Watchman goby dead :(

[HairlessPotter]

I woke up just now to a pale, lifeless goby

Its a newly cycled tank. He was my first fish, had him since monday night. All else that's in the tank is a cleaner shrimp, 5 hermits, and 5 snails. Parameters were all good yesterday. I'll test in a while and see. Idk why he would have died, he was eating and seemed fine earlier this week

 

[joy13]

I am sorry.

The thing about saltwater fish most are caught using poisons and some never recover fully from it. Just keep that in mind if you don't find anything wrong with your water.

 

[carey]

Really sorry to hear about your goby. :-(

As Joy said, it could have been the fish not you necessarily. Just check your water and see what you come up with.

 

[HairlessPotter]

Ya I was thinking maybe just stress and stuff, hopefully. We'll see

 

[HairlessPotter]

Ammo 0, rites 0, rates 5

The rates were at 0 or just about 0 yesterday. I think I'll do water changes and get it to 0 then wait a couple days make sure everything stays the way it should before getting a new fish.

 

[carey]

Yeah, thats what I would do. Is your salinity, ph and temperature all good as well?

 

[Wy Renegade]

IME, Diamond Watchmen gobies do not do well in newly established tanks. Their primary diet is microorganisms aquired from a well-established sandbed. Personally I only recommend them for a well established large aquarium and always try to warn those with new tanks that they do not do well. Sorry to hear about your loss. You may want to consider a different fish as your nest one.

 

[HairlessPotter]

SG is 1.023, temp is 76, ph is 8.4ish

 

[HairlessPotter]

IME, Diamond Watchmen gobies do not do well in newly established tanks. Their primary diet is microorganisms aquired from a well-established sandbed. Personally I only recommend them for a well established large aquarium and always try to warn those with new tanks that they do not do well. Sorry to hear about your loss. You may want to consider a different fish as your nest one.

Its a yellow watchman goby, idk if that still applies. Sorry for not being specific

 

[carey]

I had an awful time with my yellow watchamns. :-( the first one disappeared within a day never to be seen again and the second one died by the next morning. I got them from a shoddy lfs so I think that was the cause. I am now on my 3rd one and he is fine. Might just want to try again in a few days.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Ohh would you reccomend me not getting one as a beginner?

 

[carey]

YWG are fine fish to start with. The diamond back ones feed off the sand bed which makes them not a good choice for new tanks.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Oh okay thanks! I really like the look of them

 

[HairlessPotter]

Well the store I got it from has beatiful, very clean tanks. But the only YWGs he has are tiny. Probably not quite an inch. Could an older/larger one do better? I could call some other stores if so

I really don't want fish to keep dying on me

 

[carey]

Don't get discouraged, this happens to all of us. I would check out another store, the batch that your lfs got may not be good. Plus it's never a bad thing to see other stores, even if its a bit further away.

Both the ones I had that didn't make it were very small as well, maybe an inch if that. Not sure if that has something to do with it or not. :-(

 

[HairlessPotter]

Ya I'll check out another store I have in mind. After I make sure my trates stay down at least.

This is a little off topic but I'm also starting to get diatoms, not bad though but its on the sand bed and some rocks. Should I get a couple more for cuc? I only have 5 hermits and 5 snails right now

 

[carey]

The diatoms should go away shortly, its one of those new tank things. lol

 

[HairlessPotter]

Ok cool, thanks.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Its a yellow watchman goby, idk if that still applies. Sorry for not being specific

Its all good, my bad for not asking. The yellow watchman's are IME generally a much hardier fish that do better in smaller tanks than the diamonds do. They are still a sandsifter, just like the diamond, so they do better in a tank with a well established sandbed. However, they also seem to do much better on provided foods so they are less inclined to starvation. Personally, with any sandsifter I would wait till the sandbed is established before introducing them, but you can probably get by with introducing them earlier if they are eating good. Its kind of like Mandarins, you can keep them in a tank without an established pod population provided you can get them to eat other foods or supplement the pods, but they are always going to do better in a tank that has a well established pod population.

 

[HairlessPotter]

Its all good, my bad for not asking. The yellow watchman's are IME generally a much hardier fish that do better in smaller tanks than the diamonds do. They are still a sandsifter, just like the diamond, so they do better in a tank with a well established sandbed. However, they also seem to do much better on provided foods so they are less inclined to starvation. Personally, with any sandsifter I would wait till the sandbed is established before introducing them, but you can probably get by with introducing them earlier if they are eating good. Its kind of like Mandarins, you can keep them in a tank without an established pod population provided you can get them to eat other foods or supplement the pods, but they are always going to do better in a tank that has a well established pod population.

Do you think I should get all my other fish first then get the goby last? Then I could wait for it to be more well established but still have fish.