Crazed
New member
Hi,
I have a question here that's part diagnosis and part planning for the future.
About a year ago I attempted to quarantine a brownbar goby (Amblygobius phalaena). Unfortunately, he died about 3 weeks into the quarantine process, and I don't know why. The QT was fine--I cycled it independently and there were no ammonia or nitrites in the system. The pH was identical to my DT pH of around 8.1. I did not freshwater dip him, although I plan to for future fish purchases. In the days before his death he just rested on the bottom of the tank and didn't sift anymore. He often turned over onto his side just from water movement. Prior to that, he showed no signs of ich or other maladies that I've dealt with. I do remember that when he died, his mouth was stuck wide open--I don't recall how his gills looked, though.
The bottom line is I want to get another one, but I want to try to determine if my methods were flawed (ie: if he starved to death) or if his death was just bad luck (ie: disease that didn't manifest itself until ~3 weeks later).
Mostly, I'm concerned if I was feeding him incorrectly. I cut a wide piece of PVC tubing for a "dish" and filled it with sand (half of it live from my tank, brown with diatoms and algae, and half of it fresh from the bag (after being rinsed and dried)). I tucked some fish food into it, since the goby sifts sand. I also tried to feed him by placing some food into the water column, but he didn't go for that.
He actively sifted, but I could never tell if he was actually consuming the food. Did I do everything correctly? How do you feed your sifting gobies in quarantine?
The sand size was Nature's Ocean Aragonite Sand #1, 1.2-1.7mm grain size.
Thanks for any insight.
I have a question here that's part diagnosis and part planning for the future.
About a year ago I attempted to quarantine a brownbar goby (Amblygobius phalaena). Unfortunately, he died about 3 weeks into the quarantine process, and I don't know why. The QT was fine--I cycled it independently and there were no ammonia or nitrites in the system. The pH was identical to my DT pH of around 8.1. I did not freshwater dip him, although I plan to for future fish purchases. In the days before his death he just rested on the bottom of the tank and didn't sift anymore. He often turned over onto his side just from water movement. Prior to that, he showed no signs of ich or other maladies that I've dealt with. I do remember that when he died, his mouth was stuck wide open--I don't recall how his gills looked, though.
The bottom line is I want to get another one, but I want to try to determine if my methods were flawed (ie: if he starved to death) or if his death was just bad luck (ie: disease that didn't manifest itself until ~3 weeks later).
Mostly, I'm concerned if I was feeding him incorrectly. I cut a wide piece of PVC tubing for a "dish" and filled it with sand (half of it live from my tank, brown with diatoms and algae, and half of it fresh from the bag (after being rinsed and dried)). I tucked some fish food into it, since the goby sifts sand. I also tried to feed him by placing some food into the water column, but he didn't go for that.
He actively sifted, but I could never tell if he was actually consuming the food. Did I do everything correctly? How do you feed your sifting gobies in quarantine?
The sand size was Nature's Ocean Aragonite Sand #1, 1.2-1.7mm grain size.
Thanks for any insight.
