Help Please! Yellow Watchman Goby with white splotches and poor condition

[ChunkyMunky Pengopus]

My Yellow Watchman Goby's health has very suddenly deteriorated. I've had him for some time and received him from a previous owner, he's likely up there in age a decade or so old at this point.

He's showed signs of aging but in the last few days and kostly just this morning his condition rapidly worsened, his stomach has shrunk and he has white splotches all over one side. Also breathing a bit heavier than usual. I'm afraid he doesn't have much time left. Still feeding and behaving mostly normally but it looks bad. What seems to be the condition?

 

[Crabs McJones]

He's definitely underweight and has pinched stomach. Have you seen him eat? If so my guess would be internal parasites. He's eating the food but the parasites are stealing all the nutrients. Do you have a qt tank set up or are you able to set one up? #reefsquad @Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My Yellow Watchman Goby's health has very suddenly deteriorated. I've had him for some time and received him from a previous owner, he's likely up there in age a decade or so old at this point.

He's showed signs of aging but in the last few days and kostly just this morning his condition rapidly worsened, his stomach has shrunk and he has white splotches all over one side. Also breathing a bit heavier than usual. I'm afraid he doesn't have much time left. Still feeding and behaving mostly normally but it looks bad. What seems to be the condition?

Oh my, the goby is severely emaciated. Did this happen suddenly, or gradually over a month or more? Being a long-term captive (10 years is longer than these survive in the wild!) means that it probably has some internal digestive issue. One very common problem with older fish is Mycobacterium - fish tuberculosis. This bacteria is present in every aquarium, but as fish age, their resistance to it declines and they develop chronic infections. One symptom of that is emaciation.

My guess is that this fish became gradually thinner, so slowly that you didn't notice, until it used up all its food reserves. Then, it began using its liver for energy, but that in turn causes irreversible liver failure. I'm very sorry, but I don't think there will be any way to save this fish.....

 

[ChunkyMunky Pengopus]

He's definitely underweight and has pinched stomach. Have you seen him eat? If so my guess would be internal parasites. He's eating the food but the parasites are stealing all the nutrients. Do you have a qt tank set up or are you able to set one up? #reefsquad @Jay Hemdal

I've seen him eat, but admittedly I use an infrequent feeding method of every 3 days, so perhaps he has used up all his energy in between. He fed this morning and was acting quite starved for food, feeding directly from a pipette. This has been fine in the past and he has never been too skinny, certainly never this emaciated.

How could he have gotten a parasite? I haven't added anything from the outside in over a year. I unfortunately dont have a qt setup currently. Best I can do short notice is probably a bucket wavemaker setup unfortunately.

 

[ChunkyMunky Pengopus]

Oh my, the goby is severely emaciated. Did this happen suddenly, or gradually over a month or more? Being a long-term captive (10 years is longer than these survive in the wild!) means that it probably has some internal digestive issue. One very common problem with older fish is Mycobacterium - fish tuberculosis. This bacteria is present in every aquarium, but as fish age, their resistance to it declines and they develop chronic infections. One symptom of that is emaciation.

My guess is that this fish became gradually thinner, so slowly that you didn't notice, until it used up all its food reserves. Then, it began using its liver for energy, but that in turn causes irreversible liver failure. I'm very sorry, but I don't think there will be any way to save this fish.....

Thank you for the explanation. This is exactly what I suspected and feared. I've been checking his stomach size and looking back I think it has gradually gotten smalled. I should've been more cognizant of this and increased my feeding. I have enjoyed having him for all this time and hate to see him go.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Yeah, I think this is just old age. As with any lifeform, systems just flat out get weaker with time. Mr. Goby there has had a long, long life.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thank you for the explanation. This is exactly what I suspected and feared. I've been checking his stomach size and looking back I think it has gradually gotten smalled. I should've been more cognizant of this and increased my feeding. I have enjoyed having him for all this time and hate to see him go.

I didn't realize you were only feeding once every 3 days, it should be getting small feedings at least twice a day in order to maintain proper body mass. In the wild, they pick plankton out of the water pretty much all day long. The only time they would ever go more than a day or so without food would be when a storm moves through.

 

[ChunkyMunky Pengopus]

I didn't realize you were only feeding once every 3 days, it should be getting small feedings at least twice a day in order to maintain proper body mass. In the wild, they pick plankton out of the water pretty much all day long. The only time they would ever go more than a day or so without food would be when a storm moves through.

I've regularly seen him hunting amphipods in the tank at night, but yes, I have been negligent, and the blame is on me. I should strive to be a better aquarium owner.