I have had my wonderful Nigerian mudskipper Yoshi for almost a year now. He has never once had a health problem and now he looks to be in dire shape. Over the past week or two, he has lost a considerable amount of weight (he is not emaciated, yet anyway) he is getting strange white patches but only in choice spots. At the top of his pectoral fins, right infront of his dorsal fin, on his cheek areas and seems to be missing a layer of skin/scales on his side. His water quality is perfect- pH of 8, zero ammonia, zero nitrite, zero nitrate. He has become much more secretive and lethargic- he doesn't come to eat from my hand or say hello anymore He acts frightened of me now. Lastnight I gave him a waterchange, and swabbed his affected areas with methylene blue (I have had great success with this on lesions on goldfish) He used to spend 80 or 90% of his time out of the water on top of his rocks, now he is always submerged. I have changed nothing in his environment and have not given live foods.

Does anyone have experience with skippers? What meds are okay for brackish/scaless/wild caught fish?

I really love this little guy. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry he's sick and don't really know what to suggest other than what you've already done. I don't think a whole lot is known on mudskipper care and treatment though you could try searching a mudskipper specific site. They are still relatively new to the trade so not a lot of people keep them.

What is his diet like? It's possible that if he's not getting enough of a variety in that it could cause health problems. That is true of most animals.

I really hope he improves, though.

Thanks for the concern Mister Yoshi is doing better- with constant waterchanges even though his params are good and increasing his feeding he is much more like his old self. He also appears to be gaining his weight back. His whitish spots overall are looking better though the one on his gill plate is still pretty bad. I think this one is actually a heater burn as during the worst part of his illness he was crammed against his heater (we've made it to where he can't do this anymore) I don't think he is out of the woods yet, but at least there is improvement.

I have to agree, I don't think he is getting enough out of his diet. He refuses anything but freeze dried shrimp and blood worms. Hopefully he makes a full recovery.

Oh! Someone who keeps a mudskipper?! How wonderful it is to meet you! And is your avatar one of your own fish?! It's simply GORGEOUS!!! Where did you get her/him and who bred her/him?! I'm going to google right now Mudskippers, I had no idea they could be kept as pets! What are they like? And I'm so glad to read he's getting better, please do keep us posted!

Allen, pleased to meet a fellow mudskipper enthusiast Mudskippers are great pets! I am pleased to report he is looking even better tonight- I think he'll make a full recovery.

As I said I've had him for right on a year now, he's never been trouble. My particular mudskipper is a Nigerian, http://torgo.spleens.net/fish/yoshi.jpg < That's him! Yoshi is really just like a dog! When I first got him, he was quite skittish- hiding in his cave whenever he heard me walking in. Slowly but surely he became more comfortable with my presence, but would still hide when I walked towards him. I just left his shrimp near the entrance to his cave, and after about a month he got to where he'd come OUT when he heard me. Now he'll come out to watch me when he hears me approach, get excited when he sees his can of shrimp, and leaps at the glass when I shake it. He is more than happy to take treats from my hand and likes to watch me do the dishes (his tank is in the kitchen.) Interesting thing- he recognizes individuals. He is weary of strangers and won't come out if he doesn't know the person. It took him awhile to warm up to my friends, and now he expects them to feed him as well After I caught him to swab the areas on him that are not looking so good he was not happy with me. He's getting over it though... they definitely have a good memory! Right now he is in a 20 gallon, half land, half water. As soon as I am sure he can handle the move I am putting him into a 55 by himself. They can handle a lot of different salinities, but I keep his tank at 15 SG. Unfortunately when they do fall ill, it's kind of a fiasco it seems. Not much info on safe meds for them or really the best things to do for them. Regardless, they're fantastic animals. I bought him for 50 dollars (Not bad, I think!!) and wouldn't sell him for 10 times that. Sorry for the ramble, I just love mudskippers!

Yes, the fish in my icon is (was) Ogopogo, my favorite ranchu. Thanks for the compliment! I bought him from the same man who sold me my mudskipper. I actually bought 10 of his ranchu all together (I keep them in a 180 gallon tank and am building a ranchu only pond. Okay, I'm not, my poor boyfriend is doing most of it, HEHEHE) I lost Ogopogo to a senseless death, a pleco who was supposed to be a safe variety decided to have him for dinner. But, I am glad to have his siblings. When I put them outdoors I am going to attempt to breed them- they're a very healthy (and I think good looking) stock.

If you're ever in Washington state, you should go to B&D aquarium. That's where I got the skipper/ranchus. Great place owned by a true fishy genius!

Good Lord! Washington state? I live in GA! ^^; Hehe! I'm so glad to hear he's doing better! Are your other ranchu's calico? I'd love a calico one! All mine are gold or yellow, or white and gold...or gold and black. And they're lionheads! Hehe. I wish I'd hurry up and get into the fish part of veterinary technology...I'm just worried it's going to be something like, a brief chapter since vets generally don't get fish patients.

Oh, I have all different color ranchu. Orange and white, calico, true deep red and white, bronze, orange, etc. My largest Ranchu (not related to the fish in the avatar) is solid gold, with near perfect wen, back, and tail tuck, but cannot swim. I rescued him from being put down. He's happy enough, I think. I hand feed him and "swim" him around the tank which he seems to enjoy. I still hold out hope one day he'll turn around but being realistic I doubt it. I am keeping my eyes peeled for solid, deep black, and true white. One day I'll find them!

I'd love to see pictures of your lionheads! Are the gold and black ones keeping the black?

I actually called my vet not too long ago and asked if anyone could treat my koi and goldfish should the need ever arise- I think the lady thought I was joking at first. Regardless, the answer was no. I hope more vets start to lean in that direction. Then again, I guess the average fish keeper isn't too keen on vet bills for fish. Vet tech school, that must be exciting!!

I'll try to snap pictures! If you read my previous post somewhere floating around you'll read that ALL my lionhead recently died, save for one ( a white and orange one. ) The black and orange one I got to replace it currently just has ...I want to say black ''scalloping?'' on it's tail, I'm hoping with my tank light and it's proximity to the window it'll come back out!
Vet Tech school is certainly a change. I wanted to be a nurse, but the first job I got right out of CNA school (At the local community college you have to be a CNA before you go for your LPN) turned me off of it FOREVER! (Well, not necessarily forever...but at least for the time being!) Out of nursing jobs I got the shortest end of the worst stick! And then it clicked to go for Vet Tech since I was talking about doing that before going for CNA (and was shot down by family members ) I'm not sure whether to try to eventually go to vet school, or maybe try to get a BS and MS in Biology and maybe teach future veterinary technicians? One thing I'm making sure to do though is to keep my face in the books and my head in this program and not be constantly thinking about the future like I did with nursing. I remember all through CNA school looking at RN programs. I think it helped ensure my failure as a nurse

Oh cool! I love mudskippers! I had no idea u could keep them as pets... I guess thats just another thing to add to my wishlist lol. I doubt i'll get one but i'll do some research anyway. Can they kept with any other kinds of fish?