Sick goby. What's wrong?

[I_Got_Crabs]

Labored breathing, puffy pink gills, trouble swimming (weak and drifty)...

Still lunging for food but having a really hard time getting it. It seems almost as though he's blind.He was able to eat 2 small pieces of frozen mysis, so I am hoping this will help bring him back from the edge.

Backstory: Previous 30 gal tank sprung a leak so I crammed all my coral, fish and inverts into my 13.5 fluval as I set up a new DT. Stik (the goby) hung out in a low flow corner of the tank that was really difficult to clean, so although the tank params were fine, I worried about the water quality he was living in. It also didnt help that he was quite hard to feed in this location and really hasnt eaten much over the last month or so. When I went to transfer the fish to my new DT, Stik when went belly up and I thought he was a goner. He then floated around in the DT, but eventually over the last 24 hrs has improved substantially, but still looks very ill as described above.

Any ideas for how to help him?

 

[HotRocks]

Have you tested for ammonia in this new tank?

How long did you have the fish in the tank that leaked and then how long in the temporary tank prior to this new DT?

Did you QT this fish when you got it originally?

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

Have you tested for ammonia in this new tank?

How long did you have the fish in the tank that leaked and then how long in the temporary tank prior to this new DT?

Did you QT this fish when you got it originally?

He was my first fish so I did not quarantine him. I had only him for 6 weeks before adding others. He has always been on of my healthiest fish until now. Ammonia is zero in the new tank. He was in the 30 gal for 8 months before the leak, then 6-8 weeks in the emergency tank.

 

[HotRocks]

Got ya. Have you recently added new fish then? When?

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

Got ya. Have you recently added new fish then? When?

No new fish. Just him and two occelaris clowns for about 3 months now. Luckily they leave him alone, even when he blindly stumbles in the corner they seem to be hosting.... I am just reading up on "ammonia burn". Do you think ammonia (or high levels of something else) could have concentrated in his low flow corner of the temporary tank?

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

Not sure if this is normal hi fin anatomy but it looks like there some lumps on his underside behind his pectoral fins...

 

[Big G]

Consider giving him a freshwater dip to either confirm or rule out flukes as the breathing problem. Bottom dwellers seem to have flukes a bit more often than other fish.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/video-how-to-do-a-freshwater-dip.286639/#post-3487082

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

Update:

Stik is still alive and eating. Looking a little better in terms of movement and breathing speed. I am hoping that it was a bacterial infection secondary to malnourishment. I don't think he was getting enough food in his little corner as I haf trouble target feeding him there and the clowns probably gobbled up most of what I fed the tank.

I have ordered some prazi pro and paraguard online as my LFS didnt have any. If he is still around and still looking bad when it arrives I'll likely start treating him with those..