Adding a new mandarin to an ich-free tank

Ok, so I am nearing the end of my fallow period for my DT. My fish have been in quarantine for 7 weeks with the DT fallow, and I am planning on going another week or two before re-introducing the fish.

I want to add a mandarin to my tank first, though. I have plenty of copepods, and a working fuge. I want to add the mandarin first, as it is the least aggressive of all the fish in the tank.

Here's the question - I don't just want to add it directly to the DT, because who knows what parasites it may be carrying to my newly disease-free tank. I prefer to quarantine it and perhaps treat it prophylactically to be certain there are no parasites (or else this entire 8 weeks will have been a waste).

With this in mind, how should I proceed to quarantine this fish, and with what should I treat it?

 

You should Qt any new fish for at least a week before introducing it to your DT. Do you already have a QT tank set up?
Mandarins are somewhat difficult to get to feed but as you said, you have a copeopd culture. You can probably use use the copepods from your DT to try to get him to feed in the QT before placing in your DT.
But firstly, as you may know, you should take a close look at the fish before you buy it. Make sure it looks healthy and eating well before you purchase.
If the fish looks healthy and eating well at the LFS, personally, I would put him straight into my DT since they're no other fish in there at the moment.
Good Luck

 

I guess part of my question is what is the best way to transfer copepods into a QT? With a piece of chaeto, or rock, etc? And also what medication is best to use on a mandarin to rid it of any parasites (is Paraguard ok?).

 

You could wait until it's night time, drop in an algae wafer, wait for them to swarm and then net them all, LOL. Works for me.

Chaeto works really well too

 

By QT'ing and specially treating a fish that probably does not have a disease you are only putting the fish through more stress and opening yourself up for more failure IMHO. If you are really having that much trouble with disease you need to look into getting your fish from a different dealer, your husbandry of the tank, or both. Just my 2 cents.
With that being said, mandarins have a very thick slime coat which is also toxic. Ich and other external parasites will not affect the fish.

 

My mandarin went right into the tank. They're very disease resistant, have a great slime to them, LOL. I've had no issue with it.

 

So you guys believe that mandarins will not introduce parasites into the tank.....ok, I might be willing to do that. To be safe, would it hurt the fish to have a paraguard dip for 10-15 minutes just to be on the safe side?

 

From what i've read the heavy slime coat on a mandarin makes them resistant to Ich and other parasites / diseases. But if you get a mandarin from a tank riddled with ich it still could introduce the parasite to your tank even if it is not showing symptoms.

~Will.

 

i just tested the water from the pet store to mine, floated the bag 1/2 hour and plop! doing fine for over 6 months now.