Mandarin Behavior is Concerning

[carey]

My sweet little mandy the blue mandarin is not acting herself today. I'm looking at her right this second as I type and am getting more concerned each minute.

She isn't fluttering at all, she's just sitting on the sand bed kinds behind a rock. She does move around, I've been monitoring her since about 6 this morning. So she's mobile. She also didnt come out for breakfast today at all, I didn't see her eat today, not one bloodworm which is very unusual.

She has no marks on her, she's fat so she's not starving, other than the YWG doing the open mouth thing to her on occasion I haven't seen any hostility at all in the tank.

Any ideas? Should I be worried?

[carey]

Anyone? she is still perched under a rock now, no fluttering but her eyes are moving. She hasnt pecked a single peck all day.

what should I do? just wait it out?

[tetrajoy]

Maybe you should wait because I know sometimes there are moments when people get ahead of themselves...but I'd think you would know the answer already with all the good advice you give!

[MikeYQM]

It's hard to say, but really there's not much you can do other than wait it out. If its been eating up till now & has no obvious marks, you need more evidence before making a diagnosis.

Could very well be just an off day, which I hope it is. Keep us posted. Good luck.

[AquaRick]

Any update on Mandy? Did she start eating again?

[Sqasnatch]

Maybe just having a lazy day. Moping about how she doesn't get outta the house.

[carey]

Nope. she didnt eat this morning or just now. :-( She is still kinda fluttering, but she's hiding in the rockwork. i just now caught a bristleworm wrapping itslef around her. I chased it away and Mandy swam away too but I have a really bad feeling about this.....

[MikeYQM]

Can you QT it? Grasping at straws, but maybe a broad antibiotic/antibacterial treatment. Doesn't sound good, but no way to pinpoint what's up. Just throwing it out there in absence of anything else

[Sqasnatch]

That really sucks Carey. I know my mandarins are my favorite fish of the tank. Hopefully she pulls through

[uscamaro]

Doesn't sound good. What are your parameters?

[redsea]

How is Mandy doing? Is she getting better?

[carey]

She appears back to normal now. Didn't eat for 4 days and hardly moved, I thought for sure she was dying. :-(

But she's now eating again and fluttering about. maybe she just didn't feel good, not sure if fish get sick like we can. lol

[AquaRick]

Glad to hear she's ok!

[carey]

Thanks Rick, she really had me worried. i didn't wanna her to become another home aquaria statistic. lol

[redsea]

I am happy that she is ok too! Maybe she just had a cold.

[carey]

I wonder if fish get colds or some other brief illnesses. None of the other fish were off just her. I almost died when i saw a huge bristleworm wrapped around her the other day, I went into the tank to shoo it away. One of the worst moments of my fish keeping time. Poor little thing.

[PrettyFishies]

Are you using homemade seafood with vitamins or adding vitamins to water? That's what I do - both. I add the vitamins once every other week because it's also in the seafood mix but I seem to have been doing well with the health of the tank.

[crister13]

I guess she had the flu lol. Glad its better.

[Gregcoyote]

Can you find any enriched live adult brine shrimp in your area? I bet a healthy snack loaded with some vitamins would help as much as anything. I sure wouldn't remove the fish because the attempt to cure will almost with out a doubt kill a weakened fish. Unless you are a fish doctor...which I sure am not. We have discussed Mandarines for a while now...I hope it all works out.

[carey]

Next time I get out to this one LFS I will pick up some live brine for her. She seems as good as new now though. It's like nothing ever happened with her. She's still pudgy and is eating like she used to so I guess I will be happy and just make sure she keeps eating. Actually, every single time I feed the tank I make sure she eats, I'm kinda super paranoid with her and knowing what I do about mandarins.