A Sad, Sad Day

[Clownfish_Boy]

It gives me great sorrow to announce the death of Manfred, my new Mandarin Dragonet. He had been in my DT for only a week, and it appears that he was a victim of starvation. He is survived by his tankmates: Red the Maroon Clown, Violet the Coral Beauty, Volt and Amp the Javanese Damsels, and Blue Lou the Blue Damsel. He will be greatly missed by all.

 

[Hincapiej4]

How old is your tank?

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

Six months; had seeded with pods several times over the past three months. I believe he must have just quit feeding for some reason. Or possibly a low oxygen level from the bacterial bloom that has ensued for the past three days.

 

[Hincapiej4]

Money is on oxygen

 

[Hincapiej4]

Also, they can get sick btw.

 

[Terry Le]

did you bought a tank bred one?

 

[polyppal]

I get irritated whenever I see shops selling the wild dragonets knowing that 80+% are going to die... Seems unethical for the fish and to the customer

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry for loss. Many mandarin goby fish die because of tank condition and poor diet. Even though there are many pods, mandarin need to eat constantly and will eventually thin. if not eating or barely eating. . . . . Check :
Nitrate
Ammonia
Temp
Salinity

Also they need plenty of tank room and cannot handle aggressive tankmates. One nice thing about Mandarins is that
there is no specific disease that might attack it. The highest issues mandarins face are ammonia poisoning and oxygen starvation. The first condition appears when the tank is rarely cleaned.
As long as the owner cleans the food waste and feces regularly, this fish will do okay. the other issue is when the temperature in the tank raised or get too warm, It is easily noticed as the fish will be gasping for air at the surface.

Temp 76-79
salinity 1.024-1.025
ph 8.0-8.3
Nitrate < .04
Ammonia < .03

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

did you bought a tank bred one?

No, he was wild caught I think.