sick dragon fish

[maralee]

I have a sick dragon fish. I bought 2 dragon fish from Wall-mart several months ago and they were both doing fine in my 10 gal. brackish tank, until 2 days ago. Now the bigger one is breathing hard and is staying in a twisted position. It looks fat and its stomach is much bigger than the other dragon fish. I have been feeding them once a day a combination of blood worms, freshwater flakes and goldfish crisps. What can I do to help my sick fish? Thanks, Maralee

[mlefessler]

Are they in a cycled tank? I would highly suggest straying away from the dried foods - it can cause constipation. It might be a tumor or growth of some sort. Is there any way you can take a picture?

[Mudfrog]

Hey.. just to let you know a 10g is much too small for even one Violet Goby much less two. What are your water parameters? What salinity is your water?

Your feeding seems ok, bloodworms are good, also try to feed shrimp pellets, algae waefers and cut up raw shrimp. Be sure to use food that either is cut up into small pieces or will break up into small pieces (IE wardley shrimp pellets). These guys have very small throats and cannot swallow large food. I kept a brackish tank with multiple VG's for about 3 years and this worked great for me.

[FISH ROOM PLUS]

Sounds like bad water quality

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

i have a 24 inch dragon goby and all i can get him to eat is tetra floating goldfish sticks. i tried all the rest but he just isnt interested. i drop his food in his tank i knock on the top glass and up he swims to eat. he is in a 75 gal tank by himself with his snail buddies.

[Lycanthropic]

It's possible it has tumors or ulcers ( as mentioned before) due to low water quality.. no offence, but the tank i too small. As a hospital tank, its ok for maybe a day or two... but to live in.. no way!