New Watchman Goby goes nuts and dies

[5pacey]

So I brought home a watchman goby & a mini pistol shrimp yesterday from my trip to a nearby FS. Was looking good yelow variety, although the pistol shrimp was tiny... about 0.5 inch... the goby was smallish but normal size - about 1.5 inch or so.

Acclimated over 1 hr or so, got them both in and...

1. Shrimp just whiiiirlll.. goes into the sand and disappears ... oh well I suppose they do that. They make burrows for a living after all... haven't seen it since.

2. Goby... was ok... but today I started to get a little uneasy since I haven't seen him eat anything, but I figured he's adjusting. And then literally... in front of my eyes, as I was doing some cleanup on the bench in the area, and some parameter taking... he starts freaking out... swimming corkscrews, rolling on the sand, swimming in circles, generally loosing orientation, getting belly up, and just dying in front of me... ... he was getting worse and worse literally within 15 min. When he stopped mostly and was lying motioness on the side/back... I netted him into a separation container. He layed there mostly motioness, but twitching a bit for about 30 min and then that was pretty much it... after another 2 hrs of no motion I decided that there was no more reason to keep the container in the tank...

I am worried a little that he may have died of some kind of disease and now my whole tank is doomed... but there was absolutely nothing visibly wrong w/him... so I am hoping not Ich. Its a small tank (30g) good parameters although Phosphates a bit high - 0.4, no Nitrates or ammonia etc. Only two other fishies - 2 clowns I've had for the past 5 years, 3 snails, 2 hermits, 1 new brittle star (still hiding) and one cleaner shrimp.

Not sure there is any possibility of post-mortem analysis, so I am more sharing my sadness than expectng someone to offer a real explanation... but if you have some ideas share back.

Thanks for reading.

Spacey

 

[Newsmyrna80]

Not a contagious disease, more like a neurological problem. There was nothing you did or could have done that caused it. I had the same thing happen to a yellow goby I brought home. Your tank will be fine for the next one

 

[snorvich]

However, you need to measure SG of transport water and tank water and make sure your acclimation process results in them being identical (or very close).

 

[5pacey]

Not a contagious disease, more like a neurological problem. There was nothing you did or could have done that caused it. I had the same thing happen to a yellow goby I brought home. Your tank will be fine for the next one

Thanks, you are hopefully correct... I'll hold off for few weeks w/getting any new faces into the tank though.

Best,

Space

 

[5pacey]

However, you need to measure SG of transport water and tank water and make sure your acclimation process results in them being identical (or very close).

Steve,

By SG I assume you mean salinity? I did, thanks for making sure... I dripped water into the acclimating container, poured some off, and then dripped some more. In the end 95% of the water was replaced w/tank water. I then put that container to float in the tank to equalize temps & lighting and provide visuals to inhabitants on both sides.

Best,

Space

 

[Deinonych]

Steve,

By SG I assume you mean salinity? I did, thanks for making sure... I dripped water into the acclimating container, poured some off, and then dripped some more. In the end 95% of the water was replaced w/tank water. I then put that container to float in the tank to equalize temps & lighting and provide visuals to inhabitants on both sides.

Best,

Space

If the salinity difference between the bag and the tank is too great, it can cause problems with fish, even with drip acclimition. Do you happen to know what these two values were?

A best practice is to match the salinity of the QT to that of the transport bag. Then, just float to temperature acclimate and transfer the fish to the QT.

 

[5pacey]

If the salinity difference between the bag and the tank is too great, it can cause problems with fish, even with drip acclimition. Do you happen to know what these two values were?

A best practice is to match the salinity of the QT to that of the transport bag. Then, just float to temperature acclimate and transfer the fish to the QT.

Chris,

I do not... for some reason I didn't check this time. I normally do, but they are within 1.020 - 26 range and mine is 1.024. So good point... I did not check that. Lesson definitely learned not to skip that step again.

Spacey

 

[ThRoewer]

How long has he been in the bag?
There was an article in Advanced Aquarist reporting on a finding that some bags may leach toxins that can harm fish: Study finds plastic bags can be deadly to fish
The way this fish died fits poison.

If it was salinity the shrimp would likely have died on the spot - shrimps handle salinity swings poorly.