Watchman Goby w/ mark   8/21/09 Dear Crew: I have a Diamond Watchman Goby (Valenciennea puellaris) in my 10 gal QT. He has been there for a week now and is eating fine. I had a question at the LFS about this dark spot under his "chin" that looked like a flat birthmark that I didn't recall in any pictures I had seen. <Is not an uncommon coloring, bump... from physical damage... not harmful> I asked about it and they said it was nothing to worry about. <I concur> I guess that was not the case as it appears to be growing. On day 9 in QT, I noticed that it is growing/bulging out and that he has a couple of 'spider veins' on the bridge of his nose - it's hard to tell in this picture, but I think you can make it out. My question. is it a tumor? Is there anything I can do to treat it? <I'd just move this fish to larger, permanent quarters...> I was planning on putting him in my 120 gal display at the end of 2 weeks (in accordance with Bob's recommendations for this fish), but it looks like he may never make it there. I'm bummed that I think I bought a sick fish. Any idea of his malady? I've attached a picture for you. <Not a malady per se, but a "rub mark" if you will... Not to worry; in better settings this spot should mend in time. Bob Fenner>

Re: Watchman Goby w/ mark Yeah! Thank you so much Bob! Your advice is so wonderful. This is much better news than I expected and without it I would have tormented him in the QT tank for fear of putting him in the display. You've helped me save his life! I've read every page and every word of your Conscientious Marine Aquarist and it's helped me be pretty successful and definitely more confident. Jean <Ahh, so glad to have aided your efforts, solace Jean. BobF>

Sick Orange Spotted Goby
Bob,
Thanks for your reply on my feather duster last week. Still haven't seen any activity from it's tube. Still waiting...
Loved your book, BTW.
I have an Orange Spotted Goby that is quite industrious at sifting my sand.
I have noticed in the last week that he is losing weight and is "bent" or "twisted" in the middle. It behaves normally and eats well including flake, gel, frozen brine and raw shrimp soaked in Selcon. I would normally suspect diet, but it eats eagerly and IMHO, broadly.
No other fishes behaving abnormally. Any ideas? It's a tank favorite.
If I lose it. Any ideas on a replacement sand sifter? I do not have live sand (yet).
Thanks again, Mark
>>
The worm may take weeks to months to regenerate its crown... sorry for that lack of info.
And really like these gobies too... and/but find them starving in many situations... my real advice is more food, more frequently... They should (for all the browsers) only be placed in well-established (let's say six months old plus) full blown reef tanks...
Other sand sifters I like are in the same genus (Valenciennea) and Amblygobius (esp. hectori)... a few Seastars... some other fishes.
Bob Fenner

Dying Goby (6/6/04)
I have a question concerning my orange diamond goby. <Valenciennea puellaris. This fish is a sand-sifter and will often starve to death in aquariums without a well-established (1 year or more) live sand bed.> I bought him about 2 1/2 weeks ago and I think he is on his way out. I have had my tank up and running for about 3 months and it is a 40 gallon tank. I have two Perc clowns, 1 green Chromis, one tiny black and white damsel, a small yellow tang and the diamond. <The Yellow Tang will outgrow the tank.> I have about 30+lbs of live rock and 2+ inches of live sand.  I have an emperor 400 filter, however I don't have a protein skimmer or UV sterilizer. <A skimmer would be nice. The UV is not necessary.> I have 4 shrimp, 2 peppermint and 2 camel shrimp. Also, I have about 4-8 hermit crabs and 10-12 snails. I changed around 15% of the water prior to adding my goby.  I acclimated him and put him in. <No quarantine? I sure hope he's not sick from a contagious disease that could wipe out your tank.>
Immediately he went under some live rock and then I did not see him for 2 days.  Finally, he stuck his head out. He would grab a flake of food or a brine and would go back under. Every day he came out more and more. The little fellow got pretty brave and would roam the bottom with one eye on the other fish. He was always a little nervous around the yellow tang. The tang was not attacking him but would swim close and the goby would hide out. <Could have been attacking when you weren't watching. The goby is shy, and will not respond well to intimidation.> All of the sudden, 2 days ago I did my biweekly water change. I don't recall if he was acting strange before or after, but I believe it was before.  He stopped eating and would not come out of the rocks.  Now I noticed that he comes out of the rocks at late night.  He also seems to be breathing heavy. <Bad sign> One other thing that I did not think of much until now is that he had a tiny pink spot on him when I got him.  I didn't notice it on him in the store and though he just scraped into a rock or something. <Possible. If so, a portal for infection.> That spot disappeared after a few days and I though nothing of it. My water parameters are fine. Salinity 1.023-25, temp 78, no noticeable levels of nitrite or ammonia.  Furthermore, all of the other fish are happy as can be.  I was wondering if maybe the tang wounded him because the tang keeps pestering him now that he is just laying in the sand bed. I have to keep an eye on the tang and chase him away.  I don't know what to do, any suggestions.  LFS says that water quality is bad <why do they say this?>, but it is not and there are no spots, fin rot and his eyes are not cloudy. What can I do to save my little sand sifting buddy? <Take him out and put him in a hospital tank where you can try to nurse him back to health. Read about quarantine/hospital tanks on WWM. Hope this helps, Steve Allen.>

Mysterious Goby Loss
Hi Crew,
Scott F. here today>
I arrived home tonight to find my 7” Diamond Goby dead in my tank. This sand-sifting superhero had lived in my tank for over a year. I was very worried about him after he had been in my tank for a about a month as he looked as if he was going to starve to death. To allow him to eat food, I would squirt mysids under the sand where other fish could not get to them. After doing this for several days, he eventually began to eat the mysids directly from the feeding tube. After that he had no fear of other fish and he would readily fight for anything I put in the tank (as well as chasing anything that looked like a tube). Since this he has always appeared to be in excellent health.
The only changes recent I am aware of are the addition of a Pterosynchiropus splendidus and a Synchiropus picturatus to the aquarium, along with several coral frags (5 soft + 5 SPS), a 4” Lobophyllia and a 6” Alveopora. This is all in a 180g tank with a 20g refugium (teeming with ‘pods and a little Gracilaria and Caulerpa).
<Sounds like a nice setup for this fish>
Water parameters look good to me: Temp=78F, Salinity=1.024, Ammonia=0, Nitrite=o, Nitrate<5 ppm, Ca=380, Alk=6. The only parameter that I have noticed to be out of range lately is the temperature. Our air conditioner went out last week so the temp got as high as 84F and fluctuated between 78F and 84F a few times but has stabilized at 77F-78F for the past two days. I realize this situation is less than ideal but the Diamond Goby is not the fish I would have expected to show the first signs of stress.
<I doubt that a brief journey into the mid eighties would suddenly kill an otherwise healthy fish...>
My Xenia, Powder Blue tang other corals, inverts and fish all appear to still be doing well. Do you think the goby could have choked on something or, since he was as large as what most books list as maximum size, maybe he was just very old when I purchased him?
<Anything is possible...Could have even been a slow deterioration (such as "old age") that coincidently peaked when the temp of the tank got up there...>
Although I assumed he was getting all nutrition from eating pellet food, silversides and whatever else I feed my fish, maybe he was getting all real nutrition from ‘pods and the two dragonets have nearly eliminated the ‘pod population (in about one week)? 
<A definite possibility...>
Since I have 200 pounds of LR. in a 180g tank with a refugium that is overflowing with ‘pods I am guessing this last theory is a long-shot.
<A long shot, but certainly not impossible...Slow starvation based on malnutrition is possible, too- however unlikely that seems>
Any insight or guesses would be appreciated.
Greg
<Well, Greg, I'm going to have to postulate that it was simply the fish's "time"...Sometimes, a fish will expire suddenly regardless of care and conditions...A frustrating occurrence, but entirely too common. I'm afraid that, in the absence of environmental lapses and obvious disease signs, this fish may have simply expired for reasons that we cannot explain. Sorry for that unsatisfying answer, but we just cannot tell without a detailed postmortem...Don't be too discouraged- you gave it a great shot! Regards, Scott F>

Sleeper Goby
Hey Crew,
<Mark>
A few questions regarding setting up a Q-tank if I may.
<Go ahead>
Looking to pick up a Sleeper Gold Head Goby (Valenciennea strigata) in a few days for my 75G (setup 2+ years, 40# LR, 4" oolite DSB, two clowns, purple tang and a cleaner shrimp). Q-tank is 15G, have a hang-on power filter that will take foam elements that have been in my main tank for awhile.
Questions:
-Should I fill (or partly fill) the Q-tank with water from the 75G?
<Yes>
-Considering is a sand sifter, go a shallow sand bed or stay bare bottom?
<Mmm, a toss-up... if the animal looks fine otherwise, I'd add substrate... but if you think you might want/have to add medicant/s, I'd omit it... Actually... if the fish looks fine I'd probably skip quarantine altogether... and just pH adjusted freshwater dip and place it... More to be lost than gained with many such fishes (touchy, easily starved varieties)>
-Tank previously setup with eggcrate lid, okay or should I be looking for a glass top?
<All openings large enough to exit up must be covered>
-How to feed the goby while in QT?
<A "turkey" baster... meaty food items, frequently>
-What should be the minimum stay?
<None to a few weeks>
Lastly, when is Part2 in the NMA series due out?
<Heeeeee! Wish I could tell... a few to several months likely>
Thanks in advance,
Mark
<Be chatting, Bob Fenner> 

Valenciennea strigata Rescue  - 2/21/2006
A great pleasure to write to you. Your answers and articles have steered and scared me in the right direction many times though foolish (human) mistakes are always abound.
<Ah, yes>
   I purchased 2 Valenciennea strigata from my LFS today. I've been waiting for these fish for some time and they always come in damaged or not at all. I only paid for one the 2nd seemed to be in Osmotic shock while the healthy one was hovering and protecting him. I looked at them yesterday and said I would take them today if he made it through the night, and he did.
     Symptoms are mostly upside down and not swimming much at all, heavy breathing. no other obvious signs of parasites. LFS said he came out of the bag like this.
I know its probably a lost cause but a worthy one. any suggestions would be Greatly appreciated.....Chris in Rhode Island
<Keep the area around where these are being quarantined quiet, the tank unlit... offer some live foods (crustaceans, worms), live rock... Bob Fenner>

Blue Dot Sleeper Goby Acclimation  03/25/07
Hi All -
<Hello Brandon here.>
I have a question.  
<I will try to have an answer.>
I just acquired a Sleeper Blue Dot Goby (Valenciennea sexguttata) from a LFS.  Looks healthy, was eating in the store.  
<Good sign.>
I just acclimated it and now have it in a 10G quarantine tank.  
<Good Job on Quarantining.>
The tank has no substrate, just two medium sized pieces of live rock and one piece of large PVC.  I've read in a few places on the site that I should only QT fish that live in burrows for two weeks or so as the stress of no substrate will be bad for him.  Then I read other areas about a minimum of 4 weeks for any fish.  
<I would not worry about the stress too much here.  It would be far worse if you were to place the fish in your display only to loose fish due to an outbreak of disease.>
I've always done 4 weeks min in the past with success.  What should I do for him?  
<I would go with four weeks.>
Thanks!
<You’re welcome.  Brandon.>
Mike

Diamond goby lip breaking away   2/5/08
Hello to you all,
<Howdy>
Most of the time I come to your page for answers. But I am unable to find a proper solution to my problem. I have a 4-5in diamond goby that has been in the tank for a week or so now. His tank mates are a Sailfin tang, coral beauty, flame hawk,
<Mmmm, suspect #1>
beta, 2 ocellaris (sp) clowns, and a Fiji puffer.
<What species is this?>
Now I know that the hawk fish can be a little punk, mine has been in the past.
So I got a goby over twice a big as him. The goby doesn't seem care the hawk was aggravated, but that stopped after 2 days. The goby just went around eating and making holes in the sand since day one. But yesterday that stopped. The goby's face seems all messed up, like he was eating rough sand. I have had goby's in the past and none had a problem eating my sand bed. its not gravel or anything, just sand, and a few shells for the crabs. His upper lip is almost gone and a piece of it is still attached and it moves in and out of his mouth as he breathes, which is now quite rapid.
You can tell its red and irritated. I can understand why he isn't sifting, it would hurt it seems. But when I feed the tank he doesn't eat that food.
:*( I don't know what to do, I have a 150g reef tank so I cant just put some anti-biotics. The sal is 1.023
<I'd raise this>
the ph is 8.2 and all low readings on the bad stuff Ammonia, NO NO2, PO4 etc. And no other fish are bugging him or affected by anything.
<Then... whence forth the damage? Something worked this animal.>
But I feel bad if there is something I can do and I am not. I am sure you understand. Well thanks for your time.
Best Regards
Rob
<I'd be moving this fish... to somewhere more simpatico... hoping it heals, feeds on its own... a refugium if you have one. Bob Fenner>

Black Mark on Sleeper Goby 2-9-08
Yunachin,
<Hi there!>
Thanks for your reply.
<No problem at all.>
I have one last question; this time about my sleeper goby.
<Okie dokie.>
He has developed a black marking where his chin is. It appears to be getting darker everyday (the marking). Could it be a disease? Or stress?
<Could be an array of things. Is there any way that you can send a picture for a better identification?>
Thanks again,
<No prob! –Yunachin>
Merlinda