wsboyette
Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fish
I recently added a healthy green mandarin dragonet to my 45g FOWLR, having (I thought) stocked it well with pods (Tisbe sp.) during the previous month (knowing that mandarins normally do not do well in smaller tanks). I am new to the use of pods, as in a previous setup years ago I kept the mandarin I had thriving on white worms that lived and propagated in the substrate. I also added a bottle of the "tigger" (Tigris) pods by Reef Nutrition when I put the mandarin in the tank. The tank already contained a blue damsel, coral beauty, and maroon clown. Until yesterday, the mandarin appeared to be feeding well, grazing over the LR and was very active. Then since the night before last, after a water change and light vacuuming of the sand surface, he seems lethargic, just sitting around on the bottom and not cruising for pods. Water parameters tested all ideal, with nitrates under 15 and near-zero ammonia, PH around 8.2 and SG at 1.024. This worries me, as I am wondering whether I disturbed the pod population and disrupted its availability to the mandarin, or maybe the other fish were also eating pods and simply depleted the supply prematurely ? Or could he have just been shocked by my water change ?