Diamond gobies losing weight despite eating

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hi all,

I got this pair of diamond gobies the week before thanksgiving. They had huge bellies in the store, and I eventually figured out why... they started laying clutches of eggs within a week of bringing them home. However, since then they have steadily lost weight and they are beginning to get downright skinny. They are fed frozen food daily and they both eat voraciously, swimming up in the water column to grab food. They are fed mysis and raw grated cocktail shrimp. I used to feed the tank about a cube's worth of food a day, but recently upped this tremendously when I noticed them getting skinny... they are eating more, but are still skinny. The tank is a 90 with the two diamonds, a bicolor blenny, a chromis, a sunburst anthias, a royal gramma, and a mandarin. So all small fish, they are not being outcompeted, and IME a cube a day should be fine for this bioload.

Could they have internal parasites? If so, what treatment should I pursue? I am moving next month so I will be housing all the fish in a temporary tank for a few weeks while I move and re-setup the display, so I could easily treat all the fish then.

 

[stunreefer]

Could they have internal parasites? If so, what treatment should I pursue? I am moving next month so I will be housing all the fish in a temporary tank for a few weeks while I move and re-setup the display, so I could easily treat all the fish then.

Internal parasites was my first thought considering they're eating well yet still losing weight. I prefer to use Prazipro.

 

[ilikefish34]

2nd for internal parasites and 2nd for prazipro. the sifting gobies seem quite prone to this. good luck

 

[Toddrtrex]

Actually hope that this is because of a parasite.

IME, with these fish, this is a common occurrence -- though for me it took about 6 months, give or take. Even while eating prepared foods, they would still slowly starve to death -- usually after striping the sandbed of food.