Yellow Clown Goby - White patches, losing color

[sen5241b]

My Yellow Clown Goby has been getting paler and getting white patches for the last two weeks. The white spots appeared only a couple days ago. If he does have ich, I think it is because he's already weakened. He is eating. All other fish in tank look absolutely fine. My guess is something fungal and treat with Furan II. Quarantine?

 

Edited December 24, 2009 by sen5241b

[Jon Lazar]

The white spots appear at the end of the ich life cycle, so the fish has been infected for some time already. Not sure what the original problem was, though.

[Jon Lazar]

Also, it looks like he hasn't been eating for a while. The fish is skinny enough that you can see his spine pretty clearly.

[paul b]

That gobi does appear to have ich and I doubt he will last long. The loss of color is just from the deteriating condition of the fish.

I would remove him and treat in copper although it is an advanced stage.

I feed mine new born brine and live worms every day.

 

[Sharkey18]

Not to highjack a thread... I am sorry about the goby... but can Paul share some info on how he raises his live food?

 

I have read some of your articles and am particularly interested in what you feed and the idea of keeping fish healthy enough to be kept in breeding condition. I do not quarantine my fish anymore, and even have a small Scopas Tang that occasionally shows signs of ick. I manage it by providing the best possible diet and I find that it works. The healthier the fish, the more likely it is to fight off and survive infections.

 

I am very interested in how you raise and keep a constant supply of freshly hatched brine shrimp and worms.

 

Back tot he goby... if you can get it to eat an appropriate power packed diet it might be able to recover.... but it does look pretty sick.

Good luck!

 

Laura

 

 

That gobi does appear to have ich and I doubt he will last long. The loss of color is just from the deteriating condition of the fish.

I would remove him and treat in copper although it is an advanced stage.

I feed mine new born brine and live worms every day.

 

[paul b]

Fish need certain things in their diet and one of the most important things is oil. Fish oil in particular. This oil is also in live blackworms and I have found that by feeding live blackworms a few times a week will keep fish in breeding condition. I have spawned many fish over the last few decades and in all cases except seahorses or pipefish I have gotten the fish to breed by feeding live blackworms. They have the same oil in them as fish do and it is vital to a fishes health. A fishes liver is almost all oil and the liver is about one fifh of the fishes weight (a shark is almost one quarter liver) In the sea, when a fish eats another fish, it gets a large amount of oil. This is normal and needed for a fish. For a fish to produce eggs, it needs an abundance of oil. Fish in breeding condition rarely, if ever get sick. I built a worm keeper for the worms. It is basically a shallow trough where water is passed over the worms by an air tube. I also feed new born brine. I hatch them every day because some fish like small gobies and pipefish need these small live food. new born brine also have the same oil in them in the form of a yoke sack.

Here is the shrimp hatchery that I use every day. Eggs are put in the dark side for a day. Then they hatch and I put a cover on that side and a light on the other side. In about half an hour, the shrimp swim through the hole to the lighted side. the shells stay on the dark side. I slide close the door and open the valve to collect the shrimp to put in my reef.

 

 

This is one of my worm keepers. There is a steady flow of water over the worms via air tube. I recently built a larger one because I have many fish that only eat worms.

Edited December 25, 2009 by paul b

[treesprite]

Gobies are scaleless fish - copper treatment can kill them. Interestingly, it is also the scalelessness that makes them less susceptible to ich than most other fish.

[paul b]

Treesprite is correct that a fish like a gobi is more sensitive to copper than most fish but it is still the best treatment for a fish in an advanced stage of ich. Other medications will work eventually but that fish is in bad shape and I doubt it will live long enough to be cured other ways but it is hard to tell. With any small or scaleless fish, copper has to be monitored very well. I would add half the dose of copper than wait a couple of hours and add the rest of it. If the fish lays on the bottom of the tank in an uncharastic manner, he is overdosed and some of the water needs to be replaced. There is a very small margin of cure and death whan using copper and it is even smaller on a fish like a tiny gobi.

[Sharkey18]

Thanks for the info Paul!

 

Did the goby make it?

 

Laura