Found new paired(pistol shrimp) yellow watchman goby dead.....

[mooputingtong]

So i got a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp and they immediately paired up together and found its own hiding spot.

Day one , they seems to be doing good but on a second day i saw goby at night far away from hiding spot(had little white beaten up mouth).

On third day i got worried that goby didnt come out for a day so i got all the rocks out and found goby dead burried under sand but pistol shrimp still healthy going strong.

Im not really sure what caused gobies death.

My blenny and other fish is totally healthy eating good and my corals are also doing good.

My nitrate is less than 10 and ammonia zero.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

did you get both of them at the same time? they were both added together a few days ago?

How is their size comparison? Is the pistol much bigger than the goby?

Sure it was a pistol shrimp?

How long has the tank been running? Did you acclimate them properly? Any dips for them before? Temp? Salinity?

I have never heard of a pistol killing a YMG. My best guess was the YMG was either sick to begin with and simply died, or that there was something off with the tank that again caused it to die. Generally pistols will not be strong enough to kill a YMG even if it wanted to. They aren't design to kill massive prey like that. More of a defense mechanism and to stun/kill smaller prey.

My YWG is prob 2-3x my candy cane pistol size but I had a tiger pistol before that I had to return (was about 3" and would turn my tank into a snow globe every night and it was ticking me and the corals off) and when I got the new smaller pistol -- never had an issue with either of them

 

[mooputingtong]

did you get both of them at the same time? they were both added together a few days ago?

How is their size comparison? Is the pistol much bigger than the goby?

Sure it was a pistol shrimp?

How long has the tank been running? Did you acclimate them properly? Any dips for them before? Temp? Salinity?

I have never heard of a pistol killing a YMG. My best guess was the YMG was either sick to begin with and simply died, or that there was something off with the tank that again caused it to die. Generally pistols will not be strong enough to kill a YMG even if it wanted to. They aren't design to kill massive prey like that. More of a defense mechanism and to stun/kill smaller prey.

My YWG is prob 2-3x my candy cane pistol size but I had a tiger pistol before that I had to return (was about 3" and would turn my tank into a snow globe every night and it was ticking me and the corals off) and when I got the new smaller pistol -- never had an issue with either of them

I got them both at the same time and immediately paired together even during acclimation.

They are both small and had no problems together. I have 65 gallon tank is fairly new 18 days but ammonia zero and nitrate 10. I currently have blenny and wrasse but they are peaceful and wrasse was burried under sand and i couldnt see it for 6 days.

I noticed ywg had little beaten up mouth with little white chunks hanging in his mouth the first day i got him. He looked good but ignored when i put flakes in its mouth. I had several gobies before but none of them died on me after few days. They are really hardy fish and never had any concerns.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

I got them both at the same time and immediately paired together even during acclimation.

They are both small and had no problems together. I have 65 gallon tank is fairly new 18 days but ammonia zero and nitrate 10. I currently have blenny and wrasse but they are peaceful and wrasse was burried under sand and i couldnt see it for 6 days.

I noticed ywg had little beaten up mouth with little white chunks hanging in his mouth the first day i got him. He looked good but ignored when i put flakes in its mouth. I had several gobies before but none of them died on me after few days. They are really hardy fish and never had any concerns.

so the hot take is that the tank is not cycled fully but seeing how you have no ammonia and nitrates, my guess it is 'cycled' but not stable at all. How did you start it? Live Rock? Dr. Tims? For such a young tank I would worry about adding that many fish that quickly-- you won't have enough good bacteria for the ammonia all those fish produce. So to answer your original question, my guess would be the tank isn't cycled fully/ready for that many fish. Second guess would be that the fish just was sick and didn't make it. I am pretty confident nothing in your tank would have caused it to die.

 

[mooputingtong]

so the hot take is that the tank is not cycled fully but seeing how you have no ammonia and nitrates, my guess it is 'cycled' but not stable at all. How did you start it? Live Rock? Dr. Tims? For such a young tank I would worry about adding that many fish that quickly-- you won't have enough good bacteria for the ammonia all those fish produce. So to answer your original question, my guess would be the tank isn't cycled fully/ready for that many fish. Second guess would be that the fish just was sick and didn't make it. I am pretty confident nothing in your tank would have caused it to die.

I used bio spira and used fritz ammonia to populate nitrifying bacteria. It might not be stable but i test my ammonia and nitrate daily and it all came as stable. Im guessing its mabye due to health issue because i saw his lower part of the mouth was white and little beat up. So my question is when you loose fish within few days even with good water premieter. Do i have to blame my lfs? I told him the situation but he doesnt seem to care he said it just happen sometimes. Im not sure who to blame. It could be the fish, new tank not being stable.

 

[Tired]

If the mouth was damaged at purchase, yes, I would suspect injury.

LFS generally don't offer long-term guarantees, because they have no way of knowing what happened. For all they know, the goby got hurt in your tank.

Stop adding fish for awhile, let your tank mature. The pistol shrimp will be fine on its own.

 

[Cell]

The tank is cycled. One fish would not be dead and the others fine if not.

 

[Tired]

Well, if a fish is already under stress (say, from an injury and/or being transported), a parameter shift that doesn't hurt non-stressed fish can finish it off.

 

[Cole.mormon]

I have 1 neon dottyback three damsels a coral banded shrimp and a lawnmower blenny l. Can I get a pistol goby pair? If so can y pu pair a diamond watchman goby with a candy cane pistol

 

[Tired]

Diamond watchman gobies are sand-sifters that are very hard to keep fed in the average home aquarium, and do not pair with pistol shrimp.

Candycane pistols are small. Pick a small goby. Antenna or yasha gobies are good.

Depends on your tank size. If you have enough bioload free to fit a goby, and enough places for them to hide, should be fine.

This should have been in its own thread, though, as it's a completely different issue than the first person had.

 

[Cole.mormon]

Wb a ymg

 

[Cole.mormon]

I have a flu Val 207 and an hob
Plenty of bioload to spare

 

[Tired]

How much bioload your tank can support depends on tank size. Filtration helps, but tank size is the most important.

Yellow watchman goby should be fine. Better witih a tiger pistol, tigers are a bit larger and better for bigger gobies like yellow watchmen.

 

[Cole.mormon]

60 gallons

 

[Tired]

Okay, so you have a 60-gallon tank with 4 small fish and 1 medium fish. Another small fish (the watchman) would be reasonable, yes. Just make sure to introduce it into the tank after lights out, so it can hide, in case the lawnmower or dottyback is aggressive.

Also, consider removing the banded shrimp. They're opportunists that will kill and eat small fish if they get the chance, even if they seem fine with those fish during the day.

 

[Cole.mormon]

The lawnmower is a wuss

 

[Cole.mormon]

The damsels are 1.5 to 3 in

 

[Cole.mormon]

The banded shrimp gets target fed every night

 

[Tired]

Banded shrimp are never completely safe with small fish, even when well-fed. And lawnmower blennies are aggressive towards other fish that are similar to them.

 

[Cole.mormon]

Ok