Neon Blue Goby: Rapid Breathing

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
Today I found my new neon blue goby rapidly breathing. He has been doing this all day and staying in the back. He has not been active today like he usually has been. There are no marks on him, or any other signs of disease.

He is in a 2.5g pico with two sexy shrimp, a hermit, and a snail as tank mates and a handful of corals.

I first thought ammonia, but ammonia test shows 0. Nothing else seems to be ill, just him. The sexy shrimp are eating whatever I put in the tank and do their lil shake all day long.
Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.024


Any ideas what could be wrong?
Looks as if he will die. :-(
Matt

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Is their water movement? How long has the tank been up? The tank is small for any fish and I would try to find a prawn goby if any fish.

 

[mrg02d]

Yup, got an AquaClear 20 going full blast and splashing the water. Hes been fine since putting him in, just started looking odd today. Maybe I am running into the same problems others said they had with neon gobys mysteriously dying? I hope not.

Matt

 

[mrg02d]

Hes dead...:-(

I might know why though. I bought a new Marineland 10W heater and found the temp at 82.2F today! Its supposed to be factory set at 78F !

Could that have killed him? The other tank creatures are all fine.

Matt

 

[corrado33]

I don't think a temp of 82 would kill a fish... Then again the higher the temp the less DO is in the water, so...?

 

[mrg02d]

Yea, I didnt think so but considering the rapid breathing, I think it might have been too little 02. THANKS Marineland...Brand new heater...Poor fish and after all the trouble I went to for him.

Thats the way it goes I guess...
Matt

 

[melosu58]

I personally would not put a fish in a 2.5 gallon tank. It`s just plain too small. Water parameters would have to be perfect all the time. The least little problem would be magnified in that size tank. No room to move. Not bashing just my opinion.

 

[mrg02d]

I was also feeling 2.5g is small, but felt I could keep water parameters good. The only thing that went wrong was the heater. I have also seen others with gobys in their pico and felt I would give it a go. What other gobys might manage to fit the tank? I really would like to fit one in there if possible.

Matt

 

[mrg02d]

So I googled my heater and found people complaining that its defective! What luck, huh? At least I know it wasnt something I caused directly. (Dirty hands or failure to treat his disease before).

I cant find a good heater that is small enough to fit this tank. My place gets down to like 73 or 72 at night and up to 78 or so during the day. I have a mini hydor heater but it has no thermostat. Is it okay for temperatures to vary that much during the day?

Matt

 

[AMDPhenomX4]

Trust me 82 degrees is nothing. My tank got to 88 with tangs due to an issue with the halides timer. The 900W of lights heated the tank and everything was fine after cooling off.

 

[mrg02d]

It may not have been enough to kill directly, but might it have been enough to decrease the 02 in the water enough to kill? He was breathing very rapidly. Just seems to me that the other critters would have died too due to lack of 02, or would they?

Other than that, he had no normal reason to die. Plus, if the heater is factory set to 78 and goes up past 82 overnight (much cooler at night) then something aint working right. Cant trust a heater that does that.

I have the mini Hydor 7.5w heater, but it has no turnoff. Seems id have to buy a temp controller to use it and that just seems nuts. Maybe I could put it on a timer and adjust accordingly such that the temp never exceeds 80F and never drops below 76F? Or something like that...

Cant find anything else that will fit. I could put the deffective heater on a timer I guess...Just seems scary to play with poison like that.

Matt