Mandarin dragonet/goby

bremort93 · May 25, 2015

I've had him about a month now and he has been eating cope pods but now he is looking as if his color is starting to turn brown and there is some kind of slime/mucus coming off of his body in strings... any ideas what this could possibly be and more importantly why this happened and how to treat and prevent it from happening again!!!

kschweer · May 25, 2015

I don't have much help for but hopefully we
Can get you some. @Humblefish [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

bremort93 · May 25, 2015

Thank you : ) greatly appreciated!!!

Tahoe61 · May 25, 2015

Mandarin do have a heavier/thicker mucous coating, this coating is what makes them more resistant to marine ich, but they are still susceptible to the parasite. At times detritus and sand particles make stick to the mucous coating.

Remember this is an extremely difficult fish to keep long term in a newer set up. Mandarin eat hundreds of pods each day. You should research creating a feeding a station and food alternatives for your Mandarin.

bremort93 · May 25, 2015

He does eat pods but he will not go near any frozen shrimp.. shrimp pellets ... freeze or sun dried shrimp or flakes... let's say that in this case the mucus is normal... do you know why his skin is starting to turn brownish?!

Humblefish · May 25, 2015

Mandarins will look almost white at night and early in the morning. It's like they sleep in a protective cocoon (similar to some wrasses) - which is actually their slime/mucous coat. They will also release their slime coat when stressed.

bremort93 · May 25, 2015

Humblefish said:
Mandarins will look almost white at night and early in the morning. It's like they sleep in a protective cocoon (similar to some wrasses) - which is actually their slime/mucous coat. They will also release their slime coat when stressed.

That's is great news!!! Thank you BTW!!!!

mrjlopez731 · May 28, 2015

I had a female mandarin dragonet in a very well establish tank. She pretty much had the same thing going on as far as signs go. I had her for over 2 1/2 years. She died a few days later, but mine would also eat frozen and lived brine shrimp as well. I would bring them home and soak them in socon over night and feed them next day. So food was not the factor there, I did notice her color was getting lighter and she wasn't moving around as much. At the same time I also notice that my six line wrasse was picking on her. I think stress played a big roll on mine with her changes. I only mention this because stress may be a factor on your as well. Why, what, where and who it may be coming from.

Right after she died, guess who was taken out the tank. Yeah the wrasse, he took out two wrasse before her as they jumped out the tank because of his harassment but when he did that to her, he was out for sure. She was my favorite fish at the time. Right now due to not having any fish eating my cope pods, I seem to have an infestation going on. I need another mandarin as soon as I get my new refugium sump up and running and has been established for a few months and I'll add a cope pod breeding station to make sure they keep replenishing into the main tank. You may want to try this as well and add a cope pod breeder.