Orange-spot-diamond goby emaciated

[AMW]

I have had my orange-spot diamond goby for the last several years and it has overall been in good health. 5 months ago I down-sized to a 34 gallon nano and kept the goby along with a mated pair of percs. The remainder of the nano contains sps and lps.

In the last month or so I have noticed the goby getting very emaciated. It is still quite active cleaning the sand, but it is obvious that it is slowly withering away. I feed the percs with tweezers in order to minimize polluting the tank and hence impacting nitrate and phosphate levels, thus the majority of the food the goby gets is probably through cleaning up waste.

Any thoughts on why the goby is now becoming so emaciated??? (I have buried some mysis in the sand so that it can get protein and omegas). Any suggestions on how to improve its mass would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MBVette]

The goby is starving to death. That tank is probably not big enough to feed a diamond goby, and your way of feeding is keeping any food from getting to the goby.

For the goby's sake please take it out and give it to someone who can properly house the fish. Otherwise it will probably be dead in short order

 

[thatguy559]

agreed i would either start feeding the goby or give it to someone who can properly take care of it

 

[snorvich]

agreed i would either start feeding the goby or give it to someone who can properly take care of it

And another vote for feeding or giving it away. But I am surprised that the OP is surprised.

 

[AMW]

Thank you for all your feedback - all valid.

I am also looking for suggestions on how you would feed the goby so that 1) the other fish don't eat the food, 2) the hermits don't eat the food, 3) there is not excess food floating around to pollute the tank and throw off the parameters (which in turn impact the sps population)

I am posting so that I can hear from you experts on how you would feed this goby (I also appreciate your concern for the fish, and if no one has any concrete methods how to feed it, I also agree that giving away is the best option). Thanks.

 

[AfricaOffroad]

Feed sinking pellets.
The goby will find them while sifting the sand.
If he doesn't the hermits will, ensure uneaten food does not sit there and decompose into ammonia/nitrites

 

[ssavader]

Get one FRESH shrimp or scallop from your local specialty store (no freezer burned frozen shrimp from the other side of the world). Use a sharp knife to make parallel cuts in the food item and place in 20 ml tank water for 10 minutes. Draw up about 5 ml of the water and gently squirt near the goby's burrow. Give him/her about 5 more minutes to process the smell, then place a small piece of the item at the entrance to his burrow. If one type of fresh food dose not work, simply try something else.

Good luck.