Why do my gobies keep dying.

[StartingATank]

So, about a month ago, I got a YWG, and he was good for the night. Then I woke up the next morning, saw him, he went out of his little cave he was in for the night, swam behing the rockscape, and never saw him since. Now, about 2 days ago, I got another YWG, and later through the first night. He slept around my wavemaker, in a secure spot. Woke up and he was on the ground looking around. He decided to Hank around the back of my rockscape, but I could still see him. Then the second night, he died overnight. He didn't die from other fish attacking him, as no bite marks visible. Also don't think he died from disease, because he also had no symptoms. Should I try a third one, try a lawnmower blenny, or just give it up as a lost cause. Current stock is a tomini Tang, 2 clowns, 2 springeris, and 1 royal Gramma. Have a 33 gallon.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Personally, I think having a tang in a 33g is too small for a tang. Not saying that is the issue with your YWG. Are they just disappearing and you don't see them, or do you find them after they have died?

 

[StartingATank]

The first one I couldn't find, but I assumed that it died because I had a massive nitrate bloom after I thought it died, and I found the second one because it was out in the open.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The first one I couldn't find, but I assumed that it died because I had a massive nitrate bloom after I thought it died, and I found the second one because it was out in the open.

Any marks on the goby?

I'm going to signal for the #fishmedics to help with this case to

 

[StartingATank]

Couldn't find any marks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So, about a month ago, I got a YWG, and he was good for the night. Then I woke up the next morning, saw him, he went out of his little cave he was in for the night, swam behing the rockscape, and never saw him since. Now, about 2 days ago, I got another YWG, and later through the first night. He slept around my wavemaker, in a secure spot. Woke up and he was on the ground looking around. He decided to Hank around the back of my rockscape, but I could still see him. Then the second night, he died overnight. He didn't die from other fish attacking him, as no bite marks visible. Also don't think he died from disease, because he also had no symptoms. Should I try a third one, try a lawnmower blenny, or just give it up as a lost cause. Current stock is a tomini Tang, 2 clowns, 2 springeris, and 1 royal Gramma. Have a 33 gallon.

Many gobies have issues when first acquired - did you buy these from the same dealer?

Do you know the salinity of the water the fish were in versus your tank? We see many cases where dealers hold their fish in low salinity and then home aquariums are much higher. This makes the acclimation of the new fish VERY difficult, and smaller fish can die the day after acclimation.....

 

[StartingATank]

I got the first goby from aqua vault, a really great location, but they closed recently and are now completely online, but they haven't updated fish onto it yet, and the second one I got from some other place, forgot the name, but I don't think they were really great. They were basically like an average lfs. I forgot to ask them, as I was worried about the Coral I also got getting stressed, even though I should have known they would be fine, but I was worried as I live 45 min away. Behavior of him when I first introduced him was he was swimming at the bottom of the tank, landed for a moment, and then started swimming around the tank. The fish were checking him out, but no visible aggression, except from the springeris acting like they were going after him once or twice, as they do with everything. He then perched around my wavemaker and stayed there for the night. Then, the next morning he was swimming at the top, and at around noon he decided to go down onto the Sandbed and stayed in the corner until night. Then, he swam behind my rockscape and stayed the night there. The next morning found him dead

 

[StartingATank]

Wait, sorry, they weren't YWG, they were Blue spotted watchman gobys

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Your tank is fully stocked with 6 fish. You have 4 damsels in the tank (clowns are a type of damsel) which are very territorial and aggressive fish. Also not cool to keep a tang in that size tank. I would not add any more fish and I would rehome that tang.

What is your rockwork like? Gobies need tight rockwork to hide in, open type aquascapes don't work well for gobies.

 

[StartingATank]

So, with what you said, I do agree that the damsels are aggressive, but something wierd I have noticed is that the clowns will never go after any fish, and if a fish wants where they sleep, they will give it to them. It did it with the royal Gramma, springeris, and the Tang. It also did it for the goby. Also, Tang is very good, and very small. My lfs' said they should be good in it. They have a lot of Tangs in smaller tanks.

 

[ScottJ]

So, with what you said, I do agree that the damsels are aggressive, but something wierd I have noticed is that the clowns will never go after any fish, and if a fish wants where they sleep, they will give it to them. It did it with the royal Gramma, springeris, and the Tang. It also did it for the goby. Also, Tang is very good, and very small. My lfs' said they should be good in it. They have a lot of Tangs in smaller tanks.

Your LFS said the Tang should be good in a small tank. Your LFS is in the business of selling fish. I have had my LFS tell me a lot of things to sell fish. And it's a GOOD LFS, I just do my own research before buying.

Your LFS has a lot of Tangs in smaller tanks... that the need to sell... preferably as quickly as possible.

 

[StartingATank]

They have like 4 display tanks that they rarely sell things out of. But since they were closing, the only things they have ever sold out of their display tanks were clams. I was saying that some of these display tanks are smallish, and the lfs had tangs in them. Also, I think my lfs' was more into selling Coral, as they probably had a 10,000 gallon system just for corals. I think they had about 1,000 gallons of fish tanks for selling. Wish I had a picture of them

 

[TheNative192]

They have like 4 display tanks that they rarely sell things out of. But since they were closing, the only things they have ever sold out of their display tanks were clams. I was saying that some of these display tanks are smallish, and the lfs had tangs in them. Also, I think my lfs' was more into selling Coral, as they probably had a 10,000 gallon system just for corals. I think they had about 1,000 gallons of fish tanks for selling. Wish I had a picture of them

I would say you are probably stocked to the brim in that tank which will lead to aggression even if its not noticeable, could be at night, or when not viewing the tank etc. I think the damsels are likely bullying him and causing him to stress out and die. The tang will get too big for the tank. They are very active swimmers and need usually to be in 75 gallons or above. You can probably keep him for a year or two before you should rehome him. It sucks because they are really cool fish but realistically 60+ is a minimum for tangs since they are active fish. To each's own. Once he is full size he will stress out in that size of tank size & die and then the Ammonia spike from a fish that size could easily kill all your fish and corals so just be aware of that.

 

[Rach77]

I see this is a few weeks old....but from experience, pair of Springeri damsels almost took out 5" tang by biting tail and taking a chunk out of side, so bad it took 2 months to heal, and did stress to death a Niger Trigger. lesson learned, damsel pair housed alone

side note: personally, once together I can't separate them. I think that is just wrong