Question for Mandarin owners about mysis

[SkinnyPete]

I've had my mandarin for about 9-10 months. She's lived on nothing but pods for that time. I have about 175lbs of rock and a pretty good sized fuge. I've noticed a drop recently in my pod population...some people in my local reefing club attribute it to flatworm exit, although others don't believe that FW exit kills copepods. Regardless, I've noticed her getting noticeably skinny.

Luckily she just started accepting frozen mysis. I've been soaking it in selcon and feeding at least once a day - twice if I have time in the morning. She only eats 4-5 mysis before losing interest and I suck up the rest.

For those whose mandarins eat mysis - how much do they eat? I'm hoping my pod population will rebound- I'm taking steps now to help, but I'm not sure a mandarin can live on primarily frozen mysis - if so, how much and how often can maintain them? Do I need to feed twice a day?

 

[austinsdad]

I'm not convinced a single mandarin can wipe out pods on 175 lbs of rock. Sure there's nothing else eating them - or maybe they don't populate well in high nitrates. Just a guess there. You got bio-balls or crushed coral in your system somewhere?

I'd be afraid to feed twice a day with your trates already that high.

 

[SkinnyPete]

Why would you think my trates were high? I was fighting trates a while ago, but they're regularly testing between 2.5 and 5 now. I think that's acceptable. The pod drop seems to be pretty recent. I did remove all my rock recently and kept them in a tub full of tank water for a few hours to re-arrange the tank, but the population drop was evident before that. She's been alive on nothing but pods for about 9 months, so I definitely HAD a population.

The only thing I had in with her was 2 clowns, a yellow tang, and a zebra moray. No real pod eaters. They're all gone and for the time being she's all alone in this giant tank. My fuge seems to be crawling with pods, but not so much the tank - so, I'm trading out rocks to try and get some pods in the main quicker...I'm just wondering if I should be trying to feed her twice a day. I'm not too worried about trates in the short term, I think I've got that under control. Just trying to plump her up while I work on boosting my pod population.

 

[austinsdad]

You know, I did read another post about high 'trates before yours and got confused it seems.

I got "sometimers" I believe.

BTW, I always thought the target area for trates is 2.0 or less, but I guess that's just reef. I'm really thinking now that your trates ARE high and wondering if that's got something to do with pod die-offs.

 

[MT79]

While the ideal number for nitrates is 0, as long as it is kept at/below 15 inverts like pods will be fine. I have no personal experience with flat worm exit, but I imagine it is a possibility it was not too easy on some other inverts in the tank along with the flat worms. Can't offer much about how much a Mandarin should eat...Feeding LIVE phytoplankton should help the pod population bounce back.
Good luck

BTW, I always thought the target area for trates is 2.0 or less, but I guess that's just reef

Some references say 20 or less, I think your decimal point might be off

 

[austinsdad]

I think your decimal point might be off

Bingo!!!

 

[iamfor3]

All my mandarin would eat were pods I finally got him to eat frozen mysis.
I put a whole cube in at a time, he is a little slow but he eat until there gone my other fish eat most of them. So if he eats a few every day and the pods he seems to be doing good. he even comes to the glass begging with the rest of the fish.