Yellow Watchman Goby Acting Weird

ReefGrammie

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I've had the goby for about a month, who immediately settled into one of my pistol shrimp's many burrows. I thought they had paired up because whenever I saw the shrimp, the goby wasn't far away. The goby was usually seen hanging outside of a burrow filtering sand, in typical WM goby fashion. For the last few days, the goby has been up on the water surface all day long, just swimming around, head usually pointed up but not always. I've had WM gobys before and have never seen one stay on the water surface like this. Parameters are good, temperature is good, and none of the other fish seem distressed. Any idea what's going on with the goby? I tried to find the shrimp with a flashlight and can't find him, but that's not unusual. The shrimp has been moving a lot of sand around the last few nights, though. I wondered if with the sand movement, maybe a burrow collapsed? As I was typing this, I took the flashlight and looked under the tank through the sump and found the shrimp, who seems fine. Weird!!
 

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Hard to say as swimming at the top isn't unusual if he is new however you've had him for a month. Maybe something spooked him and caused him to do that. However there is a chance that something is irritating his gills something like ich, flukes, or velvet. Do you qt your fish before adding to your display tank? And if so what do you treat them with
 
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Hard to say as swimming at the top isn't unusual if he is new however you've had him for a month. Maybe something spooked him and caused him to do that. However there is a chance that something is irritating his gills something like ich, flukes, or velvet. Do you qt your fish before adding to your display tank? And if so what do you treat them with

I may regret this, but in 11+ years, I've never used a QT. I only buy my fish from 2 places, my LFS (who medicates) and Liveaquaria. I actually pulled my invoice and I've had the goby for 2 months. Behavior has been completely normal until a few days ago. If I had a QT, he would have been in the tank by now anyway. Ugh, I'm wondering what I should do now, if anything! Thanks for replying!
 

Old Fritz

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I may regret this, but in 11+ years, I've never used a QT. I only buy my fish from 2 places, my LFS (who medicates) and Liveaquaria. I actually pulled my invoice and I've had the goby for 2 months. Behavior has been completely normal until a few days ago. If I had a QT, he would have been in the tank by now anyway. Ugh, I'm wondering what I should do now, if anything! Thanks for replying!
Gobies aren't really known as carries of parasites so hopefully something just startled him. Maybe give it a day or two and if his condition continues try a freshwater dip and if nothing comes off chances are it's something like ich. If there is ich there is a chance that it will just be manageable and won't actually kill anything. However I would recommend treating in a separate qt with copper and leaving the dt fallow
 
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ReefGrammie

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Gobies aren't really known as carries of parasites so hopefully something just startled him.

Well, I'll be! I think you're right! Four days ago when I posted this thread, I took a net and kind of nudged the goby back down. He didn't have labored breathing and didn't seem stressed. He slowly went down and disappeared down one of the tunnels. I hadn't seem him since then until this afternoon. I caught a glimpse of yellow, and there he was, right outside a burrow in the back of the tank, munching on sand! He spent three full days swimming up near the surface. What an odd experience! He's a youngster, so maybe he just got a little lost and couldn't find his way home...
 

Old Fritz

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Well, I'll be! I think you're right! Four days ago when I posted this thread, I took a net and kind of nudged the goby back down. He didn't have labored breathing and didn't seem stressed. He slowly went down and disappeared down one of the tunnels. I hadn't seem him since then until this afternoon. I caught a glimpse of yellow, and there he was, right outside a burrow in the back of the tank, munching on sand! He spent three full days swimming up near the surface. What an odd experience! He's a youngster, so maybe he just got a little lost and couldn't find his way home...
That's good to hear. Just be sure to keep an eye or for any symptoms that could indicate disease just to be safe. But like I said they don't often carry diseases. Glad he is doing better now
 
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ReefGrammie

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That's good to hear. Just be sure to keep an eye or for any symptoms that could indicate disease just to be safe. But like I said they don't often carry diseases. Glad he is doing better now

Thank you! I just had another goby sighting, out of one of the tunnels that the goby/pistol shrimp were working on last night. The goby still seems fine. I've noticed some major sand plowing going on at night recently, so they have been busy!
 

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