Yellow Watchman Goby with new odd behaviors

[ReefLife_Guy]

Recently my yellow watchman goby has been exhibiting odd behaviors. I have a yellow watchman goby/pistol shrimp pair that I bought from my lfs approximately 3 months ago. I did not QT these 2 prior to adding to display tank but both appeared healthy and were eating during acclimation, after adding them to DT they immediately dug out a home and remained there until a few days ago. Since adding them to the tank, the goby and shrimp stayed hidden except during feeding time and food basically would have to fall at the entrance of their hole for him to grab it because he was so skittish that he would never let more than half of his body come out of the hole. I was told this was normal for these gobies and sometimes it takes them several weeks to become comfortable enough to come out of their hole.

Fast forward to a week ago when I saw him out of his hole, enough to see his body, and realized he looked very thin and didn't seem to have grown any over the 3 months that I had him. He of course darted back into his hole and since I was concerned that his fear was holding him back from getting adequate amounts of food, I put PE mysis pellets in front of his hole. Over the next 10 minutes he ate more food than I had ever seen him eat. In the last 72 hours, he has progressively come out of his hole and even to the point of swimming around the tank. In the last 48 hours he started staying at the water surface and seemed very lethargic. He was able to swim around normally but it concerned me that I was able to touch him without him running far away. I didn't see any lesions on him and he didn't appear to be distressed or breathing heavily. He spent the night in the corner that hosts my 2 clownfish. 24 hours ago he was still hanging out near the surface of the water in the corner of the tank, but still didn't seem distressed. This morning I noticed he had some holes in his dorsal fin and some missing pieces. I setup a 10g hospital tank today and when I put him in it, he exhibiting the same behavior staying up at the top corner of the tank. Since I was concerned he had some kind of swim bladder issue I directed him to the bottom of the tank with my hand and happily moved to the bottom where he has been swimming around and eating some pellets for the last hour or so.

No other tank mates are exhibiting odd behaviors and nothing has changed much in the last couple of weeks. The tiger pistol shrimp did make a new home on the other side of the tank ever since the goby was out of the hole.

#fishmedic #fishmedics

DT Parameters:
Salinity: 35.6ppt
ORP: 356
pH: 8.14
Temp: 78F
NH3: 0.001ppm (seneye)
Nitrate: 1.0 ppm
Phosphate: 0.1ppm
Alkalinity: 11.6
Calcium: 471

Currently goby is breathing at 44 breaths per minute, doesn't seem to be stressed in the hospital tank.

First image is in the display tank before moving him over to the hospital tank, when the dorsal fin seems more intact.

 

[fishguy242]

hi, odd behavior, thinking clowns may have damaged fins, experts will arrive shortly, best wishes

 

[eqbal9947]

my guy did that too.
he used to perch on rocks and holes in rockwork.
he started acting funny, basically floating at the surface and my hippo tang would nip at his fins.
he ended up in the filter sock 2 times and so I put him in a an acrylic cube by himself (with a small rock).
after 4 days i added him back, WITH an airstone in the tank.
He seemed better but far more skittish, he hides basically whole day now. Only eats if i put the food very close to his rock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Often when paired with shrimp, they get chested with meals.
What are you feeding it besides pellets?
It will need more than pellets specifically meaty foods such as mysis shrimp, small plankton, LRS fish frenzy, and chopped krill
I assume normal breathing?
Keep an eye on aggressors which may be intimidating it also

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

hi, odd behavior, thinking clowns may have damaged fins, experts will arrive shortly, best wishes

I think his fins were damaged as well, while I cannot rule out it was the clowns, I will say my clowns are extremely friendly to other inhabitants and have never displayed aggression to anyone or anything since I have had them. When I first noticed them together in the corner, the goby was resting on the silicone in the corner in a vertical position and the clowns were both next to him doing their slow wiggle (which I always imagine is how they sleep) like they usually do when the lights go out. He almost seemed neurologic, when I first noticed him swimming at the water surface and it is very possible he got sucked up against the overflow or powerhead and damaged some of his fins. I say "neurologic" because when I come up to the tank, put my hand near the tank, even going as far as putting my hand in the water by him, I expect him to dart away based on his typical behavior in the tank so far. Instead it seemed like he didn't care much that the powerhead was pulling him closer and closer to it and only darted when I accidentally knocked my flipper scraper off of the glass. Even in the display tank it is concerning to me that he doesn't dart and hide when I come up to the tank because that is what he has been doing since I got him.

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Often when paired with shrimp, they get chested with meals.
What are you feeding it besides pellets?
It will need more than pellets specifically meaty foods such as mysis shrimp, small plankton, LRS fish frenzy, and chopped krill
I assume normal breathing?
Keep an eye on aggressors which may be intimidating it also

Yes, I feed the tank with a variety of food. I only put those pellets there because I wanted him to eat something dense in nutrients since he looked so thin. I usually try to squirt some mysis in front of his hole and every once in a while see him come out and grab some. I feed PE mysis, hikari mysis, spirulina mysis, PE calanus, and my AFS dispenses hatchery diet pellets 3 times a day. Also, have a large population of copepods. I dose the tank with algae barn phytoplankton every couple of days just to keep the copepod population fed.

Also, he has been breathing normally since I noticed this odd behavior. He has been in the hospital tank for about 4 hours now and it seems his behavior is slowly returning to normal. He has eaten a few mysis shrimp I put in there, he swims toward the back of the tank near the pvc when I come up to the tank, and hasn't gone back up to the top of the water since I directed him to the bottom of the tank. Maybe this resolve on its own and I can return him back to the tank but I just wanted to get some thoughts on what could be wrong just in case he gets worse or he does this again.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, I feed the tank with a variety of food. I only put those pellets there because I wanted him to eat something dense in nutrients since he looked so thin. I usually try to squirt some mysis in front of his hole and every once in a while see him come out and grab some. I feed PE mysis, hikari mysis, spirulina mysis, PE calanus, and my AFS dispenses hatchery diet pellets 3 times a day. Also, have a large population of copepods. I dose the tank with algae barn phytoplankton every couple of days just to keep the copepod population fed.

Also, he has been breathing normally since I noticed this odd behavior. He has been in the hospital tank for about 4 hours now and it seems his behavior is slowly returning to normal. He has eaten a few mysis shrimp I put in there, he swims toward the back of the tank near the pvc when I come up to the tank, and hasn't gone back up to the top of the water since I directed him to the bottom of the tank. Maybe this resolve on its own and I can return him back to the tank but I just wanted to get some thoughts on what could be wrong just in case he gets worse or he does this again.

I'm stumped - as I read your description of the fish being really thin and then acting odd a few days after you fed it really well - that lines up with liver damage caused by starvation and subsequent feeding. However, then I saw the picture of the fish, and it just doesn't look that thin.

Could the fish be blind? That might account for it only eating when the food is presented right there, and then, to it not moving away from your hand.

Jay

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

I'm stumped - as I read your description of the fish being really thin and then acting odd a few days after you fed it really well - that lines up with liver damage caused by starvation and subsequent feeding. However, then I saw the picture of the fish, and it just doesn't look that thin.

Could the fish be blind? That might account for it only eating when the food is presented right there, and then, to it not moving away from your hand.

Jay

So I also thought this was some kind of refeeding syndrome like seen in mammals (particularly I have seen this in dogs and heard of it in humans), that causes metabolic disturbances but I agree he went from very thin looking to basically normal in the matter of like 4 days. I wish I took some pictures of him when I noticed he was thin, so I could compare but I didn't think of it at that time. I also thought maybe he has some vision issues but since being in the hospital tank he has slowly returned to his normal behavior. This morning, he darted to the PVC pipe when I bent over in front of the tank to look at him and that was with the lights off still. So if he was blind or partially blind, it was only transient. And since he is the only one acting this way, I'm hoping it is isolated to him and not something in the tank that will just return him to this weird state.

Is it possible that the pistol shrimp maybe accidentally snapped his claw on him and it caused some kind of concussion and subsequent disorientation/odd behaviors? I don't plan to do any prophylactic treatments at this time. I think if his behavior has returned completely to normal within the next 24 hours, that I will just return him to the tank. Does this sound like a reasonable approach? Also, I plan to re-evaluate the dorsal fin damage and make sure its not continuing to degrade possibly indicating some kind of bacterial infection. I think it was damaged somewhere in the tank or by one of the tankmates, but I guess I can't rule out some kind of infection.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I also thought this was some kind of refeeding syndrome like seen in mammals (particularly I have seen this in dogs and heard of it in humans), that causes metabolic disturbances but I agree he went from very thin looking to basically normal in the matter of like 4 days. I wish I took some pictures of him when I noticed he was thin, so I could compare but I didn't think of it at that time. I also thought maybe he has some vision issues but since being in the hospital tank he has slowly returned to his normal behavior. This morning, he darted to the PVC pipe when I bent over in front of the tank to look at him and that was with the lights off still. So if he was blind or partially blind, it was only transient. And since he is the only one acting this way, I'm hoping it is isolated to him and not something in the tank that will just return him to this weird state.

Is it possible that the pistol shrimp maybe accidentally snapped his claw on him and it caused some kind of concussion and subsequent disorientation/odd behaviors? I don't plan to do any prophylactic treatments at this time. I think if his behavior has returned completely to normal within the next 24 hours, that I will just return him to the tank. Does this sound like a reasonable approach? Also, I plan to re-evaluate the dorsal fin damage and make sure its not continuing to degrade possibly indicating some kind of bacterial infection. I think it was damaged somewhere in the tank or by one of the tankmates, but I guess I can't rule out some kind of infection.

Another thing that can cause a marine fish to suddenly slim down and then fill back out is dehydration due to a salinity change. It has to be pretty large though - like a specific gravity change of 1.020 to 1.025 (always a rise, not a drop).

I suppose the pistol shrimp could have popped it.....

The dorsal fin damage, as long as it doesn't worsen, will likely heal on its own in a week or two.

Jay

 

[ReefLife_Guy]

Another thing that can cause a marine fish to suddenly slim down and then fill back out is dehydration due to a salinity change. It has to be pretty large though - like a specific gravity change of 1.020 to 1.025 (always a rise, not a drop).

I suppose the pistol shrimp could have popped it.....

The dorsal fin damage, as long as it doesn't worsen, will likely heal on its own in a week or two.

Jay

Yeah, no huge salinity changes. I'm fine never knowing what it was, as long as it doesn't happen again! Thanks for all the help!