Zombie Gobie

[Whirrun Ren]

We had a diamond Gobie in our 90 gal FOWLR for about 6 months. He was constantly busy cleaning the sand, keeping our aquarium clean. Then about 2 1/2 months ago, he just disappeared. No trace of him anywhere. After about 3 weeks, we assumed he was gone, so we got another diamond about the same size. This guy was a lazy bum from day 1, always staying in his cave with his head poked out. After 2 weeks, he disappeared as well. The sand is now getting dirty, but we refuse to keep buying gobies to clean the sand if they are just going to keep dying.

It's now been about a month since we've seen the second Gobie. That is until last night. To our shock, a Gobie was swimming erratically in the tank, darting back and forth, up and down. He is extremely skinny from not eating for a long time. He was swimming like something was chasing him, but nothing was. He suddenly stopped and settled on the sand bed towards the back. I turned my back for a moment, and when I turned back around he had disappeared again.

Now I have so many questions. Was that the newer Gobie, or the older? Do I have 1 alive Gobie and 1 dead? 2 Alive? Or did this guy die after we saw him? Is this an episode of The Walking Dead?

I'm at a complete loss to say the least.

 

[mann1139]

It was more than a decade ago so the exact timeline is fuzzy, but I had a goby go MIA right before a move and show up again much later, alive.

They can hide well and only come out when all is quiet to scavenge.