:( hurt Goby please help..

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

First off he is not sick rather then badly hurt. A purple firefish goby. The thing is my friends fish tank started crashing so he got rid of his fish and had a Arabian DottyBack. He asked me about it and I liked it. Made the mistake of putting it in my tank bc I disnt know he would wind up being aggressive. Actually he isn't to any of my other fish which are two clowns, one foxface and one brown scopas tang. He wasn't even mean towards my goby until about a week after being put in during feeding he started becoming aggressive towards my goby and kinda hurt him a little bit. Well the goby got smart and found out the clownfish didn't like the dottyback around their rock so they wood chase him away when he got close. So the goby started staying over by the clownfish and the clownfish didn't bother the goby. I just got home and while I was on my way my girlfriend called freaking out saying the female was really attacking the goby and hurting him very badly and kept chasing him away. Btw they have not bothered him for the last 6-7 days. Idk maybe it's bc the clown is about to lay eggs again I don't know. So I came home an sure enough caught her in the act. He finally got away and next thing you know the dottyback started messin with him. But not to rough. Guessing it's bc he realized he was hurt idk. I just got a ziplock bag and filed it with water and put my goby...the hurt fish in there until morning. I've been trying to find somewhere to get rid of the dottyback so the goby will not be bothered. Finally talkedto a fish shop today md they said they will take him in. I wasn't going to be able to bring him til Monday. And now my goby is really badly hurt.

I know I should have done some research about the dottyback before I put him in there. I feel so bad that this happened I could literally cry if he dies bc of my stupidity.

If he makes it alive in te morning is there anything I should do to help him? If there IS anything I can do?

[rancidpetals]

How did the dottyback hurt the goby? What are his injuries?

[iDream]

if you have a QT get that set up quick, use some filter media from the main tank to cycle it quick. maybe divide the tank somehow? that goby needs clean pristine water for him to heal, and a plastic bag won't do the trick

[cmor1701d]

I agree on getting the hurt fish into a qt tank immediately. Get a 10 gallon starter from WalMart if necessary. A plastic bag is not going to work for a sick fish.
The clownfish was probably aggressive because she is about to lay eggs again.

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Well the good news is he made it thru the night. How much sand are we talking to fill the tank. I don't have a tank, or filter. Do I need lights? The dottyback attacked him and the started going in circles. Looks like he pulled his tail apart and his top fins. But last night the clownfish really put a beating on him. All of his fins are completely damaged. Oh and he has a hard time to keep himself down from his tail floating up. It looks severely bruised.

[iDream]

no sand needed, or lights. mine was in the same situation from being beat up and not eating, just get an extra tank, and a decent filter (an investment for a QT) so he can be isolated, put some filter media in the new filter from the main tank to cycle it quick.

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

What do you mean filter media? Btw I'm only using a marineland hang on back filter

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Ok. I set up the 10 gallon my roommate had that was freshwater. Replaced the filter and got the saltwater in it. What do you mean by taking media out of filter on my main tank and putting it intothe filter area on my 10 gallon? Also how the heck do I do that? I have one of those dropper things to suck up water with. Should I use that to pull the stuff outbid my main filter? Please help.

Btw the goby seems like he's doing a little better.

[cmor1701d]

Your new QT is not cycled. It will take time for a new filter to grow the necessary beneficial bacteria. The idea is to keep a foam filter, or a biowheel or some material in the display tank (or sump) for at least a week or two prior to setting up a QT. I keep a biowheel in my sump so when I need a QT I have a start on the cycle.

For now you will need to check for ammonia and nitrite at least twice a day and be prepared to do 20% partial water changes twice a day until the filter can kick in.

In your case you can use a second Marineland Filter on the QT, move the filter from the Display tank to the QT and put a new filter pad in the DT.

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Originally Posted by cmor1701d

Your new QT is not cycled. It will take time for a new filter to grow the necessary beneficial bacteria. The idea is to keep a foam filter, or a biowheel or some material in the display tank (or sump) for at least a week or two prior to setting up a QT. I keep a biowheel in my sump so when I need a QT I have a start on the cycle.

For now you will need to check for ammonia and nitrite at least twice a day and be prepared to do 20% partial water changes twice a day until the filter can kick in.

In your case you can use a second Marineland Filter on the QT, move the filter from the Display tank to the QT and put a new filter pad in the DT.

Ok so here's what's up. The tank that I am using was just recently a freshwater. Te filter is a smaller marineland with a biowheel on it. I obviously didn't replace the biowheel. So that's ok correct? Most of the water I used came from my 55 gallon and the rest is just fresh water that I use to top off my 55 gallon. I did not put any sand in the 10 gallon tank. But I did take a small rock out of my 55 and place it in there so the goby can have something to feel secure around. Btw, I also let the water get up to temperature last night and let it run with the filter on for about 3-4 hours. I acclimated my goby to the temperature altho they were about exactly the same and then changed the water from the bag he was in slowly with the water in the 10 gallon. Keeping in mind the water in the 10 is exactly the same water in the 55. I put him in there about 1am last night. He swam down to the rock and began to just kind lay by/under it. Woke up this morning and he is actually being more mobile. Also I gave him a couple pellets of food and he went right to them so that is good. I have a feeling the recovery should go well. Now I just don't know how the heck I'm going to be able to getthat dang dottyback out of my tank. He is a fast little sucker that's for sure.

[cmor1701d]

It will take a few weeks for the biowheel to become coated with the beneficial bacteria. There is almost no bacteria in the water column so using old water from the DT tank does nothing and just brings dirty water over to the QT.

When you say you added fresh water, did you add any salt mix to bring it to the same SG as the DT?

If you don't prepare for some water changes quickly things will do downhill fast. The fish will eat, what it can, then the rest and the fish poop will breakdown to ammonia and kill the fish. The only way to prevent that is to make the partial water changes until the new filter can be colonized by enough bacteria to offset the waste breakdown in the QT tank. Does that make sense?

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

Ok that makes sense. I'm sorry I forgot to say. Yes I mixed the fresh water with salt and put it to about .023. I'm goin to get 10 gallons of water right now and I'll do a water change every couple hours like you said. I'm goin to go test the water as well. When I get back I will update on everything. Thankyou for your help so far. You have helped me a lot

[Sharkbait_Ls1]

So far so good. He's been having a hard time swimming with his fins all ate up but I've been doing water changes with that Salt called
Tropic Marin and it seems like he's doing a lot better. He ate some brine shrimp today so that was the first time he's really went after his food. I got high hopes for my lil buddy!