[DaxAlbrecht]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish. I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but, you really need to research the requirements for keeping a specimen before you buy it. Mandarins really need a large tank with a good micro fauna population in order to survive. I've heard that mandarins can be trained to eat other foods (brine shrimp, etc.) but you shouldn't expect a newly imported specimen to have any interest in food other than what they would naturally eat (that is live amphipods,copepods, etc.).

As for your mandarin, it doesn't sound like he's doing too well. What you should really do is give it to somebodey who has a large, well established reef tank so that the mandarin can feed on the tank's natural food population. At this point it may be the only way to save the fish's life. I hope this helps.