Help! My Dragon Goby just died!   5/2/09
Hello,
It has been a sad day.
<Sorry to hear that.>
Our Dragon goby just died. Last night at feeding time he started to swim all haphazard, swimming backwards, upside down and on his side (we called him Zimbo, and generally called him a "him", but we don't know what sex he was). He looked like he was having convulsions and was gasping for air!
We knew something was not right, but didn't know what to do! It was our usual tank cleaning night, so we changed out about 30% of the water, added more salt, and water treatment, but he passed away this afternoon. Now we are afraid for the rest of our fish. Will they all die? What should we do?
<Whenever a fish dies unexpectedly, you should start by assuming a problem with the water rather than a disease. As such, review the basics: water quality, water chemistry, temperature, circulation and the possibility of toxins such as paint fumes or cleaning chemicals.>
Just a little background on the set up that we have and how we have been caring for our fish. First, I would like to let you know that this is our first time ever caring for fish. Having said that...We thought that we
would get our son a fish, maybe a goldfish, for his fifth birthday. We bought a 10-gallon tank kit and took our son to the store to pick out a few freshwater fish. He fell in love with two dragon gobies, a black finned
shark (catfish), and a plecostomus (sp.?).
<While Dragon/Violet Gobies (Gobioides spp.) and Black-fin Shark Catfish (Sciades seemanni) are brackish water fish, the Plecostomus (likely Pterygoplichthys sp.) is not. Water conditions that would suit the first two would be dangerous for the third.>
The lady at the store informed us that those fish would be good together, but that they were saltwater fish and would need higher temperatures.
<Eh? No, no, no. The Plecostomus catfish doesn't really like salt at all.
While it would tolerate a small amount, say, 1.003 at 25 C, that's far too little for either the Goby or the Shark Catfish which both need around 1.005-1.015 to do well, ideally something in the middle once mature, 1.010, about 15-16 grammes of marine salt mix per litre of water.>
Our tank kit came with heating lamps, so she said that would do, and sent us home with a package of aquarium salt.
<Is this plain aquarium salt or marine salt mix? For brackish water fish, you must use marine salt mix because you're not just interested in salinity but also pH and carbonate hardness.>
After a few days, we started reading more about our fish on the internet.
It turns out that they need brackish water and maybe a different substrate than we have (we have gravel ).
<These Gobies do indeed need sandy substrates that allow them to dig.>
We have been changing about 25-30% of the water every week, using our gravel vacuum. We have a ten gallon tank, but we found out that we are definitely going to need to upgrade!
<For any one of the fish you have, let alone all three! For the Goby and the Shark Catfish (which is, by the way, a schooling fish and needs 2 or more friends) we're looking at something upwards of 55 gallons, and
realistically quite a bit more space than that; 100 gallons would not be out of line in all honesty. Shark Cats are frenetically active, and in small tanks, often pine away, treading water in the corner looking miserable.>
When we change the water, we pour the new tap water into the tank, then add the aquarium salt, then the water conditioner (that says it is good for removing chlorine and chloramines). We feed the fish once a day, at night, and usually it is a mixture of tropical flakes and granules, plus, freeze dried blood worms about twice a week. We tried freeze dried shrimp, but they were not interested.
<Both the Goby and the Shark Catfish are specialists. The Goby needs a mix of algae wafers, live brine shrimp, and wet frozen invertebrate foods such as bloodworms and krill. The Shark Catfish will happily eat wet frozen invertebrates but also enjoys chunky seafood: cockles, squid, mussels, prawns, etc. These catfish usually take good quality catfish pellets too.>
Also, our second goby has been hiding out inside the sunken ship decoration for about a week. Her name is Lucy. She looked like she was sick for a little while there, but is looking much better (we were only adding a 1/2 a tsp. of aquarium salt/gallon, but then upped it to 1tsp./gallon when I read that that might help her).
<Not nearly enough salt. At minimum, juveniles should be kept at SG 1.005 at 25 C, that's about 9 grammes (1.5 level teaspoons) of marine salt mix per litre. When kept in non-brackish conditions, issues such as Finrot are common. Download my Brack Calc application (Mac and Windows) at the link below; use this to determine the amount of salt you need to add to each bucket of new water. Note that temperature affects specific gravity, but both your brackish water species should be kept at the usual 25 C that most hydrometers are calibrated to.
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/Programs/brackcalc.html
Don't use tonic salt or aquarium salt; use marine salt mix.>
After reading your site, I think that she may have had fin rot.
<Treat this with an antibiotic.>
Now, her fins look much healthier, but she still seems to have no appetite or desire to come out of hiding. Zimbo, the one who died, always seemed healthy. He had a good appetite and a zany personality (no indication of fin rot, or anything). His death is a mystery to me. :)
<Not to me, unfortunately.>
So, my question is: are we doing ANYTHING right?
<Not really, no.>
What do you think happened to our goby?
<These gobies will not last long in freshwater, or freshwater with token amounts of tonic salt added.>
Should we be adding marine salt instead of aquarium salt?
<Yes.>
And is it ok to add it directly to the tank, or do we need to add it before pouring the clean water in?
<You always add salt to each bucket of water, estimating the amount needed using Brack Calc for example. Stir well. Once you're done, use a hydrometer to check the specific gravity. If necessary, add more salt or water if needed (though in reality slight variation in salinity does no harm at all). Add the new water to the aquarium. Don't dramatically increase the salinity of your aquarium in one fell swoop: that will stress the filter bacteria. You certainly need to raise the salinity (after the Plec is taken out, of course) but do this in stages. Start by replacing the water you have in 25% chunks, adding new water at SG 1.005 at 25 C. Leave 7 days between each such water change. After about 6 weeks you should find the aquarium has stabilised at SG 1.005 and the filter is working happily.
Leave things like this for the next 3-6 months, doing water changes with SG 1.005 water. But after a few months, you may decide your fish are growing up and in the case of the Catfish, quite likely looking restless. This is the time to nudge the salinity upwards. As before, do a series of weekly water changes with water at SG 1.007-1.008. Once you're up at the elevate salinity, leave things running at that level again for a few months. Repeat this cycle again using 1.010 water, until your tank reaches the optimal specific gravity of 1.010.>
Should we be feeding them more often?
<Possibly, but more than likely the type of food being offered is the issue, not the quantity.
Can these fish live together or do they need separate aquariums?
<Plec no; Goby and Shark catfish, yes, albeit in a very large aquarium.
Dragon Gobies get to 40-50 cm in length, depending on the species. Shark Catfish routinely exceed 20-25 cm in captivity, and wild fish are quite a lot bigger. They are super-active fish, and need strong water current or they become listless.>
Any suggestions would be helpful!
Thank you so much,
Monica
<Do start here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/BrackishSubWebIndex/bracsystems.htm
When you're done with the linked files there, buy or borrow my "Brackish Water Fishes" book if you want even more information. Although incredibly adaptable fish, brackish water fish do have certain requirements, and things like tankmates should be chosen with great care. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Help! My Dragon Goby just died! & Plecos in gen.  – 05/02/09
Wow, thank you, Neale!
<Pleasure.>
Such great advice! We will definitely be doing everything you suggested ASAP! Just a few questions, though...
To treat the goby for the fin rot, should we put her in a separate tank for the treatment?
<No real point. Treat the Goby along with all the other fish, unless there's a compelling water chemistry or financial cost to do otherwise. If treating the Goby in its own aquarium, keep the tank basically empty, but
us a PVC tube for a burrow; these Gobies love such homes!>
Also, when we move the Plec to his own tank, should it be freshwater, then?
<Ideally, yes.>
Can you suggest any companions?
<Almost anything. Plecs tend not to get along with other Plecs, but beyond that, they're basically bomb-proof, so work well with all sorts of things. Ideal companions would be medium-sized midwater fish: Rainbowfish, Congo tetras, Bleeding heart tetras, Giant Danios. Plecs also work well with most
cichlids, including Angelfish, Firemouths, Kribs and so on.>
Is the gravel that we have in our current tank ok for him?
<Plain gravel is fine. Plecs do like to dig, but they tend to be messy, so it's just as good to use plain vanilla gravel.>
Are the tropical fish flakes and pellets ok to feed him, or does he need something special as well?
<Regular food is good, but Plecs do enjoy stuff from the kitchen. Bits of carrot, sweet potato, courgette (zucchini) and cucumber all go down well.
Some of these sink, some float, in which case, tie with a rubber band to a rock or something. You can get special "screwcumbers" and other such devices for the purpose too. Once a week, offer something meaty to chew on: a prawn, a small piece of white fish, a clam or mussel on the half-shell.>
What about temperature?
<Most anything should do, but ideally 25 C/77 F.>
Our current tank has two heat lamps. We turn them on during the day and off at night. The tank stays in a temperature range of about 78 degrees F to 82 degrees F.
<A trifle warm, so do check circulation of the water is good, or else you may have oxygen problems at the bottom of the tank. I'd always recommend against heat lamps for warming aquaria, but if you must use them, adjust the time they're on so the tank varies between no lower than 18 C / 64 F at night and no higher than 30 C / 82 F in the daytime.>
Thanks so much for everything! We will definitely check out your book!
Thanks, Monica
<Glad to help. Cheers, Neale.>

Learning to speak Violet Dragon Goby   3/9/09
Greetings! I've been reading on your site and others about dragon gobies having recently acquired two. They started out in my 80 gallon community tank and seemed very happy living with the rest of the community. Digging their own tunnels under the decorations, burying themselves from time to time into the sandy sections created for them. The community consists of :
2 Opaline gouramis 2 peacock eels 2 adult black lyre tail mollies 2 adult silver mollies 4 pot belly mollies 25 silver molly fry 1 plecostomus 1 African feather fin cat fish 12 red Platys
One of the gobies seems to be more reclusive than the other hiding in caves most of the time, rarely seen even at feeding time unless the decorations are disturbed and the other, active and visible especially at feeding time.
Diet consists of Algae tablets, brine shrimp, Spirulina brine shrimp and blood worms with occasional sprinkles of flake food. I noticed that the recluse had developed a film of what appeared to be a fine coating of sand or tiny air bubbles all over his body. At first I thought it was ICK and treated the tank accordingly for 7 days...treat, wait 48 hrs, water change and treat again, wait another 48 hrs water change wait 24 hrs and treat again. At the end of the treatment there was no change so I asked the local fish store and determined it might be Velvet and treated for that. After 48 hours we finally got them into their own 65 gallon brackish home with a salinity at the low end of brackish .001 since moving them into their brackish home, they have both taken to floating vertically taking large gulps of air and blowing it out through their gills swimming horizontally from time to time but spending most of their time in that vertical position. What I think was velvet seems to have reduced in size but they don't seem to be doing as well in the brackish tank as they were in the fresh water tank...
Any recommendations or thoughts would be appreciated. I looked on line but couldn't find anyone with similar issues.
Thanks in advance
Wizard
<Greetings. I'm not familiar with this particular problem, and certainly haven't seen Gobioides spp. do this. Velvet and Ick could both be treated simply by maintaining these gobies in the brackish water system. Raising the temperature to around 28-30 C (82-86 F) will speed up the life cycle, and that will shift the parasites from the host into the water column, where the salinity should kill them. Personally, I'd raise the salinity up to 1.003 at least; this won't stress your filter bacteria, but will help the gobies. Do otherwise take care that water quality is appropriate. Don't feed the fish for the time being, but after a couple of days, if they've settled down, offer some live food and see if they behave normally. One last thing. Gobioides spp. are territorial, and the one you aren't seeing much of is clearly the one bullied by the dominant fish. Take care to put hiding places at each end of the tank, so they can at least space themselves out. Cheers, Neale.>