I think I may have a problem....

[darkelf3769]

I've got a 40g fish/live rock setup, which until recently was happily and peacefully populated by a percula clown, a four-stripe dascyllus, and a zebra goby. I'm off at college during the week and my mother keeps my tank. I had noticed previously that the zebra goby was looking thin and seemed to be off its food, but this weekend the poor fish is looking horrible, and startlingly, seems to have gone blind. Its favorite haunt beneath a rock is seldom habited, and it bumps and wanders around the bottom of the tank, occasionally coming to the surface and acting as if striking at food or gulping air. Once the hardest member of the trio to catch, I can now scoop the goby into a clear drinking glass with no difficulty. When I put it into a small plastic one-gallon tank filled with thawed brine shrimp and plankton, the goby gobbles its fill. The fish's eyes look clear and normal, and the other fish generally leave it alone, although the damsel does some ineffective flaring of fins at the oblivious goby. What could be the problem?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by darkelf3769
http:///forum/post/2602722
I've got a 40g fish/live rock setup, which until recently was happily and peacefully populated by a percula clown, a four-stripe dascyllus, and a zebra goby. I'm off at college during the week and my mother keeps my tank. I had noticed previously that the zebra goby was looking thin and seemed to be off its food, but this weekend the poor fish is looking horrible, and startlingly, seems to have gone blind. Its favorite haunt beneath a rock is seldom habited, and it bumps and wanders around the bottom of the tank, occasionally coming to the surface and acting as if striking at food or gulping air. Once the hardest member of the trio to catch, I can now scoop the goby into a clear drinking glass with no difficulty. When I put it into a small plastic one-gallon tank filled with thawed brine shrimp and plankton, the goby gobbles its fill. The fish's eyes look clear and normal, and the other fish generally leave it alone, although the damsel does some ineffective flaring of fins at the oblivious goby. What could be the problem?
Welcome to the boards! How long have you had the goby? Can you please post your exact water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, sg, and temp?

 

[darkelf3769]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2602739
Welcome to the boards! How long have you had the goby? Can you please post your exact water readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, sg, and temp?
I've had the goby for about ten months; the tank's been set up for about 13 months. SG-1.020, a bit low but I'm in the middle of performing a water change and tank cleaning, it's normally about 1.022. Temp-80 degrees F, this stays pretty stable. According to my API five-in-one test strips ((are these accurate enough?)) my ph is between 7.5 & 8.0, as the color isn't an exact match, my nitrites are at .5 and my nitrates are...pretty high, although once again the color isn't an exact match. Would that be because I've been cleaning my tank over the last several hours, stirring up the live substrate and scraping algae? My ammonia's at .25, but I've still got about six gallons of water to remove, and ten gallons of fresh-and salt-water to replace it with once it ages. I don't have a protein skimmer, but I have a chemical/mechanical filter outside of the tank with week-old pads and carbon. It's a work in progress, and I need all the information I can get. I've had all of these fish 10+ months, so they're probably used to my less-than-ideal conditions ^__________^;;;;;

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by darkelf3769
http:///forum/post/2602827
I've had the goby for about ten months; the tank's been set up for about 13 months. SG-1.020, a bit low but I'm in the middle of performing a water change and tank cleaning, it's normally about 1.022. Temp-80 degrees F, this stays pretty stable. According to my API five-in-one test strips ((are these accurate enough?)) my ph is between 7.5 & 8.0, as the color isn't an exact match, my nitrites are at .5 and my nitrates are...pretty high, although once again the color isn't an exact match. Would that be because I've been cleaning my tank over the last several hours, stirring up the live substrate and scraping algae? My ammonia's at .25, but I've still got about six gallons of water to remove, and ten gallons of fresh-and salt-water to replace it with once it ages. I don't have a protein skimmer, but I have a chemical/mechanical filter outside of the tank with week-old pads and carbon. It's a work in progress, and I need all the information I can get. I've had all of these fish 10+ months, so they're probably used to my less-than-ideal conditions ^__________^;;;;;
The ammonia and nitrite are a problem. Fish do not get used to that. Has something died? The 5 in 1 strips are not terribly accurate. They give you a general idea. The first thing that I would do is buy a liquid master test kit. Without accurate readings it is hard to tell what the exact problem is here. You may want to mix up more water for another change. What is the substrate? How are you cleaning the tank?

 

[darkelf3769]

I've got three fish, a feather duster, and a snail, all present and accounted for. My hermit crab came up missing about three weeks ago and I searched the tank thoroughly for remains, but found none. Do you think that could be the problem? I've got a lot of 'live rubble' I've had for about a month which forms a very rough surface around my rock, above a substrate of small shells and sand, purportedly some Hawaiian stuff. I asked if I needed to cure the rock and the dealer said it would be fine, but I rinsed it thoroughly with water from my system before putting it in my tank. I live in the boondocks and wouldn't be able to get out to get a better test kit for a day or two; would a larger water change (i.e. more than 25%) help me out? I siphoned a three-gallon bucket of water from my substrate and I'm preparing to remove more water shortly, and I scraped the algae off of the sides and back of my tank. This is my first marine tank and I definitely don't want to kill my fish, so all advice is greatly appreciated!
And just as a thought, I have a long-dead gorgonian 'skeleton' in my tank, will that harm anything? The dealer didn't mention it, so I've just left it in there.

 

[darkelf3769]

Well, I did a roughly 25% water change, and my nitrites are down to zero and my nitrates about 80. I haven't tested my ammonia yet, but I will. My fear is, my mother spoke to the dealer at the shop where I buy my supplies, and he stated that my goby's condition could be caused by an endoparasite and could possibly make my other fish ill as well. How likely could this be? I don't want to get rid of a fish I truly care for, but I don't want my other fish sick as well...

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by darkelf3769
http:///forum/post/2607076
Well, I did a roughly 25% water change, and my nitrites are down to zero and my nitrates about 80. I haven't tested my ammonia yet, but I will. My fear is, my mother spoke to the dealer at the shop where I buy my supplies, and he stated that my goby's condition could be caused by an endoparasite and could possibly make my other fish ill as well. How likely could this be? I don't want to get rid of a fish I truly care for, but I don't want my other fish sick as well...
An endoparasite is an external parasite. Do you see spots on the fish at all? I think that it had more to do with the water readings. You have to test frequently and have water ready to dilute any problems, if the tank is not mature and stabilized.

 

[darkelf3769]

The fish is fine externally... no spots, damaged fins, or off-color, and the eyes are clear and normal. It's just awfully thin, and bumps into things randomly, as if it doesn't notice anything.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by darkelf3769
http:///forum/post/2608471
The fish is fine externally... no spots, damaged fins, or off-color, and the eyes are clear and normal. It's just awfully thin, and bumps into things randomly, as if it doesn't notice anything.
Better water quality will certainly help these ailments. What have you been feeding him?

 

[darkelf3769]

I have Aqueon Marine Flakes (I prefer Omega One flakes but my mother bought these), frozen baby and adult spirulina-enriched brine shrimp, squid, Marine Cuisine, and Emerald Entree; all of the frozen food is packaged by the San Francisco Bay company. I feed once a day either flakes or frozen, and I try to feed as little as possible in order to feed my fish and not my bristleworms. The clown and damsel gobble food eagerly, and while the goby used to feed just as voraciously, now it swims about randomly and gulps at the surface as if striking at food. I pointedly try to feed the goby, but it swims right past the food. When I put it in a small tank and put food in it, the goby gulps the food when it feels it on the bottom, but will swim right past it if it's still floating. It seems to have the most luck with adult brine shrimp, though sometimes it will swallow them and then spit them out. Any ideas?

 

[sepulatian]

Have you improved the water quality? What are your readings now?

 

[darkelf3769]

Sorry for the lapse in postings, I've been ill with a bad cough and fever the past few days, then very busy. I'm about to begin a week-long trip, so hopefully my mom won't kill the poor goby before I get home. Before I left temp was 79F, SG: 1.022, ammonia <.25, nitrite .25, nitrate ~60, though the API test kit said my ph was less than 6.5, or something, since the color of the strip was paler than the chart. Could a water change have done this? ; Or are my test strips inaccurate? With regular feedings the goby is looking better, though still pale. The others are bright, fat, sleek, alert, and always hungry, as usual.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by darkelf3769
http:///forum/post/2617309
Sorry for the lapse in postings, I've been ill with a bad cough and fever the past few days, then very busy. I'm about to begin a week-long trip, so hopefully my mom won't kill the poor goby before I get home. Before I left temp was 79F, SG: 1.022, ammonia <.25, nitrite .25, nitrate ~60, though the API test kit said my ph was less than 6.5, or something, since the color of the strip was paler than the chart. Could a water change have done this? ; Or are my test strips inaccurate? With regular feedings the goby is looking better, though still pale. The others are bright, fat, sleek, alert, and always hungry, as usual.
Test strips are inaccurate, but not usually by THAT much. Are you sure that you were looking at the SW chart and not the FW chart? I am glad that he is eating well. Keep doing water changes to get the readings down.

 

[darkelf3769]

Well, I'm back in town, and sad to say that my goby died a few days ago. I just learned, since my mother didn't want to tell me while I was on vacation. She didn't feed it at all, though it might've died even if she had fed it. The others are still looking healthy, as usual, and eating like pigs. I'm about to top off the tank with some FW and then take readings.... she didn't put any water in our FW or SW tanks over the past week, either. Now, though, I'm worried... I've never heard of fish dying from internal parasites, but I can't say what killed this one and the gentleman who my mother spoke to (and who uses this site and led me to it) stated that in his opinion my fish had some sort of internal parasite. If so, would there be anything I could do to protect my other two fish?