my new clown goby

I picked up a yellow clown goby as my first fish yesterday for my 20g. He is pretty awesome! I have some worries though, and hope somebody can help me out.

He has been in the tank for only one day, but he just constantly swims nears the surface and along the glass. He perches on the glass frequently, and has a handful of times, on one of my powerheads or a rock near the top. Is this normal for a clown goby to do until it gets comfortable with the tank? Also, as of yet, he has not started eating--I'm not too worried about this yet as it has been less than 24 hours that he has been in the tank.

He appears to be healthy, and is swimming very strongly. The only thing about his appearance that bothers me a bit is that he has some yellow spots. I don't know if these are maybe just some scales that have been rubbed off (i hope that is all that it is) as I am not aware of any diseases that are yellow spots

Just looking for some peace of mind.

One day is nothong in the life of a fish....be patient.

Try to buy fish that are void of suspicious markings and/or actions.

When I see a fish I want,I ask how long the LFS has had it, is it eating? May I see it eat?...etc. Tell them to hold it (which most LFS will do for 24 or so hours)...then come back and see again, how the fish is doing (acting).

Maybe it's a translucent parasite that looks yellow 'cause of the fish?

I didn't see the marks at the LFS, otherwise I wouldn't have bought him. I did ask them to feed the tank, and this guy was very active when the food went in (although none of the clown gobies in the tank ate, they just danced around the shrimp and what not). I will give him some time, hopefully it is not a parasite. He did get sucked into my filter tube when he first went into the tank, so I am thinking that maybe his scales got a little roughed up when that happened. He's just sitting on one of my margarita snails and the tops of the tank nipping at stuff occasionally. Hopefully he'll be fine.

Here is a pick of the little guy, you can see the spots on him here.

...cute little guy(gal)....ya, the whole, "caught in the filter, scales roughed up" is a very good guess...sounds like you hit it!

My yellow clown goby had the same behavior when I got him, constantly swimming along the glass and surface. He hid a lot for the first few weeks and didn't eat at all for at least one week. Just takes them a little while to get used to the new environment. Once they are used to the tank, they are quite active, and when they're not they perch on a rock or coral usually in the front of the tank. I've had mine for 1 1/2 years in a 5g and he's still doing great.

I have 2 yellow clown gobies in my 12dx. They often "rest" on either the rocks and the glass, but almost never hide.

Thanks for the input guys. I was gone for 6 hours, came home, and he's still perching near the top in the corner of the tank. The spots are still there, but given the fact that they are the exact same color as his skin, I am assuming that they are just scales that got roughed up when he was sucked in the filter (I never jumped up so fast, luckily I got the problem fixed so that won't happen again).

I'm getting less worried about him, although the behavior is strange to me, he is swimming very healthily, so hopefully he'll be ok in a few days.

I'm still worried about this guy. His behavior and swimming patterns still appear healthy, but he still has these spots. Can somebody help me diagnose what this is, and let me know if it requires treatment?

From the reflection in the picture (great picture btw), it looks like he may just have been roughed up by the filter tube. I'd keep a close eye on him, feed him the most nutritious foods you can and keep the water quality pristine - IMO the most important thing you can do for any sick or hurt fish is support their immune system to help them heal naturally.

Might be ich.

My LFS had the same gobies with white spots. They all had ich. I recommend getting ich treatment tablets ASAP because nearly all of the clowns at that LFS passed away in a week.

Ich isn't yellow. I agree with Blinky, his skin is just a little roughed up. But an injured fish is more likely to get parasites so just keep an eye on him.

Yep, he has to get comfortable with the tank; this takes time, plus the trauma of being sucked by the filter tube. Just give him/her time and water quality, as pulse13 said keep an eye or two on it. OK

Thank you so much for the input guys, here is the deal:

I checked my water quality and it is pristine right now, which is great. The tank has been up and running for over 2 months so far, and he is the first fish, so I am still at 0/0/0 for my levels.

Unfortunately, this little guy hasn't started eating yet. He is still sticking to the glass, and not roaming the tank (he will swim around the perimeter of the tank, but rarely go near the rock or sand). This behavior, from what I understand, is normal for clown gobies in their first week or so in a new tank, so I'm not too worried about that. Plus, he is still swimming very strong, no signs of weakness. It has been 3 days though, and I haven't seen him eating at all. I have tried dropping a few pieces of zooplankton near him, and even some pellets, but no luck.

My new clown goby ate half-heartedly yesterday when I fed the wrasse, but in the evening he really perked up when I threw in a few pellets for the hermits. I wonder if they're more likely to feed in the evening, or maybe it was just that the pellets smelled really good to him!

If your goby is generally healthy, I'm sure after a few days if you keep offering tempting, yummy foods, he'll get the idea.

How long did you have him before he started eating?

Well there is some good news this morning. It appears that my little guy has taken to the tank, he now resides within the rockwork instead of on the corners of the glass. Also, I noticed him nipping at the rocks this morning, which means he is hunting pods/food which is wonderful! I dropped a few pellets near the rocks he was picking at, so maybe he'll grab a few of those also. He still has the bumps on his skin, but it looks like they are beginning to loosen up and fall off. The center of his body is more clear today.

If they are parasites...and they are slowly disappearing, they possibly are eggs hatching...which doesn't mean your rid of them...they will continue to grow and propagate...IF they are parasites that is.

I found this:

"....The life cycle of the parasite Cryptocaryon irritans could almost be compared to that of the creatures in the "Alien" movies, in that there are three stages of development: a rather vulnerable infant stage whose only purpose in life is to find some poor sap to glom on to; a larger, more resilient and aggressive feeder stage; and an even larger and almost invulnerable breeder stage. Add a flamethrower-totin' heroine and some pyrotechnics, and you've got yourself a blockbuster movie

At any moment in time, an infected aquarium contains huge numbers of parasites in all three stages of development - and that is a major reason why most "ich" treatments (including some copper treatments) fail. The swarmers are relatively easy to kill with medications, but the feeders are buried in the fish's flesh and actually protected to some extent by the fish's own mucous secretions, while the breeder cysts are protected by their own hard shell. As such, a short-term treatment may well eliminate all the swarmers in the aquarium, resulting in a temporary reprieve - only to return like gangbusters in a few days, as the other two stages mature."

Try feeding mysis shrimp. My goby eats them to no end. My only regret is that he (they) love to perch on my SPS!!!! The SPS still grow, but I'm not seeing the polyp extention the way I used to.

Best Wishes,

DD

sounds like ich too...be very wary...if the symptoms go away, it's only temporary. The next infestation could be his last.

How long was he in QT?

It is definitely not ich, the bumps on his body are the exact same color as his skin. Like I said earlier, he got sucked into my surface skimmer when I first got him and I'm pretty sure that roughed his scales up a bit. It appears that the skin is now healing, and the old stuff is shedding off. I can't be 100% positive yet, but given that his behavior is A-ok, he is now scurrying the rock looking for food and that he was banged up in the surface skimmer, I think this is my best guess at the moment. I don't want to jump to any conclusions and misdiagnose/treat him and cause more stress than he already has.

BTW, I don't quarantine... Just don't have the room to do so. He is the first fish in the tank though.

whew...that's cool. As long as he's eating, then that's cool.

Originally posted by BrookR1

whew...that's cool. As long as he's eating, then that's cool.

You should have seen how fast I jumped! I saw him get sucked in luckily, if I were 5 seconds slower he woulda been minced Stupid surface skimmer jammed up and the top was under the water. Needless to say, that thing is in the trash and I have the stock filter tube back on.

Just an update on this guy. Looks like the spots have just about gone away, I guess I was lucky that his damaged skin didn't catch any parasites. Also, today I noticed him actually bite a piece of two of zooplankton that I dropped into the tank. While I still wouldn't consider him "eating" yet, this is another positive step. Looks like this guy will make it after all!