Help, starving goby?

[~SIRENA~]

I have a gold head sleeper goby. I've had him for 3 months. He is constantly moving and eats like a pig. I feed the tank 3x a day - brine/mysis spirullina, cyclops, and arctipods. However, he seems to get skinnier and skinnier. My tank is 6 months old. Specs are below. I am worried he may be starving. Should I feed more or something different? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks, Adriana

[DLANDINO]

I have heard that injecting food under the sand can encourage him to eat more.

[iwishtofish]

If he's eating nutritious food like a pig several times a day, this would lead me to suspect something else might be wrong. I have read that gobies can get worms, or something like that.

[~SIRENA~]

Should I just wait and see?

[iwishtofish]

I dunno, ~SIRENA~. Anyone?

[ShannHell]

If the fish eats well and often, but is still wasting away, I would think that it has some sort of internal parasite or infection. I don't think you should leave it in your main tank because it is possible for the other fish to get whatever the infection may be. You should quarantine it and begin to research the possible type of infection/parasite and then move to treatment if necessary

[~SIRENA~]

Does he look skinny to you?

[Anteverius]

i am no expert, but his belly looks kinda funny.

[chaungo]

I am going thru the exact same thing with my yellow sleeper goby. He eats, but continues to get skinny. I originally had two and the first one showed signs of the pinched belly-which is what yours looks like. And it died.

Try feeding something else and more meaty. Mine is eating, but sometimes I see him eat, and then sift it out thru his gills. So essentially, he didn't eat it. Good luck.

[ACBlinky]

He looks emaciated, poor guy. Sometimes sleeper gobies starve to death even if they're eating well, possibly due to internal parasites, or it might even be caused by something else -- if the fish are caught with cyanide, for instance, they may waste away over time and there's really nothing that can be done.

I've had sleepers in the past, and always used a long pipette to inject meaty foods (large quantities) under the sand, for the gobies to sift out. The first pair did very well, staying nice and fat. They were killed by an aggressive pair of clowns (by the time I knew what was happening it was too late), so I bought another pair. This time, only one goby survived, despite the same feeding regimen. The remaining fish stayed fat and happy, long after his mate starved to death -- she ate like a pig, but wasted away despite everything I tried. I soaked their food in PraziPro, fed them high-quality foods that included lots of roughage (crustaceans like mysis, cyclopeeze, etc.) and then tried metronidazole (antibiotic/antiparasitic). Nothing worked, poor little thing.

I wish you the best of luck, he's a beautiful fish and I hope you can fatten him up.

[~SIRENA~]

Thanks for the replies. I will try spot feeding him.

[Amazon4]

Can you put him in QT and treat him for 5 days with Prazipro? That's what I'd try because that's a good general anti-parasite/worm medication that I have on hand.

But I'm by no means an expert so you should research it more, too... I think if you don't take action you will eventually lose him.

[nmbeg]

CATCH a goby????? are you serious????? that's impossible!

the only time I've ever caught a goby is when I had to rescue him from my overflow (after wondering where he was for several days).

btw, he is also kinda skinny and misshapped.... but I have always attributed that to his days in the overflow.

[reefmaister]

Garlic is available in extract form at most fish stores. I've used it as an appetite stimulant and I've heard some claim that it is an antiparasitic when ingested.

[downhillbiker]

Ok, so as far as my experience and everyone i know there is one of two problems.

1. Watch VERY closely to see if he actually eats food or if he passes it through gills without actually eating it, just filtering like he would sand.
-In this situation there is no known treatment. The goby will slowly deteriorate. Sorry it is just sad and happens all the time in LFS. The only solution is to get the fish into a bigger tank with more sand. If you have any friends or back to the LFS. IMO these fish should be carefully watched and fed in LFS before you purchase it. If it doesnt actually eat, it just passes the food, don't buy it.

2. The fish is eating, not just passing food, it has like mentioned above, internal parasites, like worms. This will cause the fish to eat as much as it's hearts content, but the fish will not get any of the nutrition, it will all be eaten by the parasites. To treat this you should buy some Gel-Tek Ultra Cure PX made by Aquarium Products. This is a treatment you add to the fish's food and it treats internal parasites.

Good Luck. Sorry to say this, but I have had this problem before, and so have friends, and the LFS deals with this all the time. I wish they would just stop carrying these fish. I also have problems with them selling mandarine dragonettes to whoever says they want one.

I am also sorry to say that none of the above treatments will help. It is one of these two problems, and there aren't a whole lot of options, just find out if it is truly eating, or if it is faking it.

[iwishtofish]

~SIRENA~,

I have a small diamond goby whose belly actually gets a visible bump after I target feed him a substantial quantity. You might want to watch for this after he has eaten - it might give you an idea as to whether or not the food is actually going down the hatch!

[Gdevine]

Sand sifting goby's are notorious for starving to death in a tank. I have a well fed and mature 65g tank run Ecosystem method and mine starved to death. If they eat fish food it's not their natural food source so it really does no good.

It's a sad fact that many, not all, but many, will starve to death.

I don't know the answer but it happens in more in new tanks but older ones as well.

Not sure what you can do and wish you and the fish the best of luck!

[downhillbiker]

did you watch the fish to see if the food is actually going down into the stomach, or is it just passing through the gills? we want to help, but if you cant tell us anything then we cant do anything.