Aw, crap. Anyone seen this before?

[Jeanniee]

I had a beautiful spotted mandarin, fat and happy, eating frozen food. All was well yesterday and today I found her adhered to the top of the OUTSIDE of my tank. She was completely dried out but attached to the tank by some gelatinous material. Anyone ever heard of such a thing???

[MSAreef]

EEEEW! Never heard of that happening.

[bllfish]

I think I heard of them covering up with something like that when they sleep. Sort of a protective gel or slime. Not positive though.

[vanmo92]

never heard of that before. thats weird.

[druce]

that sucks, sorry to hear the loss. I've had my mandarin for a year now and never noticed any gel around him when he sleeps - yes, i tend to do the flashlight thing allot these days.

interesting tho.. I wonder what happened

[needyreefer]

I agree with Bllfish. They release a slime on their skin thats toxic to other fish so that they don't get eaten. Sorry about your loss though...

[druce]

cool, I never knew that

[just dave]

I've had 'em jump out into a sump below and when I've taken 'em out by hand they slime like crazy. Looks like I dipped my hand in goo.

[Jeanniee]

Originally posted by just dave
I've had 'em jump out into a sump below and when I've taken 'em out by hand they slime like crazy. Looks like I dipped my hand in goo.

Must have been a stress response to being out of the tank. Even though the fish was completely dried out the goo was..well still gooey. Bummer. I have never had to peel a dead fish off the outside of my tank before

[druce]

hopefully that is a task most of us will never have to perform.

[cbicop]

Do you have any cats or kids?

[Jeanniee]

Originally posted by cbicop
Do you have any cats or kids?

No kids but I have cats but the tank is covered.