Old Diamond Goby Hiding

Aldrinlights · Aug 22, 2021

Hey everyone. I've had my goby for about 5 years now. He hardly comes out and sifts the sand anymore. I'm wondering if he's just old and on the way out. He comes out for food and then goes back in his den. He's been slowly sifting sand less and less over the past 2 months but now it seems not at all. Everything in the tank is healthy and no params have changed in any way.

SaltwaterGuruNeeded · Aug 22, 2021

Aldrinlights said:
Hey everyone. I've had my goby for about 5 years now. He hardly comes out and sifts the sand anymore. I'm wondering if he's just old and on the way out. He comes out for food and then goes back in his den. He's been slowly sifting sand less and less over the past 2 months but now it seems not at all. Everything in the tank is healthy and no params have changed in any way.

I know with animals, they start to hide when they are near death. Because they feel as though they can't protect themselves anymore. I hope this isn't the case, but good luck.

Tired · Aug 22, 2021

You should order some clove oil. If he is going downhill, and he gets to a state where he can no longer properly move around and eat, he should be humanely euthanized. It's not kind to let an animal slowly die of its own accord- once its quality of life decreases enough, it should be euthanized before it gets to a point where most of its time is spent suffering.

DrMMI · Aug 22, 2021

I had a large one for about 2 years and one day, he did the same thing. Eventually he stopped coming out his cave and one day he just disappeared. I hope that's not the case for yours, but it sounds a lot like what happened with mine.

jaganshi066 · Aug 22, 2021

Aldrinlights said:
Hey everyone. I've had my goby for about 5 years now. He hardly comes out and sifts the sand anymore. I'm wondering if he's just old and on the way out. He comes out for food and then goes back in his den. He's been slowly sifting sand less and less over the past 2 months but now it seems not at all. Everything in the tank is healthy and no params have changed in any way.

He’s so beautiful

Aldrinlights · Aug 23, 2021

Tired said:
You should order some clove oil. If he is going downhill, and he gets to a state where he can no longer properly move around and eat, he should be humanely euthanized. It's not kind to let an animal slowly die of its own accord- once its quality of life decreases enough, it should be euthanized before it gets to a point where most of its time is spent suffering.

Thank you for your comment, He can still move around and eat. He sifts sand in his den. I wonder if my scopas tang is intimidating him now. He is always afraid of my tang. The tang doesnt do anything to him but shes just around and he runs away.

Regarding the clove oil thing though. I've never heard of this. What's the method?

Tired · Aug 23, 2021

Clove oil is a sedative. You catch the fish into a container with some hiding places, of maybe a gallon of water. Then you take a bottle half-full of tank water, add a few drops of clove oil to it, and violently shake the bottle. This mixes the clove oil into the water. Slowly add the mixture in the bottle to the container the fish is in, with additions 5 or so minutes apart. There are probably numbers for this online, but I've done this a few times without any actual measurements. It's not super precise when you're trying to kill the fish as opposed to sedating it alive.

You'll see the fish slow down, and eventually it'll act like it's asleep. Keep adding clove oil. Once it's at a point where you can poke it and it doesn't react at all, put more clove oil into the bottle, shake again, and add a bunch to the fish container. You want to add the clove oil slowly so the fish won't be alarmed by the smell, but once it's unconscious, you don't have to worry about scaring it.

After you've done that, leave the fish in the container for a few hours, potentially overnight. Eventually it'll stop breathing. You leave it in the container for a long time to make sure it's actually dead and won't revive, as fish can still absorb some amount of oxygen without their gills acting, and as such can be revived if they're removed from the oil mixture shortly after they stop breathing. It's only as stressful as the process to put the fish in the container, and causes no pain. It's a good, gentle way to euthanize a fish. Plus, clove oil is cheap, relatively easy to get, and completely safe to handle. Just wash it off if it gets on your skin, essential oils are highly concentrated and shouldn't be left on the skin without heavy dilution.