# Dragon Goby help



## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

hey yall got a few new fish about a week ago, a paganus cat and a dragon goby, both were doing great till this morning my goby started laying on his side and not eating. hes breathing normally and if i try to scoop him he swims away and acts fine for a few minutes then turns back on his side...any ideas as to whats wrong?


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

asked the local pet store they said sounds like hes not getting enough oxygen and ammonia levels seem to be high. did a 30% water change now all i can do is watch him and hope he pulls through


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## WetWork (Dec 9, 2012)

I am not an expert on this at all but I always thought Dragon Gobys needed a brackish tank. I could be completely wrong though. Post your other water parameters thought ammonia isnt the only thing that will cause heavy breathing. Need pH, Nitrites, Nitrates even hardness of water affects fish.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Dragon gobies can do ok in freshwater - probably not the issue unless he was in brackish at the pet store and you dumped him into a freshwater tank. 

Keep up the water changes, that's probably all you can do for now.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

i dont have a test kit to find out all that info. he was bought at walmart and was in the same tank as plecos and glowfish so i know he was in a freshwater environment and i acclimated him in my quartentine tank before adding him to the main tank and he did fine. 1 week after being in the main tank he started laying on his side while all of the other fish are doing great. i dont get it


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## Vayurules (Dec 7, 2012)

Well, in my experience, Walmart fish are not quality fish, you will hear this from other too...


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

most of the big box stores put salt in their tanks...so it is possible that he may need a little salt...


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

What were you feeding it, and much more importantly, did you ever see it actually eat anything? Dragons are a bit tricky in the food department. Their natural method of feeding is to gulp a glob of sand and strain it for anything edible. They'll eat wormy bits and such without sand if they find them, though. If you are just offering it "fishfood" it is probably starving. It takes awhile to teach them to eat pellets.

These are actually USA native fish, often scooped up and sold instead of raised on farms, so the chance of your dragon having never been trained to eat hobby-grade foods is pretty high.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

hes been eating shrimp pellets ive seen him eat a few the first few days i had him after that i havent seen him eat anything. i have brine shrimp freeze dried but they float
i dont know how to get them to sink to the bottom where he is


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