Knight Goby Feelng blah

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mollybabes

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Jan 3, 2003
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My knight goby, or fan dancer goby, is feeling under the weather. There hasn't been any changes to the tank he is in since I moved him to a much smaller tank (from a 60 gallon to a 29) about two months ago. He doesn't move around as much anymore and doesn't eat as much as he used to. He used to scoot around the tank, but now he just sits at the bottm and the current rocks him.

I didn't see anything physically wrong with him, but I just noticed that around his poop hole, it is red with a red line going towards his tail. What could this be, and What can I do to make him feel better?

Thanks for any input.
 
Is he in brackish or fresh? If he is in fresh, that might explain his "under the weather" state. I keep mine in 1.005 salinity and he is doing great.
 
For knight gobies, a tiny bit of salt won't do. You should be using at least a cup of marine salt (NOT aquarium salt) per 5g. Using aquarium salt will not be sufficient, the goby needs the buffers, trace elements and minerals that are in marine salt to stay healthy. BW fish should be treated just as SW are, only with a much more diluted specific gravity.
I would also purchase a hydrometer, as you'll need to measure the specific gravity. "Guessing" won't be enough.
 
Like I said, I've had him for about 9 months, in the same type of water, and he's been just fine until these past few weeks. And now I can see that under his gills are red and where his single pelvic fin connects to his body is red as well.

Could it be possible that the lack of salinity is affecting him only now, After 9 months? that doesn't seem likely to me.
 
Yes this can be a recent thing. These fish will be fine for a period of time in a fw tank and then all of a sudden start to decrease the activity and become more prone to infections and parasites. Most Brackish water fish are like this and Knight Gobies are no exception. They should be buzzing around the tank with a nice fat belly.
I would slowly do water changes with aged salt water over a period of a few weeks, do not do this as a sudden Water change, this will cause more harm than good.
I would place the salt in a 5 gallon bucket of water and let it desolve for a few days, if you have a power head, great that will help with the movement of the water. If not, you can use an air pump and a diffuser for this. New salt water can be very Caustic to the fish and will hurt them.

jim
 
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