Injured mandarin

[Angelscrx]

I recently noticed that my Mandarin has a big hole in her side. It looks like an Icecream scoop hole (Perfectly round). I don't know if one of my clowns might have done it but I don't have anything in the tank that could have. This morning I found her stuck in the intake of one of the powerheads so I pulled her off and she swam away. I thought to myself "she must be trying to commit suicide) :lol: . I am kind of worried about her. Should I put her in a quarantine tank and medicate her wound and if so what should I use and what should I give her to eat since there won't be any pods in there? Any advice on getting her back to health would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Angel,
If this happened to me I would have left the mandarin in the same tank. Sometimes changing a injured fishes environment will create even more stress. You want your fish to feel as comfortable as possible in his own environment. I would work on covers for your powerhead if it were me. The Mandarin may have gotten stuck to powerhead while following a pod too close. Mandarins are usually peaceful and do well with other tank mates. They are timid usually. If he was eating pods he was definitely happy and doing well even maybe too brave for own good. I have not heard of a clown attacking a mandarin. I know clowns get territorial when breeding. I just have not heard of a Mandarin being attacked yet by a clown. I feel for ya and hope your mandarin comes back healthy soon.
Good luck,
Ed

 

[Angelscrx]

Thanks Ed you I was wondering if it might have gotten stung by something? Maybe the hole is from the poison from something rotting the skin? You can see in my sig what I have in the tank. Thanks for the advice on not changing her, she is still in the same tank. Should I dose with vitamin C? I did that with the ick breakout and it worked great along with the garlic.

 

[Wink]

You might try adding Melafix (available at Walmart or LFS) - It has worked well for me with my seahorses with wound/skin problems. It's only Tea Tree Oil.. not actual medicine so you can use it in a community tank. It does make the water tend to foam alot so you can't use a skimmer with it and you might notice some heavy breathing when you first put it in.

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Remember to turn off your skimmer if you use Melafix.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Angel,
The only thing I see that strikes my curiousity is your Rose BTA. Does he have welt like a sting? Is he eating Angel? If he is eating, I think he will be fine.

 

[Terry B]

Hi Angelscrx,

The hole could be a trauma wound or it could be caused by a parasite. I have seen parasites imbedded in fish that get large and leave a hole when they exit the fish. A large hole is a large compromise in the mucus/skin/scale barrier of the fish. This barrier plays a large role in maintaining the animal’s osmotic balance. That means it is now expending a huge amount of energy for osmoregulation trying to maintain osmotic balance.
You can counteract this somewhat by greatly reducing the salinity of it's environment on a temporary basis. This is one reason that I recommend that you move the fish to quarantine and reduce the salinity there. If you watch the pH closely every day then you can drop the salinity very quickly. You may be able to take the salinity (not specific gravity) down to a point that it is close to the internal salinity of the fish. This is an emergency so try to get it down to 14ppt. Be very careful NOT TO REMOVE THE FISH FROM THE WATER during capture and transfer to a quarantine tank. Move it in a plastic bag or specimen container without exposing it to the air. Once you have the fish in the Qtank then add some Pro Tech Coat Marine or Stressguard to the water. This will serve as a temporary mucus barrier to help the fish with osmoregulation and work as a bandage.

I would add a good antibiotic to the Qtank because that hole can easily get a bacterial infection. You can use Maracyn-Two, Furanase or a couple of other choices. Look for an antibiotic that works against gram-negative bacteria. Start hatching a batch of baby brine shrimp (live) to feed the mandarin. You may be able to get the fish back into your reef in about a week. Turn the pumps off on your quarantine tank when you feed. Most mandarins will eat live and even frozen adult brine shrimp, but newly hatched baby brine are more nutritional. They will often eat frozen blood or even live black worms after a few trys. Target feed with a turkey-baster. Please read some of the articles on mandarins in my library at http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com
You will find two on feeding mandarins and a four part series on Synchiropus splendidus. You should also consider using my consultation service.

HTH,
Terry B

 

[Ed Hahn]

Angel and Terry,
I have a UV he can borrow for a week. Terry would this help?
Ed

 

[NaH2O]

Wow, great info Terry. In a case like this, should dropping the salinity be done quickly (i.e. in the same day?) or slowly over the course of several days? If this was indeed a parasite, should other fish be quarantined as well, if so for how long?

 

[NaH2O]

oops, sorry, I re-read your post Terry, and see you recommend to drop the salinity very quickly.

 

[Terry B]

A UV will reduce the number of free-floating bacteria in the water, but it won't do much for bacteria that are probably already present in the wound. I haven't seen this type of parasite to be contagious. It imbeds itself into the fish and grows. Then it leaves when it matures. I beleive that it has a life cycle that requires a non-fish host to complete.

I just had a terrible thought! What if Angelcrx has parasitic isopods in the tank? That could cause the wounds! They are really tough to get rid of. Angelcrx, try to look at the fish late tonight with a flashlight to see if you find anything attached to them. There is at least one type of parasitic isopod that will attach to the fish at night and flee at first light. I hope you don't have some of those. These isopods can easily reproduce in an aquarium.

Maybe we should all really quarantine all of our new rock before putting it into a reef tank...gulp.

Terry B

HTH,
Terry B

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Awesome information, thanks Terry!

 

[Angelscrx]

The rock has been in the tank long before the Mandarin so I think if it were isopods I would have seen signs of them long before. I read about those things awhile back. I do have a quarantine tank that I can place her in (it's a girl) and I can drop the salinity in there but my concern is feeding. I don't have any live food and I could probably drop some copepods from my refugium but they are hard to catch. I can medicate her there she seems to be eating fine. A lot of good info thanks to all.

 

[Angelscrx]

Terry I don't have a refractometer (sp?) to check salinity. I use the plastic store bought kind that tells you 1.020 - 1.024 etc. So what reading should I look for with this? Thanks

 

[Terry B]

Plastic swing arm type hydrometers are usually very inaccurate. If you cannot get a refractometer then how about a LARGE lab grade glass floating hydrometer that is calibrated for reef types temperatures. I do not recommend plastic swing arm hydrometers at all. If that is all that you can use then you won't be able to get the salinity as low because of the risk of a poor reading. With a plastic swing arm hydrometer shoot for a specific gravity of 1.014.
Most pet stores sell baby brine shrimp that you can hatch yourself. Its not hard to do. I already suggested reading my articles that explain how to feed a mandarin. Have you read them?

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[Angelscrx]

I read the feeding articles and now am reading the four part articles titled "The Synchiropus splendidus Series" Thanks.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Angel bring your water to me. I have a refractometer for Club. Ed

 

[Ed Hahn]

You test water with your hydrometer and write down your reading then bring water to me and I will do a reading with refractometer. We can judge how far off your reading is and create a formula.
Ed

 

[Angelscrx]

Thanks Ed I will do that. See you tonight.

 

[reiple]

Hello Terry. I had a two year old mandarin which died and it could not be malnourish because it was plump. Upon inspection a chunk of it's body was remove with the flesh still looking fresh. Could it also be parasites or could the mandarin have died from other causes and was being eaten by something? thanks for any info.

btw during it's death there were the following - a CBS (now RIP), a cowrie, around 13 turbos, a flasher wrasse (now RIP), a lemon damsel, a 5" hippo tang, a foxface and a 2 foot eel. No crabs or hermits.