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Valuable Member
I would have to rule out starvation because the other one is fine according to you. Just feed her to help her get some nutrition. i MeAn iT cOulD bE pRegNaCy. But in all seriousness, we need @Humblefish and #reefsquad here.
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Valuable Member
She looks awful and it looks like from what I see is nipped fins. I would say (Remember I am nowhere near an expert and am only going on what I know from the 9 months I have been reefing.) maybe a bacterial infection in my unofficial answers.
They have a thick slime coat but mandarins can get any disease any other fish can. That fish looks like it needs treatment asap.
Could the male be beating her up? Some will not pair/reject each other and when mandarins fight it is brutal. Literally grab and shake the other one.
This is anecdotal and may not be of help but thought I would share.
I recently had mine get sick. Still unsure what the root cause was, but there was an ich or velvet outbreak in the tank that took hold and killed 1/3 of tank mates. The mandarin didn’t have any external signs but started bedding down middle of the day (covering itself in sand) and not moving much. Essentially stopped eating yet the mouth was still making the pecking action.
I put him in his own QT tank because I read he couldn’t go into the copper power with everyone else and so out of desperation treated with NFG. He got all mucus covered and stayed in place for a few days but now after 2 weeks seems to be back to normal. Fortunately mine takes frozen and is eating again but did lose a good amount of size from the fasting period.
I recently had mine get sick. Still unsure what the root cause was, but there was an ich or velvet outbreak in the tank that took hold and killed 1/3 of tank mates. The mandarin didn’t have any external signs but started bedding down middle of the day (covering itself in sand) and not moving much. Essentially stopped eating yet the mouth was still making the pecking action.
I put him in his own QT tank because I read he couldn’t go into the copper power with everyone else and so out of desperation treated with NFG. He got all mucus covered and stayed in place for a few days but now after 2 weeks seems to be back to normal. Fortunately mine takes frozen and is eating again but did lose a good amount of size from the fasting period.
N.Sreefer
Valuable Member
I'm so sorry for your loss it's so sad losint a fish I think we can all relate . Looks like her eyes had pressure behind them from an intercranial hematoma. Anything from blunt force trauma to magnesium overdose to nematode infection, even genetic disorders could cause that no way of really telling without a necropsy. That's all conjecture but it's my theory from looking at her eyes.
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