to bring it back to health and its stomach filled out nicely. IMO this particular mandarin didn't die due to starvation, something else caused the death...possibly acclimation.

 

[jenglish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15268439#post15268439 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BuddhaKiss
This isn't necessarily true. Or maybe mine was the exception. When I bought mine, it had a rather pronounced pinched belly and as mentioned, a very visible line going down both sides (could be its lateral line, i'm not sure). But in any case, I was able to bring it back to health and its stomach filled out nicely. IMO this particular mandarin didn't die due to starvation, something else caused the death...possibly acclimation.

I'm not saying that one that is starved won't start eating, but on the other hand I have heard of them being moved from one established tank to another and just being stressed and starving surrounded by pods. If I saw one that was already skinny I would not risk it. I don't think this one starved to death either, but it may have already been in less than prime condition. That one doesn't look starved to death but it doesn't look well fed either. It's dorsal fin looks a bit ragged as well.