Help!!! What’s wrong with my goby?!

[Twalker791]

I have had a pink spotted goby for about 2 weeks in my FOWLR tank with 2 clowns and snails. He seemed perfectly fine until today. Didn’t really come out at feeding time or even go for the bits that went right past his face. His mouth is open and he’s gasping- but neither of my clowns are. It appears his lips are injured or is it some sort of weird infection? Not sure what to do. First pic is him as normal- the second is today

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Im not sure who the disease/injury expert is, maybe @Jay Hemdal can chime in. I think you'll get better help posting in the disease section (I'm not saying it looks like a disease, that just seems like the best place)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The second image sure seems to show an injury, the redness on the leading edge of the lips. However, the increased breathing rate is difficult to reconcile with that - why would that cause the fish to breath faster?

The two week timeline is a concern, diseases often show up in the first 30 days. That said, there isn't a specific disease that causes symptoms like this. My best guess is that since it was a new fish, it was startled, or tried to jump out and it injured its mouth. Then, perhaps a secondary bacterial infection has set in. Do you have a treatment tank available? If the fish isn't eating, you will need to go that route. If it is still eating, you could just "wait and see" if it will resolve on its own.

Jay

 

[Twalker791]

The second image sure seems to show an injury, the redness on the leading edge of the lips. However, the increased breathing rate is difficult to reconcile with that - why would that cause the fish to breath faster?

The two week timeline is a concern, diseases often show up in the first 30 days. That said, there isn't a specific disease that causes symptoms like this. My best guess is that since it was a new fish, it was startled, or tried to jump out and it injured its mouth. Then, perhaps a secondary bacterial infection has set in. Do you have a treatment tank available? If the fish isn't eating, you will need to go that route. If it is still eating, you could just "wait and see" if it will resolve on its own.

Jay

Update- I woke up and he was dead this morning

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Update- I woke up and he was dead this morning

Sorry to hear. May have been a severe secondary infection, but fish can have multiple problems at the same time. Perhaps an injury combined with a gill infection....
Jay