Mandarin getting skinnier

[_cpate3_]

Hello everyone. This is my second Mandarin I've kept in my 30g long reef tank that I've had for a little over 7 months now. I know there are lots of pods in the tank because I see them everywhere on the glass, back wall, and even on the rocks, however this past month I have noticed that he has gotten VERY skinny and I am not sure why. Any thoughts on why he might not be eating as much?

 

[TX_REEF]

what else is in the tank? Any physical injuries to the fish? A clear photo of the fish under white light could help.

 

[afboundguy]

Is he wild caught or captive bred? Does he eat pellet or frozen food?

 

[Rene2br]

If your tank isn't established, dragonets will do poorly. The only thing you can do is try and get them over to accepting frozen but even then, it is hard to keep weight on them if the tank isn't established. Maybe been going for over a year.

 

[_cpate3_]

what else is in the tank? Any physical injuries to the fish? A clear photo of the fish under white light could help.

There’s a baby tomini tang (rehoming once it outgrows), a Midas blenny, Pygmy hawkfish, royal gramma, and pink watchman goby. No physical injuries and no issues with the mucus coating

 

[_cpate3_]

Is he wild caught or captive bred? Does he eat pellet or frozen food?

I believe wild caught unfortunately. He would pick at frozen food when he was with my seahorses, but now in the reef he won’t again.

 

[_cpate3_]

If your tank isn't established, dragonets will do poorly. The only thing you can do is try and get them over to accepting frozen but even then, it is hard to keep weight on them if the tank isn't established. Maybe been going for over a year.

tank is about 14 months old, has liverock, coralline, and I can see pods everywhere on the back wall and glass so I know they’re in there. He will peck at 1 or 2, but is just not hunting as much as my other mandarin did

 

[_cpate3_]

I have plans to try out my brine feeder again, and if that doesn’t work I have made arrangements to put him in a friends 200g so he can fatten up and hopefully realize he wants to eat!!!

 

[Reef By Steele]

Mandarins from what I know seem to avoid a lot of ailments like in and velvet largely due to their slime coat. Having a Mandarin loosing weight would almost always indicate the lack of pods, but from your statements that seems to not be an issue. I would highly recommend you post this in the disease forum as there are several
Expert fish medics who watch it closely. Possible it has an internal parasite or worms which may be treatable.

 

[Reef By Steele]

An additional thought, you say you see pods all over the back and glass. Are they copepods or isopods? I ask because I have old eyes and struggle to see copepods even when I harvest them, but we have isopods all over the glass in our fallow qt systems and they are much larger and far easier to see. They are distinguishable from copepods as the appear IMO like a cylinder with 6 to 10 arms sticking out (looks like plankton from sponge bob). It could be possible that what you have are too large, or unattractive to the mandarin. Maybe post a picture of the pods on the glass for identification and a picture of the Mandy

 

[afboundguy]

I have plans to try out my brine feeder again, and if that doesn’t work I have made arrangements to put him in a friends 200g so he can fatten up and hopefully realize he wants to eat!!!

Are you talking about the @Paul B brine shrimp setup? If not I would highly recommend trying that at freshly hatched BBS are decent if they're really freshly hatched and haven't eaten up their yolk sack.