# I need help healing this poor little guy.



## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

Hi guys,

My girlfriend and I just bought a new violet/dragon goby. We felt so bad for him and didn't want him to suffer. Apparently the "new" girl at our LFS put a piranha in the tank with him before she closed up shop for the night and when they came back, this is what they found. My questions are what can i do to help his fins/tail grow back, and what would be the best medicine for the 2 bite marks on his side?


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

I don't know anything about Goby's but good for you that you rescued him from........


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

First you need to slowly get the Salinity in the tank up to at least 1.006 and no more than 1.015 for him to live in. Every few hours add some mixed salt water to the tank unitl you have it at those levels. Make sure he eats, and the wounds will heal themselves.
Feed frozen blood worms, frozen tubifex worms, baby brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp.


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

ReefingMadness,

Will raising my salinity to 1.006 - 1.015 harm my guppies that I have in my tank? They are currently thriving VERY well with the salinity at 1.005 and i don't want to harm them.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

Guppies will like the salt, if I'm right, they can even live in full saltwater. I would raise the salinity, and have some meds on hand just in case. Dragon gobies are filter feeders, and they take special care with feeding because they have very poor eyesight. you could try taking a turkey baster and target feeding him. Dragon gobies also sift substrate in their mouths. Just keep the water clean and make sure he gets fed, he should do fine. Glad that you were able to rescue him.


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

Luckily, we haven't been having any problems with him eating. The only issue we are having with him other than his injuries is that our other Dragon is seemingly a little jealous that he has to share HIS tank, if you know what i mean.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

you might have to isolate one to keep the injured one from stressing too much and getting sick from being picked on.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Having the salinity in the water is actually a huge deal with these guys, FW actually stresses them.


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

ReefingMadness,

Do you know off hand how much salt i should add per gallon to take my salinity from 1.005 to 1.006? In other words, how much salt do i need to add per gallon to raise it .001?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Just .001? Your not going to hurt anything if you miss that number and go up .002.
And to raise it just that little would all depend on your tank volume. You can add a Teaspoon at a time and test after each one has mixed well in the water. Larger systems would require more.


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

I know that .001 isn't going too make much of a difference lol

My intentions were to go up to about 1.009 or 1.010 but i was just looking for a baseline measure so i know how much to do. i figured i would just add the salt to the water when i'm doing water changes so i was trying to figure out how much to add each time.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

We need to know the tank size for that info to be givin. The salt mix itself gives instructions on specifics, of how much.


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

I have two Dragon Goby I love em I bought mine Shrimp Pellets and Sinking catfish pellets they go wild Good Luck with your Goby's sounds like you already got great advise here
Judy


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

I thought I'd give you guys an update on his situation. He has almost made a full recover, just missing a little color in his tail and some of his top fin is growing a little slow but he looks a lot better now! Thanks again for all of your guys' help!


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

aw That's great Crowhurst, you put a lot of work in there. Good for you


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

Wonderful News to hear  Keep us updated as he grows and they do grow FAST i will post pics of my two if I can figure how to lol:fish5:


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

Thanks for the update! I'm glad that you were able to nurse him back to health!


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

judymayes: They definitely do grow fast! This one has grown 1.5 inches since we got him a month ago and our other one has grown 4 inches in the 3 months we've had him. They are such neat and fascinating creatures aren't they?


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)




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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

Well, i figured it would be a good time to update you guys on Fang. 4 months later and little Fang is doing GREAT! he is now 13.5 inches long and loving life.


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## Berylla (Mar 4, 2013)

He's looking good!


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

Glad he is do so well and they do certainly grow fast ,what does yours eat and do the have a tunnle to get in ,what do you provide for them I am having trouble find approiate tunnels they turn evrything upside down
Judy:animated_fish_swimm


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

I feed our Dragons shrimp pellets. They love them! For tunnels, i have 2 log decorations from Wal-Mart, but recently they have been out and about in my tank.


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

will have to get some more shrimp pellets and how much salt and what kind of salt do you use ?I may have the same log :animated_fish_swimm


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Instant Ocean is a very good cheap salt, but you just need a Marine salt, ranging at 1.009 SG.


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## ValorieMackison (Dec 10, 2010)

My dragons live in *lean-to* style dwellings. I purchased small-ish slabs of various rocks & pressed them into the sand, then leaned them against the glass. One of the structures is constructed from 3 pieces of rock.

I currently have 3 such arrangements. One in the back, one in the front & one on an accessibly side. I'm not often *in their face* & they seem to love the setup. One major upside is that I have viewing access to 2 of the *lean-to's*

My dragons don't often *dig* in their homes but when they have, the rocks didn't budge when the sand was disturbed around their base.


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

Sounds like a very good idea ,it's hard to come up with bought stuff that mine move there home around if it's not heavy those resin logs seem to do the trick too ,what is the size of your dragon fish or do you have more than one ,what does your Dragon fish eat eat,what are the sizes ,aren't they cool ? I just love mine.


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## ValorieMackison (Dec 10, 2010)

I currently have 2 dragon fish. Both are roughly 12 inches long. Lately they have been eating brine shrimp & blood worms, along with some of the flake remnants that land on the sand (they filter the sand for those bits) & an occasional algae wafer. 

I started keeping a brackish tank a few years ago simply because I love these guys so much. They looked a little strange *to me* at first but they are pretty awesome.


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

I know what you mean,I was wondering if the piece your dragonfish lives in is a penn plax item if not do you know who makes it ?
Judy


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## ValorieMackison (Dec 10, 2010)

Judy, if you were asking me, my dragon homes were made by nature. I used natural pieces of stone. They were each individually selected by me at my LFS. I took a hammer and chisel to the edge of one piece because it was *very* sharp, then lightly sanded all the edges.

The rock is priced per pound & varies depending upon what you select.


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

Thank you ,I have a time finding things mine won't topple over I place thin pieces of sandstone on top of rocks and a resin log and they usually know it down ,mine is larger tan twelve inches .Pretty strong about rooting with the head and digging out the substrate 
Judy


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

Well, I feel it's time for another update on my two dragons. Draco is a whopping 18 inches long now! Fang is right behind him at 17 inches! We are getting the supplies set up to move these guys to a 125 gallon tank in the next few months just so they aren't so cramped, even though they do enjoy being able to pile themselves inside of our larger log decoration. How is everyone elses Dragon/Dragons doing?


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

That is great to hear! My husband is a huge fan of the dragon gobys but I have yet to have a tank I feel is large enough to support them. Any recent pics of them?


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## judymayes (Nov 24, 2012)

my computer with the pics is down as soon as i get it ack i will post pics 

:animated_fish_swimm


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## Crowhurst15 (Aug 12, 2012)

I will have to take some pics of them soon to show everyone.


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