water looks more like milk
- Thread starter Dusty
- Start date
- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
Ok... first, fix the date on your camera.
Next, get rid of the mandarin. This is not an easy fish to keep in a small tank. Unless you have it eating prepared foods, they need a constant supply of live copepods, and unless you plan on culturing them yourself, there will not be enough in that size tank to support a mandarin.
You're going to need to take a few steps back in order to move forward. You will probably want to add a bit more live rock to the tank, and a skimmer is strongly recommended. Kathy made some good suggestions. Take them. Once the tank is cycled properly, you'll want to start with a hardy beginner fish, and a small cleanup crew.
You've obviously done some research, as you seem to know that mandarins eat pods, and made an attempt to add some as food, but you'll want to do a bit more reading on setting up a tank before you toss anything in there. Go slow, read, and the hobby will be much more rewarding. (If that doesn't motivate you enough, it will also be cheaper in the long run. Fish and corals get expensive to replace if they die.)
Next, get rid of the mandarin. This is not an easy fish to keep in a small tank. Unless you have it eating prepared foods, they need a constant supply of live copepods, and unless you plan on culturing them yourself, there will not be enough in that size tank to support a mandarin.
You're going to need to take a few steps back in order to move forward. You will probably want to add a bit more live rock to the tank, and a skimmer is strongly recommended. Kathy made some good suggestions. Take them. Once the tank is cycled properly, you'll want to start with a hardy beginner fish, and a small cleanup crew.
You've obviously done some research, as you seem to know that mandarins eat pods, and made an attempt to add some as food, but you'll want to do a bit more reading on setting up a tank before you toss anything in there. Go slow, read, and the hobby will be much more rewarding. (If that doesn't motivate you enough, it will also be cheaper in the long run. Fish and corals get expensive to replace if they die.)
- Location
- NY
Dusty, you came here to look for help.
Every single person that heard you have a mandarin is telling you the exact same thing, "GET HIM OUT". Your tank is so unbelievably far from being appropriate for a mandarin it is ridiculous. Out of the hundreds of fish you could have selected, you decided to go with possibly the single worst fish (other than a Moorish Idol or Grouper
).
If you want help from the community here, you've got to show that you want to help yourself. Saying that your mandarin is eating and fat is NOT the right response. Even if your tank was 8 months mature, a mandarin wouldn't be appropriate for your tank. So having it in there after 3 weeks is certainly not helping your system stabilize, nor is it ethical to the poor fish. You should have zero fish in that tank.
Kathy gave you a fantastic list of things to do to help you get your system on the right track. You should follow every one of her recommendations. Then you should come back to Manhattan Reefs with the comment, 'I've done everything you said Kathy', 'What should I do next?'. We are honestly trying to help you. Whether you elect to recognize that or not is your own hangup.
Sometimes at this early stage of a system, it's less work, definitely less expensive, and much easier all around to take half a dozen steps backwards to right a horribly wrong beginning.
I hope you take the advice offered. It is quality advice.
Russ
Every single person that heard you have a mandarin is telling you the exact same thing, "GET HIM OUT". Your tank is so unbelievably far from being appropriate for a mandarin it is ridiculous. Out of the hundreds of fish you could have selected, you decided to go with possibly the single worst fish (other than a Moorish Idol or Grouper
). If you want help from the community here, you've got to show that you want to help yourself. Saying that your mandarin is eating and fat is NOT the right response. Even if your tank was 8 months mature, a mandarin wouldn't be appropriate for your tank. So having it in there after 3 weeks is certainly not helping your system stabilize, nor is it ethical to the poor fish. You should have zero fish in that tank.
Kathy gave you a fantastic list of things to do to help you get your system on the right track. You should follow every one of her recommendations. Then you should come back to Manhattan Reefs with the comment, 'I've done everything you said Kathy', 'What should I do next?'. We are honestly trying to help you. Whether you elect to recognize that or not is your own hangup.
Sometimes at this early stage of a system, it's less work, definitely less expensive, and much easier all around to take half a dozen steps backwards to right a horribly wrong beginning.
I hope you take the advice offered. It is quality advice.
Russ
- Location
- Jersey City NJ
if u read back in some of my first posts alot of people did tell me that my tank at 4 months was not established for a mandarin and i just brushed them thinking that my mandarin would survive, 2months later he died i found him being sucked up by an anenome. I am thinking he first died from lack of eating because i had no idea what a copod was now i have so many on my rock and some copods are getting so big that i think it is time for me to get a mandarin. anyway now to your cloudy problem my tank also looked like yours and people told me to let it cycle and i waited a few more weeks and it cleared enough that it makes u want to drink it lol also after the cloudiness goes away i am almost 100% sure u will get some hair algae in the tank if u dont already have some
i get what you are saying but i have no where to take or put my mandarin.
ive been keeping the lights off and the water has cleared a lot in the last two days.
i understand what you'll are saying, i like you'll would hate for him to die he is a very beautiful fish but i cant change the fact that i dont have a home for him.i am greatful for the info that you all give but this is some thing that i will have to make the best of and i am doing my best to keep him alive (hand feed him 4 or 5 times a day,no over feeding.
ive been keeping the lights off and the water has cleared a lot in the last two days.
i understand what you'll are saying, i like you'll would hate for him to die he is a very beautiful fish but i cant change the fact that i dont have a home for him.i am greatful for the info that you all give but this is some thing that i will have to make the best of and i am doing my best to keep him alive (hand feed him 4 or 5 times a day,no over feeding.
- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
Take him back to where you got him. Or, join a local reef forum and see if someone there wants to take him in.
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