RIP Diamond Watchman Goby

[IUfan]

This sucks so much for so many reasons.

I've had my D.Watchman goby for just over 2 years, his name was JaJa and he was fat and huge! At least 6 inches in length. He was my first saltwater fish! And for that reason as well as looking very cool, and being very interactive he was my favorite fish.

I've been transferring fish out to the new 180 but I'd planned all along to get another diamond watchman goby in the hopes of forming a pair.

So I found a 2nd 1 yesterday around half the size of my current 1. I'd heard that they can change sex and/or the dominant of the 2 becomes the female, so i expected a bit of chasing at the beginning, all was well it seemed, but unfortunately they both jumped from the tank, landing on the carpet 4 feet below. At first I thought only the new one had jumped, so it was perhaps 3-4 minutes before realizing that my oldest one was still on the floor. I looked and there he was behind the tank, placed him back in but I could tell he was in trouble. Woke up this morning and he had passed. ;(

Sucks, I feel terrible, I was so excited to eventually put him into the bigger tank and he never got to see it! I was ultimately trying to make his life better by getting him a mate, and in the end it led to his demise!

Now I'm just wondering, what did he die from? The 3-4 mins out of water? Did he hit his head on something when he fell from the tank? Was he just old and this event just took it's toll? Just stress of having another goby in his territory? I'm thinking it's a culmination of all of these things tbh.

I know obviously him jumping from the tank isn't going to be good for him, but he was so healthy it seemed, I would have thought he would have recovered from this, and I also thought that 3-4 minutes out of water, although bad, was not enough to lead to this. Just gutted.

 

[sleepydoc]

My condolences. My diamond goby is named Felix (Baumgartner) He jumped out 3 times during QT!

As to what killed yours, it's hard to say. If he made it more than a few minutes after utting him back it probably wasn't suffocation that killed him directly. It could be that he suffocated long enough that he became acidodic and couldn't recover despite being able to breathe, or, as you mentioned, he could have suffered some trauma in the fall. It seems that that would have been evident right away, though.

 

[IUfan]

That's a good name! I've never had a problem with jumpers until putting the new goby in yesterday.

What's acidodic? Is it like a build up of acid in the muscles? Lungs? Almost like lactic acid when running? Was there anything I could have done at that point? I thought I was doing the right thing just leaving him be, but would be handy to know in case there's ever a next time.

Appreciate your input sleepydoc, how old is yours now? Lifespans is around 5, right?

 

[sleepydoc]

Yes - in humans at least when you don't have enough oxygen tissues resort to anaerobic metabolism resulting in the build up of lactic acid. If the pH in your body drops too much, enzymes don't work properly and organs will not function well. I really don't know much about goby physiology, so any application to fish is conjecture on my part, but I should think the same principles would apply.

As far as what you could have done, I don't think there was anything. His fate was likely sealed when he had been out of water for too long.