Well, I have no clue what the problem was. As some of you have read; Chubster was a brand new spotted mandarin addition. He was purchased on Feb. 15. He was eating great at the store, and in my tank too. Within 15 seconds of adding him to the tank, he was wolfing down 'pods.
The only thing I found strange was he was a swimmer. I have no experience with mandarins, but I read up on them real well before buying one. I know they require 'pods. I also know from experience in seeing them that they tend to be bottom dwellers.
Well my Chubster was always eating. He never appeared stressed. My other inhabitants are two
banggai cardinals, a skunk shrimp and a modest cleanup crew of a few nassarius,
blue legged hermits, and cerith snails. I own two corals, a mushroom and zoa-covered rock. They look fantastic. The mushrooms are already growing and reproducing, even. All in all, the tank continues to do very well.
My water quality is great. Ca is about 450; Alk is 11.2, no ammonia nitrates or nitrites. pH is spot on at 8.4.
Maybe somebody with more experience with mandarins can tell me if they ever swim. Chubster swam quite often. When he swam, he never appeared stressed. He seemed to like "riding the waves" that the Vortech produced. He was always eating. Every time I looked at him he was slowly migrating around and in between LR, sucking down 'pods.
My skunk shrimp always tried to latch on to him and clean him off. He seemed to tolerate it, but was clearly none too pleased. He usually gave the shrimp a few seconds to pick around on his fat body, and kinda walked away.
I have no clue what went wrong. Every other tank inhabitant shows no change in personality. Last night, I looked for him for a few minutes, didn't see him, and reluctantly grabbed the flashlight to spy the nether regions of carpet behind the tank. The pulse started to go up in anticipation. I've seen this before. Yup. There he was. Looking just like a letter C. I found Chubster on the carpet dried up and lifeless.
I'll never have a top on my tank. I want the O2 exchange and don't want any light obstructed by salt spray on a glass top. I've been picking my fish very carefully with a "no jumpers allowed" policy. That's why I don't get a firefish, which I love. They tend to jump.
So? What am I missing? Was the fact that Chubster swam, a warning sign that I should have realized meant something important? What's going on here?
I think all gobys/blennies/dragonettes have the potential to jump
