Sick Goby - ID problem?

[Sonam]

We have had this goby for about two months. Up until last evening he was doing great. Sifting sand, digging caves under the rocks and eating dinner with the other fish in the evenings. We've seen him scoop up and eat snail eggs and other debris from the sand and he is normallt very active.

Last evening he didn't eat as much as usual and slowed down a lot. He was moving very little but did move around when cleaner shrimp approached him.

Today he has been still most of the day with what looks like labored breathing.

This video shows his mouth. There are no outward signs of disease, no discoloration of his body, no visible spots, no outward signs of film or bacteria. Just lethargy and today loss of appetite.

Looking at the close up it looks like there is goo in his mouth and there may be what as a nurse I would call "angry red" areas in his mouth.

But we've never looked closely at his mouth before so maybe this is normal.

I have done a fresh water dip and have him in qt with hyposalinity for the time being.

Any advice on what we are dealing with would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge.

 

[melypr1985]

It's definitely labored breathing. Any of the other fish acting strange, lethargic ect? What was the last wet thing added to the tank and how long ago?

 

[Sonam]

All the other fish are acting normally. We got two new corals and some snails last weekend.

 

[Humblefish]

Any chance he tried to eat a bristleworm (or similar) in your tank?

 

[Sonam]

We did see and attempt to capture a fairly large bristle worm a few days ago. It was maybe 4 inches. There are tiny ones sometimes in the sand but that one was big. And this goby was a true sand sifter. We have seem him suck trails of snail eggs out of the sand and small spaghetti type worms. That is a possibility.

 

[Sonam]

Any chance he tried to eat a bristleworm (or similar) in your tank?

Hi @Humblefish - thank you so much for your knowledgeable guidance.

The goby has been in a low salinity qt for several days now. He still shows no signs of disease. He isn't eating much (only a small amount of sand in there because it is a qt and we will need to clean it out after he is removed). He seems a little perkier some times, and other times he hides under the rocks (we remove those when using copper).

Since he doesn't look like he has a disease, and he may have been injured in an encounter with a bristle worm - would it be ok to out him back in the main display? We're thinking he may eat better if he has a deep sand bed. But of course we don't want to endanger our main system.

We are also contending with a power outage here but we do have back up generators running the fish tanks so they are not impacted too much.

Hoping where ever folks are they aren't suffering from the results of this storm!

 

[Humblefish]

Since he doesn't look like he has a disease, and he may have been injured in an encounter with a bristle worm - would it be ok to out him back in the main display?

What is the difference in SG between your DT and the low salinity QT?

 

[Sonam]

Thank you for all the support! He's recovered!
Back to his usual self.

 

[Sonam]

He's now taken up with our firefish. The firefish is going in and out of the sand sifters holes, and he seems to be cleaning out spaces for the firefish. Ever heard of such a thing?

 

[Humblefish]

He's now taken up with our firefish. The firefish is going in and out of the sand sifters holes, and he seems to be cleaning out spaces for the firefish. Ever heard of such a thing?

The goby is probably just doing his thing and the firefish is taking advantage of the situation.

 

[Sonam]

[emoji2] *laughing* Don't you think maybe once every thousand years after being isolated and alone a firegoby might connect with a handsome diamond goby like I have? And they become ... Best friends? ROFLOL

 

[Humblefish]

[emoji2] *laughing* Don't you think maybe once every thousand years after being isolated and alone a firegoby might connect with a handsome diamond goby like I have? And they become ... Best friends? ROFLOL

I'm a firm believer that anything is possible