YWG suddenly acting stressed and weird

[Miata15]

Hello

This afternoon I noticed my yellow watchman goby acting very strange, darting to the surface and staying there. He seems very stressed for some reason although nothing has changed. I’ve had him for 2 months with a pistol shrimp and he’s always hanged out in a cave with him not displaying any weird behaviors.

No new fish have been added. Aside from him I only have a pair of clownfish which have never shown aggression towards him. I believe I have good surface agitation, so it shouldn’t be a lack of O2 problem. Also don’t believe it’s an ammonia spike since the clownfish are ok and nothing has happened to cause a spike. My chemistry has also been stable with no swings.

I appreciate your guys help and advice. Wishing the best to my poor little goby.

1.025 S.G
10 ppm Nitrate
0.06 ppm Phosphate
10 dkh Alk
420 Ca
8 pH

 

[KrisReef]

Kinda looks like classical Low Oxygen behavior where the fish goes to the surface to try and get more oxygenated water?

Can you put an airstone in, or aim the pump more at the surface to increase O2?

The water also looks cloudy, a classical sign of a bacteria bloom or some similar microbe incident that can remove O2,

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 -Ideas?

 

[Miata15]

Thanks for the reply! The cloudiness look was my glass or camera. In person there’s no cloudiness of a bacterial bloom. I did increase my return pump flow just in case. I will also get an airstone to put it in temporarily.

He has seemed to calm down and is now again in the sand bed, but not in his usual cave with the pistol shrimp.

If it is oxygenation, wouldn’t the clowns also be affected by this?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the reply! The cloudiness look was my glass or camera. In person there’s no cloudiness of a bacterial bloom. I did increase my return pump flow just in case. I will also get an airstone to put it in temporarily.

He has seemed to calm down and is now again in the sand bed, but not in his usual cave with the pistol shrimp.

If it is oxygenation, wouldn’t the clowns also be affected by this?

The clowns might be breathing a bit faster, but not enough for you to notice.

Increased aeration won’t hurt.

Could its burrow have collapsed or the shrimp turned it out?

 

[Miata15]

Thanks for the reply. Just a little update, this morning when checking on him he seems to have slower breathing but is still responsive. I tried feeding him mysis in the morning before the lights were on but he didn’t seem to eat any or be interested in it. He only moves from this spot if an invert gets in his way.

I will continue to add more aeration. Regarding the shrimp, I don’t think the burrow has collapsed. I haven’t been able to locate the shrimp, but I do hear him snapping.

Is there anything else you would recommend to try? Thank you again.

 

[RichReef]

They will get funky when they lose their shrimp or if their shrimp passes. I've had several do this. I would try to gently move him towards the shrimp and make sure the shrimp is still around.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the reply. Just a little update, this morning when checking on him he seems to have slower breathing but is still responsive. I tried feeding him mysis in the morning before the lights were on but he didn’t seem to eat any or be interested in it. He only moves from this spot if an invert gets in his way.

I will continue to add more aeration. Regarding the shrimp, I don’t think the burrow has collapsed. I haven’t been able to locate the shrimp, but I do hear him snapping.

Is there anything else you would recommend to try? Thank you again.

I don’t see anything amiss in these photographs. Without some solid symptoms to work from, it’s really difficult to formulate a treatment plan. And then of course, some fish issues are just not treatable (cancers, viral diseases, etc.)