Hurt Yellow Watchman Goby

[NicoB0817]

Help, I recently got a Yellow Watchman Goby and it got into a fight with a hermit crab when it was trying to drag the hermit crab into its home. Its mouth is torn in halve and he has a bit of a red spot by his face. Is this going to cause an infection and will I have to go to my fish store to get anything? Thanks.

[Tired]

Oh, that's... not good. 

 

You need to take pictures from other angles. If his mouth is as badly messed up as I think, euthanasia may be the kindest option. It looks like his skull is exposed in places, which is likely to kill him, and is, I'm sure, very painful. Especially since he's in saltwater, poor thing. 

 

You should probably get ahold of some clove oil. It can be used to humanely euthanize fish.

[NicoB0817]

Hes still been able to eat and grab food and hermit crabs and is still happy as can be, he has no exposed skull it may look like it from the side but that's just a pice of skin. He's been swimming around and looking through the glass, however I'm not sure if that is jaw bone or not. I'd  prefer to give him a flighting chance and only euthanize him if he's under too much pain. 

[Tired]

I don't mean the part sticking out, I'm looking in his mouth. I see what looks like bone in there. Can he close it at all? Are you sure he's actually able to swallow, and not just grab food? 

 

Fish can't be trusted to give good indicators of their pain. Small prey animals are very good at hiding pain, since showing pain means making themselves targets for predators. 

[NicoB0817]

Ive never really seen him close his mouth ever since I've got him, he's always had his mouth slightly open from what I've seen (I've only had fish for a week). However I can try to get him with a net to get some better pictures of that doesn't stress him out too much. His mouth has been like this since 2 days ago.

Also I would like to talk to my fish store before I euthanize him 

[Tired]

I would not try to get him with a net. That's going to freak him out really badly, and could potentially hurt him worse. 

 

Keep a close eye on him for any sort of flashing, rubbing his mouth against things, or signs of pain. He's absolutely in pain, the question is just how much. 

 

If he's keeping his fins up instead of clamping them, and still able to use his mouth properly, it's worth a shot at letting him heal. Soaking his food in vitamins is probably a good idea, to help him recover. Consider removing whichever hermit crab did that. 

[NicoB0817]

He has been keeping his fins up so that's a good sign at least.

Also how soon should I go to my fish store?

 

[NicoB0817]

And all of my hermit crabs have been slightly murderes, they killed 9 of my 10 snails in 1 week and didn't even use the shells.

 

 

[Tired]

Yeah, hermits will do that. What kind are they? 

 

You need to start feeding him food with vitamins as soon as possible. You should also be doing a lot of small water changes, to keep the tank very clean without stressing him too badly.

[NicoB0817]

The question is though, even if he makes it, he has a broken jaw, so, I'm not sure if he would ever be normal again.

 

 

And the hermits are red and blue legged

[Tired]

Blue legged hermits are particularly bad about snail killing. 

 

It doesn't matter if he's normal. It matters if he can eat, and function properly while not being in a lot of pain. Is he able to open and close his mouth normally, as they do while breathing and eating, or is it permanently stuck like that? 

[NicoB0817]

He is able to open and close his mouth

[NicoB0817]

I was going to go to the store tomorrow to get some supplies because we've only had fish for a week and wern't expecting something like this to happen so soon.

 

Also, what supplies should I get? Do I need to get a quarantine tank or anything because all I've got is a net, sponge on a stick, bacteria in a bottle, coral glue, and a siphon.

 

Also should I change his food? I've currently been giving him frozen mysis shrimp?

[Tired]

Quarantine tanks are for fish with something contagious, or fish that need medication which will harm the tank at large. Leave him in the regular, familiar tank so you don't stress him out worse. Consider removing the hermits- they're not actually that useful as cleanup. IMO, hermits are best kept by people who just want hermits. 

 

Frozen mysis is fine. Get a vitamin supplement to soak it in, if at all possible. 

[NicoB0817]

Also, to be fair the hermit crab did it of self defence, my Goby likes to drag the hermit crabs down to his hole and that one didn't want to go (he lets them leave and does not eat them)

[TerraIncognita]

as a note, my LFS had a goby with a broken jaw JUST like this from a crab! After 3 weeks he was fine. No one is buying him because he looks like he survived WWII but hey, he's just fine and happy.

 

If your goby is fighting other fish for food sources you should look at his feeding try to get him some more food specifically for him.

[NicoB0817]

1 hour ago, TerraIncognita said:

as a note, my LFS had a goby with a broken jaw JUST like this from a crab! After 3 weeks he was fine. No one is buying him because he looks like he survived WWII but hey, he's just fine and happy.

 

If your goby is fighting other fish for food sources you should look at his feeding try to get him some more food specifically for him.

I don't think that he's fight info for food, when I'm giving them food he always gets plenty (or at least that I've seen), he just keeps on pulling Hermit crabs into his home and just letting them go, not really sure what it's about, but at least now I know that he will be fine.

[Tamberav]

If it gets any worse looking or more red...I would treat with antibiotics. Infections can and do kill fish but many also heal up just fine with good water quality.

 

It sounds like it could be a territorial thing.

[TerraIncognita]

17 hours ago, NicoB0817 said:

I don't think that he's fight info for food, when I'm giving them food he always gets plenty (or at least that I've seen), he just keeps on pulling Hermit crabs into his home and just letting them go, not really sure what it's about, but at least now I know that he will be fine.

Weird.

 

4 hours ago, Tamberav said:

It sounds like it could be a territorial thing.

Maybe the Goby's tring to bring hermits for his shrimp that doesn't exist, and instead gets pulled into fights he's not ready for? lol.

 

Idk super wild guess but would be a funny phenomenon (Probably is not this phenomenon)

[NicoB0817]

23 hours ago, TerraIncognita said:

 

Quick question, how do I get rid of these quote boxes?

 

22 hours ago, NicoB0817 said:

 

 

[NicoB0817]

And we'll, he did have a shrimp when he was in the store.

[Tired]

You should get him a shrimp again! They're great to watch. Plus, if he's busy playing watchman for a shrimp, maybe he'll leave the hermits alone.

[NicoB0817]

I was planning on it, but my fish store said I should wait because my tank has only finished establishing the bacteria a week ago and the shrimp don't do well with instable water conditions.

[Tired]

Pistol shrimp are reasonably hardy. If your tank is completely cycled, it should be safe to have them. Waiting a little while won't hurt, though. 

[TerraIncognita]

1 hour ago, NicoB0817 said:

I was planning on it, but my fish store said I should wait because my tank has only finished establishing the bacteria a week ago and the shrimp don't do well with instable water conditions.

from what I know Invertebrate ONLY have a hard time surviving in "new tanks" only because generally "new reefers" aren't monitoring their Cal, Mag, and DKH levels or aware they need to maintain those.

 

From what I understand about most shrimp species in the hobby they do need to have a sufficient amount of the above for their shells and molting. Without that it's just hard for them to make their exoskeletons. I don't think any other part of the tank cycle has to do with it.

 

But that's just what I've heard from mouths talking talk. Nothing researched.