I had a Bad Night in The Reef. AGAIN!!!

[lubeck]

This past week has been a total disaster in my reef tank. Loosing a blue damsel and a large Sailfin Tang to my ex-Atlantic carpet anemone was just the begining.

Tonight while doing my rutine garbage collection, my wife is yelling at me saying that "mandy" (mandrin goby) got sucked up in my closed loop.

I don't know how long it was on the egg crate screen cover, but no longer than 5 minutes. Thats about how long it is before someone is looking at the tank. She immediatley turned off the pump and Mandy slowly floated down to the bottom. Within a few moments she started swimming but had some rapid breathing. She was swimming around looking for pods but couldn't tell if she was eating.
When removing the egg crate screen, it had a large amount of slime coat on it from mandy. I was told her head and tail were wraped around one of the bars of the egg crate. It seems she has some bruises on her tail and head area.
So..... The question is: If she lives,
will she get her slime coat back?
Is there anything I should add to the tank? I don't like to add chemicals and don't... but if it helps her I will.
Should I put her in my refugium? I don't have a Q/T.
Any advice would be much appriciated. Thanks. I have my fingers crossed. I hope I don't wake up to a dead mandy. She's my favorite.

 

[ryanhayes9]

i think stress coat helps slime coat i think i remember reading it on the bottle.

 

[seannmelly]

idk how stress coat will affect your lr, but if you do decide to use it, turn off your protein skimmer b/c it will make it go crazy

 

[pco1988]

If I can remember correctly the mandrin produces that slime coat when stressed and during inactivity.
Philip

 

[fishieness]

stress soat will suposedly help. But all it is is oil that you will add to your tank and if overdosed, could mess up your levels and make your protein skimmer go crazy as mentioned above. All fish produce a slime coat all the time, but sometimes when they are stressed, their slime coat diminishes and they will try to produce more. if you can VERY EASILY catch him with no stress, i personaly would put him in the fuge momentarily for a few days. That way, there will be more pods around so he has to work less for his food.

 

[murph145]

man ive lost two things to my CL intake screen....
one my banded pipe fish and 2 my 1 and a half year old skunk cleaner shrimp both got sucked up to it and couldnt get off then i saw them and turned the pumps off they lied about another 4 hours then died
sorry to hear about that issue lubeck it happens to all of us.... luckily my mandarin hasnt had an issue yet

 

[lubeck]

thanks for the replies... i really don't want to add stress coat. I will try tomorrow to get her out and into the fuge. easier said then done though...

 

[dogstar]

Imo its best to just leave the fish along, moveing it will cause more stress and find a strainer for that intake.

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by Lubeck
thanks for the replies... i really don't want to add stress coat. I will try tomorrow to get her out and into the fuge. easier said then done though...
yeah, unless like the fish was lieing right now breathing heavy where you could literaly scoop her up the first time, i wouldnt try it. Moving would be good, but not if it is going to cause more stress.

 

[lubeck]

OK i'll leave it in. I glued an old black mag strainer to it... it looks bulky but think it will do the job. When my new live rock is cured I think i will be able to cover it up. I just hope mandy doesn't kick it.

 

[lubeck]

So far so good. She was swimming around eating pods all day.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by Lubeck
So far so good. She was swimming around eating pods all day.

I'm glad to hear that.