my sister has a dragon goby in trouble.

[rambo937]

her and her boyfriend just got a dragon goby and the lady at petsmart told them they could add the salt the same time they add the goby but it seems to be dieing. what should they do?

[Oscar_freak12321]

Dying? In what way? Like, gasping, or laying on its side? What size is the tank?

[rambo937]

its laying on its side. they have a 10 gallon tank for now but they are planing on upgrading as soon as they can. its a small one only about 3 and a half to 4 inches long.

[Oscar_freak12321]

Uh-huh...gasping or just laying there? And be sure to tell them to upgrade soon, because the goby will need it faster than you think.

[rambo937]

its just laying there. its still alive tho.

[Oscar_freak12321]

Hmm...sounds like initial stress. How long ago did you get it?

[rambo937]

they got it around 12:30 1oclock today.

[Oscar_freak12321]

Yep. Ok. Sounds like initial stress. This should clear up pretty quickly in the next day or so. Gobies can be a little bit moody with moving to new tanks. Hope this helps. Also, I can't stress this enough. Please tell them to upgrade as soon as possible. For the sake of the fish. :22:

[rambo937]

ok thanks. me and her boyfriend might be putin our money together to get a big tank in a few weeks or so.

[Oscar_freak12321]

That is GREAT. Glad to know you guys have a plan for the fish! thumbs2:

[rambo937]

yea. we just got into the fish thing so we're still tryin to figure it all out. thanks again for the help.

[Oscar_freak12321]

You are very welcome. thumbs2:

[rambo937]

we're gonna work towards gettin a 150 to 200 gallon tank for his goby and my bala sharks. hopefully it works out.

[LethalResistanz]

Is that tank cycled?

Are there any other fish with it?

A dragon goby from what i understand is a brackish water fish. It needs salt in its water. I'm not sure how much but enough so that you can't keep freshwater fish with it.

I'd do some research quickly. Then again making quick water chemistry changes will further stress him.

Maybe someone else who owns or has owned one can help you. But a 10 gallon tank for a fish that i believe can grow 2 feet is way to small. I think you will need at least a 55 gallon tank.

[rambo937]

theres no other fish in the tank with it and they r goin to upgrade to a bigger tank as soon as possible. and it does grow to about 2 feet. i helped my sister get it set up on sunday so that it would be ready by the time her boyfriend got back in town.

[LethalResistanz]

Ok so the tank was set up on sunday, and you got the fish today.(just to be clear)

I made plenty of mistakes in my time so I'm not trying to be harsh.

1. How did you add him to the tank? Did you just dump him? Let the Bag sit then dump him? Did you add water to the bag before dumping him?

2. Do you know you tanks ph? It seems they need a high ph between 7.5-8. If you added him without adding any tank water he more then likely could be suffering from ph shock.

3. Is the water declorinated? Are there any decoration that you added that you didn't get from the pet store?


Hopefully he is just stressed from being added to the tank.

Also I don't think he would be a very good fish to cycle a tank with IMO. I would return him tomorrow if he is still alive and wait to you get the larger tank.

[rambo937]

its ok.
1. we let the bag sit in the water for about 15 mins. then put him in.
2. i don't know the ph we never tested it. we were not told to.
3. we used water conditioner when we set it up. the only decorations in there right now r the rocks and a skull that we got from the pet store.

wats IMO?

[LethalResistanz]

In my opinion.

I think if he is not better yet my amateur opinion would be PH shock. Hopefully he will get over it but it is very likely it could be fatal.

I'm not really sure what you should do so I won't give advice that would make the situation worse. For now I would say wait it out since it is to late to return him.

Maybe someone with a little more experience will arrive seeing as I have only been keeping fish for a couple months.

Best of luck, Make sure you get some test kits for ph, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. They sell master test kits that pack all these together making it cheaper. Do some research on tank cycling. Without having a cycled tank no fish will live very long. There is also a free ebook on the left side of the page that will have all the information I have been telling you about and much more.

[rambo937]

ok thanks.

[wolf_eyes]

Dradon gobys are generally brackish but the ones you buy at stores generally are adapted to fresh, especially at big chains. I wouldn't worry about adding salt because it would only stress him out more. Next time to get a fish, make sure to float the bag AND add water from the tank into the bag. Add a little every few minutes or so. He is most likely suffering from acclimation shock. Turn the lights off and try to stay away from the tank. This should get rid of a little bit of the new tank stress and help him focus on getting better.

[rambo937]

ok thanks. i checked on him a little bit ago and he seemed to be doin a lil bit better.

[bushwhacker]

first thing i would do is a 50% water change and go get a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. the tank is not cycled and you need to keep a close eye on those parameters and be prepared to do large water changes to keep the fish alive

[MonkeyPox]

+1 to what NG said.

What kind of filtration are you using?

[rambo937]

its the filter that came with the starter kit. thats all i know about it. the dragon goby unfortunately died early this morning. they r goin to wait and get a bigger tank and make sure it gets set up completly right b4 they get a new 1.

[Amazon]

You should do a fishless cycle before adding fish. Dragon gobys will do better with salt. Anyways I hope everything goes good!:22:

[wolf_eyes]

Sorry for your loss. I have to agree with amazon with this. Unfortunately tanks aren't as simple as "fill up with dechlorinated water and add fish". The reason filters are so effective at keeping the water quality good is actually because it homes bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrites which can kill our fish. The only problem is that it takes a while for these little bacteria to establish a colony that can substain a tank of fish. They have to have a source of food which can be anything from fish food, household ammonia, a piece of shrimp/scallop, or fish.

This process is called cycling a tank. Without cycling a tank, fish very quickly die due to the buildup of ammonia in their waste. A fishless cycle is the best way to go since you don't have fish in the tank and can make the ammonia levels very high, which gives you more bacteria.

You said that your friend had balas that you were going to also put in the big tank, correct? Are these guys in a tank now, and if so, how long have they been in there? If it's been for a month or so, then I would suggest moving the filter media (the floss, sponge, or other objects that are inside of the filter) into the filter that you get for the big tank. The bacteria mostly hange around in the media and that way the new tank will be able to support the fish easier.

[Oscar_freak12321]

I'm sorry for your loss. I should've asked if your tank was cycled before. (blush)

[rambo937]

thanks for all the help. we now know how to make sure the next one can live and be happy. the balas are mine and i got them last weekend we r planin on waitin a while to get the bigger tank so the bacteria will have time to build up. b4 they got the dragon goby they had the tank set up for about 30 hours or so and they got my old filter. thanks agian to all that helped.