Emaciated Dragon Goby

T

thebramble

AC Members
Jan 29, 2007
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Utah
hi all! i'm pretty new here but i see some familiar faces from WWM - greetings :)

3 days ago i acquired a small dragon goby from a LFS, which is so starved and pathetic i'm not sure it's going to make it. literally, his head looks like a raisin and his ribs are sticking out. he was kept in a small (fw) tank with several larger gobies, all of which looked fat and happy (i think he was bullied by the others, which would explain why his caudal and lateral fins look like shredded ribbon). my family has voted me "most likely to be banned from petsmart stores - nationwide" for the lecture i gave the manager LOL

he (the fish, not the manager, who is probably still in fetal position hiding in a closet) is currently in my 10G QT by himself. he eats a little, half-heartedly and sometimes swims around the tank. his eyes are bright, and his behavior seems purposeful (no aimless swimming or anything). he seems to be trying to survive. i have infused 1 tbsp of marine salt to his tank so far (the acclimation to brackish needs to be slower than usual, don't you think?). i thought of putting melafix in the tank as well, but i'm afraid it might do more harm than good, at least right now (incidentally does anyone know if it's safe to use melafix with dragon gobies?).

does anyone have any advice how i might help nurse this baby back to health? i am feeding him a little at a time, shrimp pellets and frozen bloodworms/frozen mysis shrimp, and tubifex worms (with an oral syringe). do ya'll know of anything i might do to help stimulate his appetite? any words of encouragement? i really do adore these fish, it just breaks my heart every time i look at this little one.

thanks,
bramble
 
I feed mine frozen thatwed bloodworms, mysis and brine shrimp. I find when he senses food in the water, he kind of swims up a bit and starts gulping to try and get the food. If yours does this, I would try and squirt some food directly into his mouth when he takes a gulp to make it easier for him to eat. Just do a little at a time, they don't seem to be able to swallow large pieces of food. If you get the salinity up to about 1.006 or so over the course of a few days, that should be slow enough for him, and will probably do him a lot of good as far as getting healthy again. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
 
As long as you do large daily water changes to prevent toxicity of wastes (I assume this QT isn't cycled?), then raising the SG .002 every day for 3 days is fine & may help the dragon's immune system. Add Melafix for the frayed fins.
 
thanks matt and pufferpunk!
i'm guessing that the regular dose of melafix would be alright?

i am changing water frequently in that tank - it isn't exactly cycled but 5 gallons of the 10 and some filter media initially did come from my established 50G tank. i added more salt to the tank last night, and the SG is now about 1.005.

he is still eating half-heartedly no matter what i do, but is beginning to get a wee little potbelly (you can see it's not empty in there too), so maybe that's a hopeful sign. i will post some pictures tomorrow. he has been freaking me out by sleeping on his side - looks totally dead :eek: , but then if i turn the light on or move one of the plants a little, he rolls over and acts completely normal and active again... actually when he sees me he starts acting like he's looking for food. my other VG figured that out quickly too ("oh look it's the yum-yum lady again") LOL

thanks again

bramble
 
Yes, normal dose of Melafix & add daily after WC. Are you using marine salt?
 
Another thing that might make it feel more comfortable and less stressed is structure in the tank. I'm not sure if you have anything in the tank, but they like hiding under things, like a flattish rock with a space hollowed out underneath it, or a cave of some sort. It might help it relax and recover better.
 
I never use carbon at all, unless it is to remove meds. Certainly not while using them.
 
They are great survivors.. for a while mine went through a stage where he would sleep upsidedown.. it wasn't easy having to convince peopel that he wasn't dead.

Just keep him well fed, keep the water nice and it will pull through.
 
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