Goby quit eating : (

[kathywithbirds]

The yellow clown goby doesn't seem to be eating. He did when I got him, but his belly is caved in a little.

It REALLY concerned me when I visited the LFS where I got him today and saw his bretheren TRULY emaciated. One was at the bottom who looked fine but two others were swimming, looked to me like they were stressed out (hovering but with that nervous thing going on).

He was eating the mysis, didn't see him ever with flakes, I've tried cyclopeeze with zooplankton right in front of him and no interest. What can I do to entice him? I'm wondering if he's intimidated by the bigger fish (pigs) during feeding time. Spot has chased him once or twice but it's not a regular occurrence.

I am encouraged by the fact that he looks better than his friends in the LFS but that belly worries me.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I have a floating "betta" plastic container such as LFSs use to catch fish, i could possibly put him in there for a time until I see him eating, but would that just stress him out further?

[Frankie]

How old is your system Kathy? I am wondering after seeing in another thread about your algae issues.

[kathywithbirds]

I started my 5g in April, had to make a transfer of my LR to the 37g earlier than I had planned, as the 5g cracked. The 37g was pretty much finished cycling, this was sometime in June. I'd say speaking only about the 37g it's almost 2 months old, I'm bad with timeframes. I got the MH lights a few weeks ago and that's when the algae started going faster.

[Frankie]

So this tank is not broken in yet. If i was in your shoes i would cut the lighting back, maybe 4 hours a day then go up from there after a week or so as long as you have supplemental lighting of some kind other then the MH's. Also i would start to do water changes 5g a day trying to vacuum the algae out and use the best water you can get your hands on. Ro/di if possible.
I would not introduce anything else to the system until you get it under control.
This is just my opinion and would work for me.

[leebca]

Your marine system needs to mature more in order to be the best possible environment for fishes. It needs to be a mature aquarium.

Also, the use of a quarantine process helps a fish learn what it should be eating. Without a wide variety of whole foods in its diet, the fish slowly starves to death, mostly from lack of proper nutrition.

For now, the best would be to move the fish into its own small aquarium, like a hospital tank, to get it away from any aggressors. This fish is usually quite sensitive to assertive fish. If you're not going to move the fish, then you might try to make a very large water change (50%+) to 'shake things up' a bit in the aquarium. Do the same water change every day, once a day, for the next three or four days, while you try different foods. Your water change must be done properly, such as noted here: How to Make a Water Change.

Often it isn't a matter of trying different foods. The fish is stressed and as such, until the stressor(s) is removed or lessoned, the fish won't eat. You can try live foods and a variety of foods, but until that stressor is removed, the fish will fade.

Rather than try to list all the stress sources to look for, you might want to glance through this post for ideas on the source of fish stressor(s): Fish Stress – General. From my perspective the main stressor will be that the aquarium hasn't matured enough, putting the water quality into a state of changes the fish doesn't handle well. There's a lot to water quality that isn't measurable by tests or equipment. See: What is Water Quality.

Good luck!

[Frankie]

Awesome info Lee!

[kathywithbirds]

OK, the goby is now in Mike's 14g aquapod, it's freshly cycled but that's the only alternative. Spot (domino damsel) was witnessed harassing him. So out someone had to go.

Fortunately, Mike's plans for the 14 gallon are corals, maybe a couple of shrimp and a single fishy. So goby gets to be the fishy and have the tank to himself. Hopefully this will provide a nice peaceful environment for him. The water parameters are great, 0 for everything, trites, trates, ammonia, phosphates.

[kathywithbirds]

Thanks for the links, Lee, I'm a reader. The water change stuff is really good, I have been just getting RO/DI, adding salt to spec. gravity and adjusting ph, kind of lax on the temp. My tank runs a bit high on temp so I've been figuring if it's a little cooler that's OK. Doesn't seem to affect the tank temp other than a degree when I do changes.

The circulation was a new one for me. I knew I should probably be circulating and letting the water sit before and after adding salt but the movement up and down instead of a circle is interesting. How come?

[kathywithbirds]

"So much emphasis is placed on getting the tank to the point where there is no ammonia and nitrite detected by test kits, that it is forgotten that there are hundreds of other types of microbes that need time to also settle in to the routine of the aquarium. These microbes don't start their job until the tank is up and running, and can't settle in until the nutrients in the water come to a sort of equilibrium with the things removing or using them."

OK, well, yeah, I did that. Happy that all I've lost so far is a featherduster and snails. I liked that featherduster though.

So what should I do (or NOT do?) to let my tank age more appropriately? I've increased the cleaning crew: I'm now with 8 hermits (yeah, I was desperate) 10 ceriths, 10 narcissius (sp?), 1 bumblebee snail, a sandsifting star. I might still have a turbo or astrea in there somewhere.

Oh, and 3 lettuce nudibranches.

[leebca]

The up-down motion for mixing salt into water prevents a vortex. A vortex just adds air to the water, which is undesirable. Also the vortex leaves salt in the center and it dissolves slower. Lastly the up-down motion for mixing prevents striation or any layering in the mixing container.

Aging takes time. You want to put a clean up crew in and feed them. The addition of simple, hardy lifeforms that require organic additions gets the aging process to move along. You want those 'other' bacteria to go through their blooms and reach a more or less steady state. You want all the small creatures, like pods to go through their blooms and die-offs too until they steady down.

The tank isn't aged as long as you see any:
cyanobacteria
diatom growth
red or slimy growths
hair or nuisance algae
brown 'algae'
etc.

Keep putting in food for the crew. I'm glad you're a reader. If you go to this post, you'll get some idea of the time sequence and where you are in the proposed time line for setting up a marine system: Starting up a Marine Aquarium. Find where you're at and then take the directions from there.

[kathywithbirds]

"From the above the aquarist should be able to deduce that if the calcium concentration isn't between 410 and 440, then the marine system is not in balance. When the calcium is between these numbers, then there needs to be the corresponding alkalinity. Aquarists running calcium in the 300's ppm and a (for example) 'recommended' alkalinity (between 7 and 9 dKH) have a FOWLR marine system water that is out of balance and thus, not top water quality."

AHA!!! I finally found an explanation I get!!!! Thanks Lee!

[lcstorc]

Glad your clown goby is improving. Both of mine are absolute pigs and will take food right out of my tang's mouth so this thread really suprised me.
I do disagree with some of the above however. The largest being this statement.
The tank isn't aged as long as you see any:
cyanobacteria
diatom growth
red or slimy growths
hair or nuisance algae
brown 'algae'
etc.

I know of tanks that are several years old that still have outbreaks of these algaes. Are you saying they are not mature tanks? If so I strongly disagree. Personally I think of them more as overfed or underfiltered tanks. If the algae has food it will grow regardless of how established the system is.

[sasquatch]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Glad your clown goby is improving. Both of mine are absolute pigs and will take food right out of my tang's mouth so this thread really suprised me.
I do disagree with some of the above however. The largest being this statement.
The tank isn't aged as long as you see any:
cyanobacteria
diatom growth
red or slimy growths
hair or nuisance algae
brown 'algae'
etc.

I know of tanks that are several years old that still have outbreaks of these algaes. Are you saying they are not mature tanks? If so I strongly disagree. Personally I think of them more as overfed or underfiltered tanks. If the algae has food it will grow regardless of how established the system is.

I see your point Lynn and some of these problems will not appear until stock has been, well, stocking the water lol. Steve

[DrHank]

Mixing salt water is super easy if you run your RO/DI into a separate container ( I use a igloo fish cooler) like a rubbermaid trash can. Drop in a heater and a powerhead or spare pump add salt, check, add more salt (till you get close but under SG. Let it churn over night, recheck and adjust as necessary. Check later in the day. If it's right you're ready to change water.

I think that what Lee may be trying to say in a very nice way is that you may have added the goby a bit sooner than others would. Personally I'd say Kathy, you added the goby too soon. But then I failed tact101 and got a D+ in diplomacy.

[leebca]

Lynn,

Starting off, those visible signs and nusance life forms go away. If they return in a mature aquarium then the aquarium is being mismanaged.

I can achieve most of those lifeforms showing up if I fail to take care of my marine system or overstock it.