Yellow Clown Goby with pale streak

[DEL 707]

I have a 56l tank that finished it's cycle last Wednesday, I went to pick up a yellow clown goby on Saturday.

He's the tanks 1st livestock.

 

Today I've noticed he has a pale streak on him.

 

I've never owned this type of goby before, but after the 1st day, I'd say he's behaviour has been pretty normal.

He's been hoping around on the rocks, sometimes just hovering out in the middle of open water, goes a bit frantic when I add food.

 

I didn't feed him on the 1st day, but the last 2 days I've been feeding him twice a day with brine shrimp.

I've ordered some TDO Chroma boost X small, which should hopefully arrive tomorrow. I want to start using that for the morning feedings.

 

I've tried to be very careful with the feedings, just adding a few brine shrimp at the time. Don't want to nuke the tank with left over food since I have no cleanup crew.

 

I've just done some testing with my red sea kit.

Ammonia - 0

Nitrite - 0

Nitrate - 20-50

 

Hard to be accurate with the nitrate kit.

 

I did a water change on Saturday before I added him and that brought nitrates down to about 20.

 

After seeing those tests, I'm thinking about doing another big water change tomorrow, 50%.

 

Things have been a bit hot recently, the room he's in hit 34°C. I had a fan blowing over the water.

The max temp it got up to was 27.9°C, I have my bluebird set to keep that tank at 26°C normally.

 

But is there anything else I could be doing wrong to effect his colouring?

 

Excuse the poor photo, my phone camera for some reason really makes my tank look more blue then it really is.

[colormegone]

In my experience with SW fish many moons ago. They can tolerate fairly high levels of nitrates, but I would keep it below 20 if fish only. Once adding corals, you need to bring that down to 10 or less depending on what you choose. Tanks a bit new for adding anything in my book. This is just my opinion so hopefully others will chime in.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Fish tend to 'pale out' when the lights are turned off or very dark. Some even adapt mottled patterns when they 'rest'. I wouldn't worry too much about the pale coloring for now, unless he's persistently pale for few days. Could simply be a stress reaction since he's in a new environment.

 

Did he eat any of the food you've given him so far? 

And yes, your nitrates are a bit on the high-side, but your future WC should bring it down. I'm more concerned if he's eating. YCGs can be quite picky with prepared food. 

[DEL 707]

Thanks, I'm going to do a water change tomorrow and Saturday.

 

I mean, it looks like he's eating, he's chasing around brine shrimp and grabbing it.

Sometimes he spits it out, but I think that's just because he quite litterally bit off more then he can chew.

 

I definitely overfed him today, in the end he stopped chasing after food. Thankfully most of it's been caught in the sponge I've put on the filter intake. I'll give that a clean tomorrow.

 

I also tried him with a few TDO Chroma Boast. He seemed a bit confused to begin with, but I saw him eat 1 or 2 without spitting them out.

 

Do you think it's too early to add a hermit crab or 2?
The shrimp are getting caught in the filter, but the pellets are just lying on the sand and rocks.

[DEL 707]

I was worried about him eating for the 1st few days, but now, I would describe him as voracious.
Because I'm not at work I'm feeding him 3 times a day and he never stops. He's still looking pale, but seems pretty active.

I tried him on that TBO Chromo Boost, but he want take to it. Just keeps spitting it out.
I'm feeding him TMC Gamma brineshrimp, is there any other food I can try? Maybe additives?

[Sprinter70]

I have not experienced any issues with my clownfish or corals in my high nitrate tank which sits between 80-100ppm nitrates. I suspect the parameters that end up being successful comes down to the balance with others and your inputs to the tank. Granted I do not have any acros in there now, I have only lost acros due to salinity spikes in that tank. I would find a routine that keeps parameters stable before targeting a specific number.

[DEL 707]

He's still looking a little pale, but eating like a champ.