I just got a green mandarin dragonet this past Saturday from petco. I knew he was a little under weight but I thought I could nurse him back to health. The people at the store knew nothing about mandarin. They said he eats pellet and frozen food. which I knew they were full of it. I asked them do you know they usally only feed on copepods and they didn't even know what that meant. I brought him home and acclimated him to my Quarantine tank. I tried feeding him but he won't eat. I even gave him trigger pods using a turkey blaster on threw it on front of her but nothing. Tonight I went to take a picture of her and notice a lot of small bumps on her body some were white and some were her skin color. You can only really see it under and actinic light and using a camera. Not sure if is a combination of ich and some other parasites. Can some give me some advise on how to take care of this problem? my salinity is at 1.10 and been treating her with meds for a broad range of parasites and fungus. I'm thinking of stopping the meds and just do the hyposalinity treatment. Wouldn't that take to long for the parasite to die? She will probably die of starvation before the parasites does. Always wanted a mandarin to bad people don't know how to take care of them. And petstore aren't knowledgeable about anything. Here are some pictures I took.
Mandarin goby sick! Parasite?
- Thread starter polancoeddie
- Start date
- Tagged users None
saltyphish
Certified Sand Groomer
Man, those are beautiful fish! Sorry I cant be of much help. Hate to see that happening. I thought they were mostly ick resistant. Not sure if that is true. Also if I recall right they don't do well in copper treatments. Hopefully someone better informed can chime in and help you. Hope you turn it around.
The first two pics looks like ich, which is unusual for a mandarin given their thick mucous coat. You can treat with hyposalinity, tank transfer method or I QT'd my pair using Chloroquine phosphate. All of those should eradicate ich. As far as feeding is concerned, have you tried Nutramar ova?
A FW dip (or formalin bath) provides temporary relief if a fish has flukes or marine velvet disease. But for ich it is dubious, and the risk probably outweighs any benefits IMHO.
saltyphish
Certified Sand Groomer
You said your breeding copepods, and it's not eating them?
Under the skin indicates ich or possibly marine velvet. The fish will be dead in days if it is marine velvet.
Sully
Active Member
In the bottom photo, I don;t see the spots you're talking about. Only see what looks like a little blown sand around the bottom and on the glass. The fact that he's not eating though isn't a good sign.
polancoeddie
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2014
- Messages
- 194
- Reaction score
- 0
Yeah when I bought her I couldn't tell of any sign of problems is when I placed her under the blue actinic light and tried to take a picture. I guess under the camera you can see more shadow then u can see the lumps. I'll try my best to nurse it back to health but only so much I can do. I will continue to do hyposalinity. And treat it with meds. I'm not going to do Copper with her.
Similar threads
