help with potentially sick manderin

[featherblue]

So I finally got a captive bred maderin mid december, and added him directly to my 18" cube. Within a week of adding the manderin all 3 other other fish died, 2 barnacle blennies and a black cap basslet. Super quick, only maybe an afternoon of heavy breathing and then dead for all 3 fish, about 5 days after adding the manderin. As of today, 3 week after adding, the manderin is still actively pod hunting and cruising the tank, but has random patches of white grey fuzz on his fins. Never really the same spot is slimy, but has constantly had a spot or 3 that look like extra slime coat.

what disease could this little guy be a carrier for? could he be sick? Is he just slimey?
what's safe to use for medication with manderins?

 

[EmdeReef]

Sorry for the losses.

The white fuzzy spots Could be lympho. A pic with the whites on would help. Are you saying the spots move?

Rapid breathing followed by death could’ve been velvet. Have you seen any spots on any of the dead fish?

It’s also possible to have been something bacterial.

 

[4n2xtacy]

I'm so sorry for your loss...I had one just like that too. I noticed the white spots on his fin the day after he arrived. And then some mucus from his fins. He died 4 days after (luckily for me, he didn't take anyone with him), (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news), Although he was very lethargic and didnt seem to search for coperpods so it might be different from yours. Yours just might survive. However I'll suggest having him in quarantine and watching the rest of the surviving fishes closely' if possible having them all quarantined separate from the mandarin and treating them all (just to be safe). I hope someone out here knows the solution or can ID this cos I'll love to know myself too.I got another one and he's doing great.

 

[featherblue]

the spots/slime build up is always at the edge of his fins, but not quite the same spots, like it's being knocked loose while he cruises the rock work. Could it just be a heavy slime coat? Still actively hunting pods, and eats his frozen bits 2 times per day.
I'm scared to try and replace the fish that died, in case he really was a carrier for something.

what disease could a manderin carry but not sub come to itself?

 

[Maritimer]

With their thick slimecoat, mandarins are resistant to numerous diseases - but can carry them into your tank. Ich, velvet and Brooklynella would all fall into that category.

The timeline you've described, and lack of symptoms, point toward velvet or possibly brook. The symptoms you describe on the mandarin seem more like brook than velvet to me.

Your photographs do appear to show Lymphocystis, which is an incurable virus - though it's a virus on the level of cold-sores in humans, and generally not something to worry about - certainly not responsible for your fish losses.

If you remove all fish from your display (from your description, it sounds like that's just the mandy), the "fallow" period in which either Brooklynella or velvet would be starved out is six weeks.

Quarantine for mandarins is challenging, because the medications used will likely wipe out the 'pods they rely on, along with the disease organisms.

Treatment guidelines for Brooklynella can be found here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brooklynella.247938/#post-2913287

Treatment guidelines for velvet here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/velvet-amyloodinium-ocellatum.217570/#post-2499399

~Bruce