Mandarin breathing very fast - can't figure out what's wrong

[reef wrangler]

I've had a mandarin for over 2 months in a QT. She was tiny when I got her, maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch so it has been hard to really see her. She has grown but at one point was very malnourished. When I realized it, I bought pods and have been hatching out baby brine. She has been eating well and moves around the tank hunting for pods. She's grown and is now at least an inch. She has seemed to breathe fast but it's gotten worse over the past few days. I got her with a Carpenter's wrasse and 3 chromis. 2 of the chromis were dead on arrival. I had to put her in the QT because the display tank I was going to put her in ended up with velvet a couple of days before I got the shipment with the mandarin. I treated the QT with general cure for 10 days. The wrasse ended up dying. It was breathing fast, then it slowed down and eventually died. The chromis came through quarantine just fine and has been in the display tank for a couple of weeks and is doing great. I left the mandarin in quarantine to fatten her up and observe her. After seeing her breathing faster than usual, I ended up trying prazipro and finished that a few days ago. I just did a fresh water dip and didn't see anything. She doesn't look like she has velvet or ich. What could this be? An internal parasite? Below are my parameters. Everything is fine. I'm not sure what to do next. I tried to upload a video but I received an error saying that the uploaded file "was not a video as expected". I'm not sure what format videos have to be in. It was an MP4.

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

 

[Jekyl]

Let @Jay Hemdal chime in on this one. Mandarin I've heard don't do well with medication and quarantine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I've had a mandarin for over 2 months in a QT. She was tiny when I got her, maybe 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch so it has been hard to really see her. She has grown but at one point was very malnourished. When I realized it, I bought pods and have been hatching out baby brine. She has been eating well and moves around the tank hunting for pods. She's grown and is now at least an inch. She has seemed to breathe fast but it's gotten worse over the past few days. I got her with a Carpenter's wrasse and 3 chromis. 2 of the chromis were dead on arrival. I had to put her in the QT because the display tank I was going to put her in ended up with velvet a couple of days before I got the shipment with the mandarin. I treated the QT with general cure for 10 days. The wrasse ended up dying. It was breathing fast, then it slowed down and eventually died. The chromis came through quarantine just fine and has been in the display tank for a couple of weeks and is doing great. I left the mandarin in quarantine to fatten her up and observe her. After seeing her breathing faster than usual, I ended up trying prazipro and finished that a few days ago. I just did a fresh water dip and didn't see anything. She doesn't look like she has velvet or ich. What could this be? An internal parasite? Below are my parameters. Everything is fine. I'm not sure what to do next. I tried to upload a video but I received an error saying that the uploaded file "was not a video as expected". I'm not sure what format videos have to be in. It was an MP4.

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Posting the video to YouTube works pretty well.

Have you changed any aeration or water temperature?

Sounds like it was a captive raised mandarin? If so, internal parasites are unlikely. It could be bacterial or protozoan gill disease.

Jay

 

[reef wrangler]

Posting the video to YouTube works pretty well.

Have you changed any aeration or water temperature?

Sounds like it was a captive raised mandarin? If so, internal parasites are unlikely. It could be bacterial or protozoan gill disease.

Jay

Thanks for the video tip! Here are the links. and . Yes, this is a captive raised fish. I did increase aeration when I added the prazi. I also increased the water temp from 78 to 80 because I have the brine hatchery in the tank. Any idea from the video what it is and the best action to take?

 

[Uncle99]

BB shrimp are not a great food item for mandarin, very low nutritional content.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the video tip! Here are the links. and . Yes, this is a captive raised fish. I did increase aeration when I added the prazi. I also increased the water temp from 78 to 80 because I have the brine hatchery in the tank. Any idea from the video what it is and the best action to take?

Definitely breathing too deep and fast.
Higher water temperature means less dissolved oxygen, does the tank have good aeration?
This could be protozoan or bacterial, but you said the fish has always breathed fairly fast? It could be developmental.
As mentioned, Baby brine isn’t nutritious unless you feed it with essential fatty acids first. But that isn’t causing the rapid breathing.
Jay

 

[reef wrangler]

BB shrimp are not a great food item for mandarin, very low nutritional

Definitely breathing too deep and fast.
Higher water temperature means less dissolved oxygen, does the tank have good aeration?
This could be protozoan or bacterial, but you said the fish has always breathed fairly fast? It could be developmental.
As mentioned, Baby brine isn’t nutritious unless you feed it with essential fatty acids first. But that isn’t causing the rapid breathing.
Jay

It's a 10 gal tank and I have a pump with an air-stone. It's on pretty high. I can increase it to see if that makes a difference. Since I've been able to see her well enough to watch her breathe, she has seemed to breathe faster than I would expect but I'd say that it's gotten worse. I know that baby brine aren't the best to feed, but it was that or starve to death. She was supposed to be trained to eat pellets and frozen cyclops but obviously she wasn't eating those. She is starting to look like she's gaining some bulk and she has definitely grown. What would you suggest I feed her? She's so small that most things are too big for her. If this is protozoan or bacterial, what would be the best course of treatment? Hyposalinity treats protozoan, correct? Could I treat for bacteria while in hyposalinity? If this is developmental, I'd like to rule disease out before putting her in my display. I'd hate to infect my other fish. I really appreciate your help.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It's a 10 gal tank and I have a pump with an air-stone. It's on pretty high. I can increase it to see if that makes a difference. Since I've been able to see her well enough to watch her breathe, she has seemed to breathe faster than I would expect but I'd say that it's gotten worse. I know that baby brine aren't the best to feed, but it was that or starve to death. She was supposed to be trained to eat pellets and frozen cyclops but obviously she wasn't eating those. She is starting to look like she's gaining some bulk and she has definitely grown. What would you suggest I feed her? She's so small that most things are too big for her. If this is protozoan or bacterial, what would be the best course of treatment? Hyposalinity treats protozoan, correct? Could I treat for bacteria while in hyposalinity? If this is developmental, I'd like to rule disease out before putting her in my display. I'd hate to infect my other fish. I really appreciate your help.

If you can gut load the brine with fatty acids, that can help.
The short term breathing problem is a mystery to me. I have NOT personally done hypo on a mandarin.
Jay

 

[Uncle99]

Use of medications may result in lower appetite, which of course is counterproductive.
I have had no luck in the past with captive bred, so last addition went back to wild caught with lots of rock and PODS system.
I’ve never fed him once.

 

[reef wrangler]

Use of medications may result in lower appetite, which of course is counterproductive.
I have had no luck in the past with captive bred, so last addition went back to wild caught with lots of rock and PODS system.
I’ve never fed him once.

Nice!

 

[Karen00]

I have a captive bred baby mandarin and she eats everything but things like mysis I have to cut with scissors into tiny, tiny pieces. The same with bloodworms. She loves these. Not sure if it's the colour red that's alluring to her. I also feed frozen krill, live pods and live bbs. I gut load the brine shrimp once they get beyond 24hrs. I didn't qt mine. She was way too tiny and I got way too nervous about trying it with her. She's getting nice and plump. I wish you luck with yours! They're such magical creatures!

 

[reef wrangler]

If you can gut load the brine with fatty acids, that can help.
The short term breathing problem is a mystery to me. I have NOT personally done hypo on a mandarin.
Jay

If you can gut load the brine with fatty acids, that can help.
The short term breathing problem is a mystery to me. I have NOT personally done hypo on a

I have a captive bred baby mandarin and she eats everything but things like mysis I have to cut with scissors into tiny, tiny pieces. The same with bloodworms. She loves these. Not sure if it's the colour red that's alluring to her. I also feed frozen krill, live pods and live bbs. I gut load the brine shrimp once they get beyond 24hrs. I didn't qt mine. She was way too tiny and I got way too nervous about trying it with her. She's getting nice and plump. I wish you luck with yours! They're such magical creatures!

Glad to hear that yours is doing well. I didn't have a choice other than to quarantine mine. An angel in my main tank ended up having velvet the day before the mandarin arrived. I had no other place to put her. Really bad timing. Now I'm afraid to put her in the main tank for fear that she'll infect my other fish now that they're done with copper and the tank has been fallow. I'm going to try the tank tranfer method to see if that helps any. She hunts and eats well right now. Other than breathing fast she seems normal. I'm really at a loss as to my next move.

 

[Karen00]

Glad to hear that yours is doing well. I didn't have a choice other than to quarantine mine. An angel in my main tank ended up having velvet the day before the mandarin arrived. I had no other place to put her. Really bad timing. Now I'm afraid to put her in the main tank for fear that she'll infect my other fish now that they're done with copper and the tank has been fallow. I'm going to try the tank tranfer method to see if that helps any. She hunts and eats well right now. Other than breathing fast she seems normal. I'm really at a loss as to my next move.

I totally understand where you're at and why you had to qt. On the flip side I got lucky with not qt'ing. It could've easily gone sideways with me. This is supposed to be a relaxing hobby but I swear... sometimes... not so much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Fritz05]

I do not know if your goby is still alive, but I bought a captive bred watchman goby which breathed the same way as in your video. It is still alive and well after more than 6 months. The breathing never slowed, though.