Mandarin Breathing Heavy And Not Moving

[Gazbo72]

I don,t know if any one can help I,ve had my mandarin about 3 months now and up until know he,s been very healthy and always hovering around looking for pods. He,s a good eater usually takeing frozen, formula one small pellet and the pods with a good colouring and fat belly. Since yesterday though all he has done is sit on the bottom not moving breathing heavy .

There has been no new stock added in the last month to six weeks and all the water parameters are normal apart from the nitrates which are about 20ppm. I did add some Bioreef ampuales the day before he he went sick but I wouldn,t of thought these would cause a problem. The other thing I did was getting some freshly hatched brine from the LFS that I added to the tank ( I was wonedering if he got a shell off one of these stuck in his throat )

All other fish are fine none are flicking (apart from the leapord wrasse which has always done it and i,ve read this is normal for them) or showing any other sighns of stress. All snails and corals are fine and accounted for.

His colouring is normal though not faded or gone dark.

Would it be worth making some fresh salt water up tonight and if he,s no better tommorow put him in a bucket of water with a heater and circulation ( no quarantine tank )to see if its the water in my tank is affecting him. Or would this cause him more stress.

Any help will be much appreciated Gaz.

 

[Lynden]

I would not place him in the bucket. Perhaps waiting a few days is your best option.

 

[Gazbo72]

He,s looking a bit better today and moving about a little bit

 

[hubbard_shark]

couldnt just been a phase. or since he seemed to be full, maybe had eaten too much (which for a mandarin seems like too much to eat is an oxymoron), and was why he was sluggish. give it time, and it should be back to its oldself.

 

[Gazbo72]

couldnt just been a phase. or since he seemed to be full, maybe had eaten too much (which for a mandarin seems like too much to eat is an oxymoron), and was why he was sluggish. give it time, and it should be back to its oldself.

He,s back to his old self hovering round the rocks looking for food constantly and eating what ever drops in front of him


My wife said he might have a cold because the first couple of times we saw him eat he kinda spluttered a bit

I,m glad he,s back to normal as he is one of my favourites and know how hard it is to find a greedy healthy mandarin B)