Skinny Diamond goby

[fish freak2012]

Like the title says we have a skinny diamond goby. we got him about 4 months ago, and when we put him in the tank he went crazy and ate like a pig. he has kept the sand really clean, it is currently white. we hadn't seen him for a few days, and then yesterday he came out and was all skinny and sad looking.
We have a 265 gallon reef with 120 lbs of sugar fine sand so he has plenty of sand to filter. he doesn't seem to be sifting lately. he lives under our moon brain and and when we used our feeding dome to feed it, he was under it and ate some mysis. any suggestions to fatten him up?
~Dex

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Fish Freak2012
http:///forum/post/3284895
Like the title says we have a skinny diamond goby. we got him about 4 months ago, and when we put him in the tank he went crazy and ate like a pig. he has kept the sand really clean, it is currently white. we hadn't seen him for a few days, and then yesterday he came out and was all skinny and sad looking.
We have a 265 gallon reef with 120 lbs of sugar fine sand so he has plenty of sand to filter. he doesn't seem to be sifting lately. he lives under our moon brain and and when we used our feeding dome to feed it, he was under it and ate some mysis. any suggestions to fatten him up?
~Dex

Sadly your goby is dying and nothing you do will help. When it happened to my goby, I was told that when they quit eating their body eats their stomach…

Now how true that is, I can’t tell you but I do know that once they do the tummy shrink thing they starve and die very slow

 

[fish freak2012]

wow.... what a downer ......so was this caused by something we did/didnt do, or is this just a natural part of the gobys life cycle?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Fish Freak2012
http:///forum/post/3284970
wow.... what a downer ......so was this caused by something we did/didnt do, or is this just a natural part of the gobys life cycle?

Mine had eaten everything out of the sand, so it was eating brine shrimp...I was between houses and my sister who was caring for my tank didn't know to alert me that the brine was gone, they had frozen mysis shrimp still but my goby didn't recognize mysis as food...so it got skinny and quit sifting sand...nothing I could do to save it. It as a favorite fish, full of personality..I actually cried over that fish.
Now I have copepods growing in an in tank refugium, and I have this new (1 1/2 Yr) sandsifter goby eating mysis...once they eat other food, they have a better chance to make it when stuff is gone from the sand.

 

[fish freak2012]

well i guess well try out best and hope he might pull through?

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Fish Freak2012
http:///forum/post/3285017
well i guess well try out best and hope he might pull through?

Brine shrimp is a treat..see if he will go for it. Keeping my fingers crossed for you and your goby.