Mandarin dragonet post-mortem :-/

[mnreefster]

Wondering if anyone has seen this before? Had the mandarin just over two weeks. Was doing fine up until about 3-4 days ago when he was just sitting on the sand and moving less and less. Then I noticed his underside yesterday and so I took him out of the tank before he released any (more?) toxins. I know these fish are resistant to parasites, even if he was wild caught. But I’m not too familiar to know if this is the sign of a parasite infection; it seems it started on the skin as an ulcer-type sore, not from the inside out. Wanted to potentially get another (captive bred this time) but wanted to see if it was something else where I would put another one at risk. Like I said, he was eating fine, didn’t seem to malnourished, wasn’t getting picked on, looked healthy at the time I bought him. Just not sure if it was trauma, diet (starvation), infection, or something else. Anyone familiar with these or with this type of condition? This is the underside of him on the pic.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Looks like a wound sustained during capture or while in transport, Could have happened as a cut on live rock, but either way it definitely became a bacterial infection. I am sorry for your loss, but dont be too down, every single one of us has lost a fish that sustained an injury and then had a secondary infection. How long was the fish deceased in the tank? Also looks to have signs of some of your cuc eating on it, and the fish appears to be swollen as well. If it was dead for some time then this is to be expected, but if it was always swollen like that it could be a clue of a parasitic infection as well.