Help! Clown Goby question, pics inside!

[bluebastion]

Today, after coming home from work I went to look at my nano, as I always do... and as usual, found my yellow clown goby perching close to the front of the glass (almost greeting me)... however I noticed that his underbelly almost looks like there is a chomp taken out of him. There is no loose flesh or anything like nasty looking, just almost looks like a white indentation under his belly. I just noticed this today, and it's not like it would have been easy to recognize earlier anyways...if it's been there for a while, it still would have been difficult to see since his side fins tend to cover that area up when he perches. So my question is: Is this the normal shape of the underside of a yellow clown goby? If not, what can this be? The pictures are posted below... the best I could take of him. I can wave my hands and fingers in front of him all I want, however when the camera is in hand, he always runs and hides... I'm not the paparazzi. :| :*(

 

 

[bluebastion]

Forgot to mention... he has been acting normal though... doesn't seem to bother him at all... and even perches on that part of the belly.

[FragMaster]

Looks a little peekish to me. Meanig he is starving a little. Might want to up his rations a bit.

[bluebastion]

Ok, this may sound stupid... but I've been only feeding the tank cyclo-peeze. Now a guy at my LFS told me that he only needs to eat some cyclo-peeze and the mysids/pods in the tank. Is this correct? I am going on what I have learned from other people. Please give me more info, if there is more I can do to make this guy more plump (if that is the case).

[bluebastion]

ah!.. forgot to say.. there is an abundance of mysids/pods in my tank BTW... doesn't have to be night time to see them crawling all over the LR.

[bluebastion]

I went back to my tank and fed some cyclopeeze and (one thing I forgot to mention, that the LFS suggested as an after thought) some tetrafin tropical flakes. They said to throw some in there now and then.

[DiverDave]

I have one. It's never eaten the Cyclopeeze. He does eat the frozen Mysis that I feed the tank. I would stop the Cyclopeeze (unless your feeding other critters) use the Frozen Mysis and observe his feeding behavior.

 

It is possible that your fish was caught using Sodium Cyanide. The long term effect (if a fish manages to revive after the initial contact) is a destroyed digestive system. The fish may eat, but it won't assimilate the nutrients needed to keep it alive. A 'pinched' abdomen is indicative of this condition, but not an identifier. Try to feed, observe his eating behaivor, and hopefully all will turn out OK.

[bluebastion]

Thanks, I fed the tank like posted above (my last post) and he didn't eat any of the flakes... so I'm leaving the flakes for the clean up crew... However when I returned to the tank I saw him bopping his head towards the side glass. Apparently the cyclopeeze stimulates the pods to come out and he starts to eat the pods on the glass. Hopefully this will hold him till I can get some frozen mysids. How much should I feed him in my 2.5? Those come in squares right?

[Six]

Yea, it does look emaciated. If the fish isn't feeding well, that may be your problem. I seriously doubt its cyanide becasue that is usually used on pelagic swimmers, not benthic/bottom dwellers. (to use it on a $15 fish is a waste of $) It's more likely a nutritional problem, or a health problem. Wild fish are much more likely to come in with parasites, including intestional worms, than TR fish. So that could be it... is yours TR or wild? Perhaps add a little garlic to the foods and see what shakes out. its a good supplement and is great for intestional parasites.

 

 

Clown gobies should love cyclopeeze. If your fish it eating it, keep feeding it, its a great food.

Mysis is another great food full of amino acids and lipids. I'd do both. Get the flat pack by picine energetics and feed a dime sized peice, or so, throughout one day.

A good rule of thumb, never feed a marine tank flakes. Flake food is processed over and over and full of phosphate (check out the contents, it's usually 20% or more!). I would never suggest feeding flakes, there are too many better foods out there.

 

 

GL

[bluebastion]

I went to Petsmart (not the LFS) today to get some frozen Marine Cuisine... even though they don't have SW fish they do have some supplies (including frozen foods)... and I know a guy who works there that has a 15 nano as well. Anyways, I asked him all about how to feed etc... he told me to take a shot glass and fill it with the aquarium water, drop a pinch or so in of the Marine Cuisine (since my tank is only 2.5 of course) and let it thaw. He read something, somewhere, that said that fish can develop some type of disease if fed unthawed frozen food. Interesting... anyways, I dumped the thawed out portion in the tank and had to scare the little guy to the corner that the water flows into.... he sat there a while as small chunks whizzed by. Then, after that while, he started doing short darts... with his body still on the ground. Not sure if he was eating, but I've never seen him do that before. The corner was dark, so it was hard to tell if his mouth opened as well. Later I checked out his tummy and it seemed more inflated. Not all the way to what I'd think was normal... but it did look better (at least in my mind). His front dorsal fin seemed a bit more perky as well. Hope he gets better.

[Six]

Sounds good.

 

You can imagine trying to eat a frozen peice of food... it's not easy and sure, it's not good for you. Same for fish. Disease stories are a little far fetched... you're more likely to make the fish sick by adding all that slurry from the frozen food to the tank because it will degrade the water quality in that small of an aquarium.

You can get algae problems from feeding the bit of frozen food that are too small to be eaten by the fish, or that are unusable as food by your inverts.

If you get algae problems, try straining the frozen food with a net and not adding the 'juices'.

 

GL

[limulus]

I have a Yellow Watchman Gobie and I've been wondering if he is eating. He's been in the tank since Friday with a Pistol Shrimp, two small Percs and a Pepermint. My tank has lots of little pods on the glass and I wonder if he eats them. I tried some frozen brine shrimp (thawed of course) and I don't think any were eaten. The Clowns attacked them but I don't think they ate them either. I'm going to try some Mysis and/or Marine Formula One. I assume he is eating and he is always keeping watch while the Pistol is bulldozing the sand under the rocks. Oh, also mine is not as friendly as yours. He'll poke his head out of a cave and is easily startled back into his hole.

 

**Update on my gobie: not even a minute after sending my reply, he came all the way out and attacked something in the sand. I assume it was a little pod. My tank is full of them. His buddy, the pistol shrimp was right behind him! I also just caught him eating some Tetra Marine Flakes. He seems to really like them. I even saw the pistol shrimp come out for some!

[TheCoralReef731]

Glad to hear your goby is doing better. I always wondered if they needed to be fed.

[bluebastion]

wow... didn't know people were still responding to this... he didn't eat much still, after getting him marine cuisine... so I called up my LFS and asked if I could bring him back... (all but one of the guys that shipped with him were DOA in the display tank)... anyways... homey I believe passed away shortly after returning him.