Mandarin losing weight in QT

[amps]

Hey guys. I bought a mandarin back in the first week of December and he's been housed in a 5 gallon tank by himself since. My original plan was to wean him onto prepared foods but I've had almost zero luck. The only thing I can get him to peck at is fish roe from the asian grocer. I've seeded the tank with pods and chaeto to keep him sustained.

He's losing a ton of weight and starting to show his rib cage. I want to get him into my DT as soon as possible but I fear Ich and Velvet. It's been 3 months and he hasn't shown a single sign of disease but I still worry about him being a carrier.

Today I dosed the tank with Chloroquine Phosphate (which will kill all his live food sources). What's the minimum amount of time I can medicate him to be reasonably safe when adding him to my DT? I normally do 3 weeks of CP but I don't think the little guy has that long.

Thanks!

 

[andrewkw]

I don't use CP but I recently put one through tank transfer. The initial time I added a few pods (just something to nibble at nothing to sustain him) after that I did not feed him at all. I felt bad and he did get thinner but was still active by the 4th tank transfer, no food for 12 days. He's now in my frag tank which has no fish fattening up. It's a 55g so it would take him a while to decimate the pod population which he may not even be able to do. Now that he is putting back on the weight he lost I feel he is safe for display. The other fish I got at the same time as him are just in a standard qt tank with sponge filter for observation after tank transfer. They were all treated with prazi pro twice which is all I personally use unless there is reason to suspect ich / velvet.

If you've had him 90 days without symptoms I would feel reasonably safe adding him in. If you hadn't already started CP I would have suggested tank transfer and you could add pods each time if you are already feeding him.

 

[EmdeReef]

Hey guys. I bought a mandarin back in the first week of December and he's been housed in a 5 gallon tank by himself since. My original plan was to wean him onto prepared foods but I've had almost zero luck. The only thing I can get him to peck at is fish roe from the asian grocer. I've seeded the tank with pods and chaeto to keep him sustained.

He's losing a ton of weight and starting to show his rib cage. I want to get him into my DT as soon as possible but I fear Ich and Velvet. It's been 3 months and he hasn't shown a single sign of disease but I still worry about him being a carrier.

Today I dosed the tank with Chloroquine Phosphate (which will kill all his live food sources). What's the minimum amount of time I can medicate him to be reasonably safe when adding him to my DT? I normally do 3 weeks of CP but I don't think the little guy has that long.

Thanks!

If you had him in QT for 3 months without symptoms I think you can be safe he doesn't have ich or velvet.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Really, 10 days in the CP is the bare minimum. 14 gives you some cushion.

Make sure no cross contamination happens when you transfer into display.

Good luck

 

[Maritimer]

+1

EmdeReef and GoldeneyeRet are pretty smart fellows, and they're both right about the different things they're saying.

~Bruce

 

[amps]

Thanks guys! I'm gonna aim for 10 days and hope he makes it. I'll net him and then transfer him to my hand to place him in the tank to prevent cross contamination.

 

[Humblefish]

Really, 10 days in the CP is the bare minimum. 14 gives you some cushion.

Make sure no cross contamination happens when you transfer into display.

Good luck

^^ This