Is my fish dying from Ich or something else?

kliklaker

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Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium type:
Fish-only + snails
Aquarium water volume: 13.5 G (11 G actual volume)
Filtration type: Media basket with filter floss, carbon, and biological media
Lighting: Fluval evo 13.5 Stock Lights
How long has the aquarium been established?: 5 weeks since today
Here's a FTS:
135550834_2732736093609861_3234761996725306747_n.jpg


Water quality:
Temperature :
80 F
pH: 7 (API test strip)
Salinity / specific gravity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0 ppm (API)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (API)
Nitrate: ~5 ppm (API)
Phosphorus: ~0 ppm (API; unable to read low ranges with my current kit)
Copper: N/A, but I didn't put any copper in

Hey R2R. Newbie just getting into the hobby, and I'd like some help figuring out what is killing my yellow clown goby.
Some history: I got him 2 weeks ago from LFS on the day they got it shipped in. It came in with some frayed fins and wasn't responsive to food for the first 2-3 days. But after that, he became a very voracious eater. He got along well with my firefish, and I've been feeding them both LRS Reef Frenzy as well as PE mysis pellets daily. Ever since I've had him I noticed that his belly was very pinched, and I figured with enough feedings he'd get nice and fat.

A week ago, he disappeared from my display, and I found him in my overflow. It turns out the grates were small enough for him to pass through. I couldn't get a net to bring him back to my main display and ended up having to use my hands to reach into the cramped chamber. I mention this because I think it was a very stressful process for him. It took a long time and I think I might have scraped him while I was bringing him up.

The next day he broke out with what I presumed was lympho; he had yellow warty bumps all over his fins and head, but his behavior was completely unchanged. My firefish was unaffected. Pic for reference:
133405626_386032429362738_1912164710059174256_n (1).jpg

I upped his feeding to twice a day with LRS and did a water change. He seemed fine. He started having more lesions throughout but his behavior was still the same. I did catch him flashing a little bit.

Here's where I'm confused. I woke up 2-3 days after his breakout, and found him looking like this.
133374820_737249150523939_5159466857325145583_n (1).jpg

Still no changes in behavior. Now my firefish is starting to have some white spots on his top fin, and was exhibiting some flashing. I know one way to distinguish between Ich and lympho is with how long it took for the spots to disappear. For my clown goby, these spots went away the day they showed up. This made me confused as I thought ich trophonts stay on for ~3 days. By the end of the day, both my ycg and my firefish's white spots had mostly disappeared. My firefish never got any more spots and he's still doing fine today.

My clown goby got more white spots over the next few days but they disappeared the same day as well. It looked like they were getting shaken off as he swam. Yesterday I noticed he looked paler, but his behavior seemed fine. His lesions were shrinking and I could barely see them on his head and fins. But today I woke and found him basically moribund. He can't really swim against any current and ends up twirling around. He refuses to eat, his breathing rate is 68, and he does not seem to be gasping for air. I don't really see any white spots on him either. My inverts and firefish are unaffected. I have a vid here:



So yeah, I'm almost positive he's on his way out. The purpose of this long post is because I'm still not sure what is killing my fish. I've been told he has lympho, which I thought wasn't very dangerous. And while he had white spots, they disappeared in less than 24 hours. I'm not ruling out Ich in his gills and I don't know what Ich looks like when it's end-stage. I also suspect internal parasites, as he never put on weight despite all the feedings, but I also didn't see any stringy white poop. If anyone knows what this could look like, please let me know! This all happened within 7 days, so I'm a little worried for my other fish. I'm considering putting my tank through a fallow period as I set up my QT system, but I also don't want to do that unless it's indicated. Thanks!
 

vetteguy53081

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Welcome Newbie and cute little clown goby !!!
To start right off, you have some needed adjustments. Before I list what values you need, Please plan on buying Hanna or salifert test kits. API is notorious for false readings and have let many reefers down, hence the very low price for their master kit. DID I SAY MASTER ??
The same applies to badges and strips. Theyre all cheap for a reason. For reference. . . maybe.

- My first suggestion is to take a good size water sample to a TRUSTED LFS (Local Fish Store) and have them test water for you and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours.

Levels should be:

Salinity 1.024-1.025 (youre at 1.026) Add a little RODI water to bring it down . . S L O W L Y
Temp 77-79
ph 8.1 -8.3 ( youre at 7 which is acidic)
nitrate < .03 (youre at 5 but not crazy for a new tank)
Ammonia < .03
Phos < .04

Tank is off to a good start. Add 2 0f each snail: Turbo, astrea, nassarius and trochus

Now your fish :

Although it looks like ich, im seeing signs of more crypto. Cryptocaryon progresses more slowly. Since this was detected early, if treated promptly upon , this little guy should recover well. Although copper is very effective with this condition, I think it would do well with a treatment called General cure which contains formalin. If you dont have a net, you'll need one. Using a clean bucket, you will set up a formalin bath for this fish and give it daily baths for about 10-12 days. Obviously keep an eye on it to assure it is responding to formalin and not getting more dots.
While you are out with water sample and grabbing a net, get a bottle of selcon vitamins to add to little yellow guy's food every other day to support its health and vitality
 

vetteguy53081

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Also are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
For the green algae which is no issue, you can lower the white intensity a little to reduce the progress of algae ( this is cosmetic and optional)
 
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kliklaker

kliklaker

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Thanks for the response! Yeah, I figure I should pick up more stringent testing kits, and I'll try and get the required things for a hospital tank today. I am using RODI water, but I am leaving the lights on, fully knowing that some algae will grow. I have 1 trochus snail, 2 ceriths and 2 Nass as CUC at the moment.

I thought he was moribund this morning as he couldn't even keep itself upright and wasn't avoiding my hand. But if it's still savable then I'd like to do all that I can. I was actually preparing to setup a TTM QT system and TTM my firefish and keep it in QT while my DT goes fallow for the required duration. Is it possible for me to treat my goby while doing TTM as well?
 

vetteguy53081

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Thanks for the response! Yeah, I figure I should pick up more stringent testing kits, and I'll try and get the required things for a hospital tank today. I am using RODI water, but I am leaving the lights on, fully knowing that some algae will grow. I have 1 trochus snail, 2 ceriths and 2 Nass as CUC at the moment.

I thought he was moribund this morning as he couldn't even keep itself upright and wasn't avoiding my hand. But if it's still savable then I'd like to do all that I can. I was actually preparing to setup a TTM QT system and TTM my firefish and keep it in QT while my DT goes fallow for the required duration. Is it possible for me to treat my goby while doing TTM as well?
Yes
 

Jay Hemdal

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Thanks for the response! Yeah, I figure I should pick up more stringent testing kits, and I'll try and get the required things for a hospital tank today. I am using RODI water, but I am leaving the lights on, fully knowing that some algae will grow. I have 1 trochus snail, 2 ceriths and 2 Nass as CUC at the moment.

I thought he was moribund this morning as he couldn't even keep itself upright and wasn't avoiding my hand. But if it's still savable then I'd like to do all that I can. I was actually preparing to setup a TTM QT system and TTM my firefish and keep it in QT while my DT goes fallow for the required duration. Is it possible for me to treat my goby while doing TTM as well?
Sounds like @vetteguy53081 has things covered, I think it does look like ich/Crytpocaryon as well. One thing to add - clown gobies are a low value fish for the collectors they also live deep inside coral heads. The collector is probably paid 15 to 20 cents for each one they collect. What some of them do then, is to use sodium cyanide to knock the fish out, making them much easier to collect. However, that poison has residual damage, and you see things like a fish that eats well, but stays skinny, and high mortality rates in the first 40 days or so. Y9ou can't do anything for these fish, but I wanted to mention it....

Jay
 

vetteguy53081

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Sounds like @vetteguy53081 has things covered, I think it does look like ich/Crytpocaryon as well. One thing to add - clown gobies are a low value fish for the collectors they also live deep inside coral heads. The collector is probably paid 15 to 20 cents for each one they collect. What some of them do then, is to use sodium cyanide to knock the fish out, making them much easier to collect. However, that poison has residual damage, and you see things like a fish that eats well, but stays skinny, and high mortality rates in the first 40 days or so. Y9ou can't do anything for these fish, but I wanted to mention it....

Jay
How much ?? I can't even buy bubble gum for that . . . LOL
 

Jay Hemdal

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How much ?? I can't even buy bubble gum for that . . . LOL
Yep - 20 cents to the collector, exporter charges a buck, the importer charges $4 and the stores sell them for $16
Jay
 

vetteguy53081

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Yep - 20 cents to the collector, exporter charges a buck, the importer charges $4 and the stores sell them for $16
Jay
$16?? Its now $23 and they blame it on COVID (the next ten years will be on covid, then it will be the next president, then the Arabs and so forth)
 

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