The Mandarin Quarantine Conundrum

[bureau13]

OK, so my 240 gal tank seems to be teeming with pods, etc. so I decided its time to try the Mandarin thing once again. I'm also a religious fish quarantiner now, and I tread my QT with Cupramine. OK, so of course this is a problem...from everything I've read, you shouldn't use copper-based meds with Mandarins. They're also fairly parasite resistant, but that doesn't mean they can't bring them in with them. I happen to have a 55 gal tank w/ refugium that is running, so I put the little guy in the refugium. There is some chaeto in there, so there should be some critters for him to eat, at least for a while. But...assume that there are parasites in the tank...ich, velvet, something. I can watch the Mandarin for a few weeks, and he may never show anything...but how can I make sure when I move him I don't bring any parasites to the display? I can't medicate...but I can't be sure there are no parasites without medicating! Quick somebody, before my brain explodes!

While we're on the subject, can different species of Mandarin coexist in one tank? I got a psychedelic, and if I get a second, would prefer a different variety like maybe a green target or whatever they're called...but if they won't get along then I'll forget about it.

jds

[zrs6v4]

well I am not sure on your first paragraph, but I have seen 2 dragonets in the same tank and they seemed to get along. So I guess it depends on the personalitys of the fish you get. I have heard that if you can find a mated pair that they will obviously be fine together... let me know what happens if you do this...

[bureau13]

I already have the one, so if a mated pair ends up in my tank it will have to be their own doing :D I don't suppose they will form pairs across species of dragonet?

jds

[impur]

I have a black perc and an orange perc that paired up. Why not a green mandarin and a psychedelic?

[yiliyang]

While he is alone in the quar tank, try to feed him some pellets. It can learn to eat that stuff when nothing else is competing with it. This way when you put him in the big tank he will not starve to death if pods run out. I once saw on melevsreef that he weaned dragonets on pellets and they eats outta of a bottle.

Yili

[bureau13]

Good idea...I remember reading about that "mandarin diner" I think he called it. I'll go dig that back up, thanks.

jds

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8373856#post8373856 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yiliyang
While he is alone in the quar tank, try to feed him some pellets. It can learn to eat that stuff when nothing else is competing with it. This way when you put him in the big tank he will not starve to death if pods run out. I once saw on melevsreef that he weaned dragonets on pellets and they eats outta of a bottle.

Yili

[impur]

I got my green mandarin to start eating frozen in a similar way, but i didn't have other fish to compete with her. She LOVED bloodworms. She ended up jumping out of the tank one day, but what a great fish.

[ryan115]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8373374#post8373374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by impur
I have a black perc and an orange perc that paired up. Why not a green mandarin and a psychedelic?

If it is the same black perc and regular perc that I am assuming you are talking about, they are both occelaris. While the two mandarins are two different species. Im not saying it wont happen, but it would be a stretch

[adtravels]

my green target eats and loves live brine try target feeding with pumps off so it can catch them.

also good luck with the pairing A large tank gives you a chance but a pair that is viable. I,ll eat my hat if that happens.

[bureau13]

Of course, the first thing I have to do is get this one into the display tank. Any ideas on that (remember, assume that there is ich present in the current tank's water to be safe...if I can't treat him with copper...I'm hearing that MAYBE Cupramine will be OK but I'm hesitant to risk it....how can I transfer him safely to the display tank without bringing the parasites along with him?)

jds

[cmsargent]

Have you thought about doing a hyposalinity treatment while he's in QT?

[bureau13]

Aren't mandarins also sensitive to that? Or did I make that up in the back of my mind somewhere?

jds

[adtravels]

i have had ich in tanks but the mandarins seems immune just an observation

[IanInDC]

I think its a generally accepted fact that mandarins are immune to ich because of the kind of coating on their bodies and lack or true scales (also why you can't rock the copper in their tanks).

With that in mind, I don't think ich is like AIDS... a fish either has it or doesn't; there's no "carrier" gene. We don't always see it but it's there or not, and I just don't think a mandarin is a risk at all.

[bureau13]

I've heard that they are less susceptible to it, but I've never seen anyone state definitively that they couldn't get it. More to the point however, I think it very possible that the tank I have him in does have it. The question then is how to get him from that tank, to the display tank, without transporting the parasite with him. Even if I scoop him out of the water, I can't really dry him off.

jds