Dead Manadrin

scgator

Member
I found my mandarin dead this afternoon with no apparent reason. It showed no signs of stress when I saw it yesterday. When I found it there were no marks on the body, except for the fact that the eyes were gone. It was plump and not shrunken. I've only had it for one week. I did not put it into my QT tank because I was afraid that he would not survive due to the QT having no live rock. I instead asked the store to hold hive for several weeks while I observed him. I have 50+ lbs of live rock with MANY little critters crawling on it. My water quality is:
PH - 8.2
Nitrate - 10ppm
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - .25ppm
Salinity - 1.021
I have 15+ scarlet and blue-leg hermits and 15+ turbo snails. I also have a queen conch and 4 shaving brush plants. All other inhabitants are healthy and thriving. The tank has been up for over five months. Can anyone tell me what happened so that i can prevent it form occurring again?
 

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Was the mandarin eating after you put him in your tank? Are there any predators in your tank that could have attacked him?
 

scgator

Member
Yes, I observed him eating on several occasions. Aside from the fact that he was dead he looked perfectly healthy.
No predators, just the hermits and snails. I've not heard any clicking noises or other signs of a mantis shrimp so don't think that could be it.
I'm clueless as to what happened. Any ideas? He was fairly large, for a madarin, could I have bought an elderly fish?
I also have two small children that are fascinated with the tank. Could they have put something into it that would have killed him and not the other residents?
 

scgator

Member
I talked to my LFS owner. He said that the queen conch has a defensive "harpoon" and the mandarin probably got too close and got stabbed. Does this sound legit? I know that some snail species have this type of defensive weapon, but was unaware that the queen conch was one. Can I move it to my QT tank and it survive? or should I just get rid of it? (ie give it away)
 

elfdoctors

Active Member
I think your LFS is mistaken. There are snail like creatures (e.g. whelks) which can be aggressive but queen conches are considered peaceful. I would not wrongly punish the queen.
Some fish die within several weeks of being introduced into a tank. It is thought that some of those fish may have been collected with cyanide on the reefs and died from that exposure.
We probably will not be able to give you a definite answer. I would just watch your other fish to make sure that you didn't import a disease which would hurt them.
 
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