My saffron goby is a picky eater

[sweetie_22]

My saffron goby's been with me a few weeks now, and I'm getting worried - he's losing weight and refusing food. I've tried live brine shrimp, no luck. Frozen brine shrimp, same thing. Marine pellets, New Era pellets, nothing's working. I even gave octozin a shot, still no improvement.

My tank stats all look good, temps are stable despite this crazy weather. I'm at a loss, need some fresh ideas. Any help would be awesome, thanks.

[vortex9]

Hey bae, I'm thinkin' you should try flakin' food, see if that does the trick - or maybe mix it up with some garlic stuff to get him eatin' again. I've heard that can work wonders.

Do you have a quarantine tank, btw? I'm wonderin' if it's an internal parasite thing goin' on...

[sweetie_22]

I'll give the garlic soaking a shot and I've got some flake food lying around that I'll try out too.

I don't have a quarantine tank set up, but I might consider getting one going if things don't improve - the octozin is supposed to handle internal and external parasites, so I'm hoping it's done its job, but I guess it's possible it didn't quite get the job done.

[storm9]

Give mysis a shot, it's a good one for picky eaters. I'm with vortex9 on this, worth checking for any underlying issues too.

[sweetie_22]

Went to get mysis today but they were out, and yeah he does take the shrimp but then just spits them out a few seconds later, doesn't seem to be keeping them down.

[vortex9]

My experience has been that even the pickiest fish will eat flakes, so it's worth trying. I've found most fish eventually give in, even if they're fussy. If he's going for the brine shrimp but then spitting them out, he probably just doesn't want it, so trying a new food might be the way to go.

Good luck and keep us updated. Is your saffron goby still pretty small?

[sweetie_22]

No, he's a decent size, should be able to eat the food fine, but he's really starting to lose weight now. Gonna give the flake a go today, see if that does the trick.

[vortex9]

Any updates sweetie?

[sweetie_22]

Still no mysis at my lfs, got some garlic brine tho, gonna give that a go now, see if it does the trick.

[vortex9]

You can get a quarantine tank, but I found this one on eBay, it's pretty pricey though.