Concerned About Mandarin

Squishie89 · Aug 25, 2013

I have a male green/blue mandarin. I have had him since 7/17. He eats frozen foods (brine and nurtramar ova). I am concerned about his appearance. He appears to be getting very fat, but only in his torso/upper body. The tail section is very skinny in comparison. He continues to be a ravenous eater at dinner time, and moves around like a normal mandarin and has no issues with the other fish. I am not sure if he has some kind of bloat or inability to expel waste or is just bulking up. Would love some input/opinions.
Here is an attempt at a diagram

Here are some bad pictures.

Eienna · Aug 25, 2013

Kind of looks like a tumor....

I would get him off brine shrimp and onto mysids. Brine is not nutrient-dense enough to sustain a mandarin long-term. It's junk food.

Duffam3434 · Aug 25, 2013

I've never seen this with any of our Mandarins.. Is this just suddenly happen or over time just get worse?

Squishie89 · Aug 25, 2013

It has slowly gotten worse. I will try and do more mysis and less brine.

Eienna · Aug 25, 2013

Squishie89 said:
It has slowly gotten worse. I will try and do more mysis and less brine.

I wish I could tell you exactly what's causing that :/ I just don't know.

Squishie89 · Aug 25, 2013

Considering he is still eating and acting fine, should I just keep an eye on it?

Eienna · Aug 26, 2013

Squishie89 said:
Considering he is still eating and acting fine, should I just keep an eye on it?

I think maybe you'd best hunt down an expert on this one.

Squishie89 · Aug 26, 2013

Bumping this for the day crowd

twelvefive · Aug 26, 2013

Has he been lifting a lot lately?

Yusuf · Aug 26, 2013

I have the same case with my Cat fish (freshwater) and he is fine for a long time .

Eienna · Aug 26, 2013

You sure it's a male?

Squishie89 · Aug 26, 2013

Pretty sure due to his long dorsal fin. But I am not 100%. I had the same thought though. There are no other mandarins in the tank. But I will say, I would think the back end of the fish would be swelling not the front. But maybe the fish is bulking up?

Eienna · Aug 26, 2013

Squishie89 said:
Pretty sure due to his long dorsal fin. But I am not 100%. I had the same thought though. There are no other mandarins in the tank. But I will say, I would think the back end of the fish would be swelling not the front. But maybe the fish is bulking up?

What gave me the thought is that I just saw a pic of an eggy female, and she was bulging right around that area.
Can you get a photo with the dorsal up?

cvysochin · Aug 26, 2013

Was he really skinny when you got him? If so then I believe hes just gourging himself. Kinda like an emaciated dog that gets food for the first time. It'll eat and eat and eat. But you need to do it slowly or it can hurt them in the long run. Also since they are skinny they only bulk up in the belly area until their body can convert all the newly aquired food for body mass.

I would definately keep an eye on him and maybe lower the feeding a bit. Hope for the best! Good luck!

Squishie89 · Aug 26, 2013

He was on the skinny side. The tank and mandarin are fed once a day and he gets about 15 minutes to eat. That was my first thought is he is just gaining weight very quickly. The reason I feed for 15 minutes is I have a fish I have to spot feed pretty much single shrimp by single shrimp and I have a lot of inverts that I worry eat the food I put aside for the mandarin and I wanted him to get as much as he can knowing how picky mandarins are and this guy does like to stare at his food before eating it. I am going to try and do more mysis and maybe not put so much food out for him. And I will work on getting a good view of the dorsal fin.
I cannot thank you all enough for your input and opinions.

NanaReefer · Aug 26, 2013

I use a feeding station for my Scooter Dragonet. Come dinner time he OWN's it

I really agree with skimping on the brine shrimp. No nutritional value in them but the fish will gorge themselves on them, leaving no room for healthy foods. My Scooter not only likes the NutraMar Ova but Rods Complete and Reef Frenzy as well.
I would also suggest you try and soak some food in PraziPro in case of some sort of internal parasite.

Pic of my lil jelly jar feeding station

Squishie89 · Aug 26, 2013

Early on I tried to do a jar feeding station, but he would not go in (I think I picked a jar too small). I will start trying more foods again. My fish typically have a hard time with anything bigger than SF mysis.

Squishie89 · Aug 26, 2013

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This mandarin is quite hard to photograph, even more so with his fin up. In these pictures you can see how long it is when laying down, and the last one shows it half-raised.

mcarroll · Aug 26, 2013

Agreed with the the recommended changes in feeding...looks very, very fat. Not unhappy though! :-D (Do take it easier on his poor little digestive tract though...LOL.)

Smaller, high-volume food (lower calorie density) would naturally be more his thing IMO. I'd be using cyclopeez and other similarly sized foods. Maybe even something like one of the thinner blends of Rod's Food. Stuff like that.

Good job on having the fattest Mandarin I've ever seen!

So pleasing to see vs the normal Mandarin thread with your title.

-Matt

miyags · Aug 26, 2013

Ya Know what, mandarins are suppose to be fat and happy!!!!. I had a female that looked like that for at least 7 years. Shed swim right up with the big fish to get food. Sad to say a powerhead got her.