Pink spotted watchman goby flashing

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

I just got this goby yesterday and I see no signs of visible illness. My very trustworthy LFS had him for just over 1 month with no issues so I was pretty confident he was healthy. About one hour into the tank he started flashing and is doing it often. Since they had him over a month and I see no signs other signs of illness, I’m not sure what treatment to route to go. Doesn’t seem to have difficulty breathing either.

MnFish1 · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
I just got this goby yesterday and I see no signs of visible illness. My very trustworthy LFS had him for just over 1 month with no issues so I was pretty confident he was healthy. About one hour into the tank he started flashing and is doing it often. Since they had him over a month and I see no signs other signs of illness, I’m not sure what treatment to route to go. Doesn’t seem to have difficulty breathing either.

Do you have any medication in the tank - it's hard to see from the picture - does he have any spots, etc. Breathing ok? One hour should not be enough to 'bring on a disease' -so I would wonder about a salinity change, ammonia, etc. It's hard to recommend any 'treatment' except starting a routine copper followed by Prazipro protocol - OR - wait to see if it resolves. I would check your parameters as well

Seansea · Dec 30, 2023

Just flashing. Wouldnt worry about it until you see signs of illness or stops eating. Feed heavy and he should be ok.

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

MnFish1 said:
Do you have any medication in the tank - it's hard to see from the picture - does he have any spots, etc. Breathing ok? One hour should not be enough to 'bring on a disease' -so I would wonder about a salinity change, ammonia, etc. It's hard to recommend any 'treatment' except starting a routine copper followed by Prazipro protocol - OR - wait to see if it resolves. I would check your parameters as well

No visible signs of illness and he seems to be breathing normally. The only sign I notice is the flashing. Ammonia is 0 in the tank. Could it have been ammonia burn from the transport in bag? I haven’t dosed any medications yet because I assumed he was healthy from LFS since he was there for so long and they didn’t observe signs of illness.

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

MnFish1 said:
Do you have any medication in the tank - it's hard to see from the picture - does he have any spots, etc. Breathing ok? One hour should not be enough to 'bring on a disease' -so I would wonder about a salinity change, ammonia, etc. It's hard to recommend any 'treatment' except starting a routine copper followed by Prazipro protocol - OR - wait to see if it resolves. I would check your parameters as well

I’m also wondering if it was a change in salinity from his tank to mine. Is there anything I should do if this is the case? Or just observe and let it resolve in QT on its own unless other signs appear?

MnFish1 · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
No visible signs of illness and he seems to be breathing normally. The only sign I notice is the flashing. Ammonia is 0 in the tank. Could it have been ammonia burn from the transport in bag? I haven’t dosed any medications yet because I assumed he was healthy from LFS since he was there for so long and they didn’t observe signs of illness.

It could just be the glass floor, etc. But flashing is usually a sign of something - I wouldn't think ammonia if it wasn't multiple hours in the bag. I would not necessarily count the time in the store - as sometimes they use a lower sodium or copper in their tanks. I would consider the usual copper/prazipro protocol as compared to observation.

MnFish1 · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
I’m also wondering if it was a change in salinity from his tank to mine. Is there anything I should do if this is the case? Or just observe and let it resolve in QT on its own unless other signs appear?

I think waiting would be the only thing - you could call the store and find out what they run their tanks at and if they use any copper, etc

vetteguy53081 · Dec 30, 2023

On

alsante said:
I just got this goby yesterday and I see no signs of visible illness. My very trustworthy LFS had him for just over 1 month with no issues so I was pretty confident he was healthy. About one hour into the tank he started flashing and is doing it often. Since they had him over a month and I see no signs other signs of illness, I’m not sure what treatment to route to go. Doesn’t seem to have difficulty breathing either.

One thing may be lack of sand in which you want to add a bowl of sand for it
May be flashing but need to see video under clear lighting or chasing reflection

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
On

One thing may be lack of sand in which you want to add a bowl of sand for it
May be flashing but need to see video under clear lighting or chasing reflection

I made the mistake of putting him in the DT since he was at LFS so long and moved him to QT when I saw flashing. So he was flashing on the sand bed. I actually haven’t seen the behavior yet in the QT without sand. I did realize that the LFS is running tanks at low salinity and mine is 35 ppt. He is eating well and was sifting sand when in the DT so I was hesitant to medicate yet and didn’t really know if I should do Prazi or copper since there’s no other signs of illness.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
I made the mistake of putting him in the DT since he was at LFS so long and moved him to QT when I saw flashing. So he was flashing on the sand bed. I actually haven’t seen the behavior yet in the QT without sand. I did realize that the LFS is running tanks at low salinity and mine is 35 ppt. He is eating well and was sifting sand when in the DT so I was hesitant to medicate yet and didn’t really know if I should do Prazi or copper since there’s no other signs of illness.

Have it ready but do a 24/48 hour observation as fish is eating
I assume normal breathing- not rapid?

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Have it ready but do a 24/48 hour observation as fish is eating
I assume normal breathing- not rapid?

Yes normal breathing. Will observe for now, Thanks!

Jay Hemdal · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
Yes normal breathing. Will observe for now, Thanks!

Flashing can be a sign of flukes. Fluke infections take time to develop, so the LFS having kept it healthy for a month or more doesn't rule flukes out.

Another cause of flukes can be particles in the water that settle on the fish, making them think there are parasites, so they flash. You should see this though.

A course of praziquantel in the tank will alleviate flukes and is pretty safe as long as you aerate the water well.

Jay

MnFish1 · Dec 30, 2023

alsante said:
I made the mistake of putting him in the DT since he was at LFS so long and moved him to QT when I saw flashing. So he was flashing on the sand bed. I actually haven’t seen the behavior yet in the QT without sand. I did realize that the LFS is running tanks at low salinity and mine is 35 ppt. He is eating well and was sifting sand when in the DT so I was hesitant to medicate yet and didn’t really know if I should do Prazi or copper since there’s no other signs of illness.

Curious - how long was he in the DT?
I don't have any new recommendations - the standard we recommend is a quarantine of Prazipro and copper, however, not everyone does that - and observation is reasonable if that's the route you want to go. The fact that the fish was flashing on the sand IMHO shifts things a bit further to doing that protocol.

Additionally, the reason I asked the question how long in the DT is I would carefully watch your other fish for any illness signs.

alsante · Dec 30, 2023

MnFish1 said:
Curious - how long was he in the DT?
I don't have any new recommendations - the standard we recommend is a quarantine of Prazipro and copper, however, not everyone does that - and observation is reasonable if that's the route you want to go. The fact that the fish was flashing on the sand IMHO shifts things a bit further to doing that protocol.

Additionally, the reason I asked the question how long in the DT is I would carefully watch your other fish for any illness signs.

He was in the DT overnight but less than 24 hours. I’m already watching the other fish for signs of illness and I’ve dosed the QT with Prazipro. I was hesitant for copper treatment since there’s no other signs of illness but will see how he is after the Prazi treatment.