Violet Goby (Dragon Fish) Gasping? Please Help

[MadameFizzgig]

Hi everyone,
 
First off, I am a newbie fish owner. I do not have a ton of experience with fish. That being said, I recently purchased a violet goby from Walmart. He is about 4 inches long. Apparently he was living in fresh water there, but I read that he should be living in brackish water. So, I've been slowly acclimating him to brackish water. I'm slowly raising the SG so that he will be at 1.010, we're about half way there so far. I'm doing it slowly because I don't want to stress him out more than he likely already is, plus I couldn't find anything online about how long it should take to acclimate him. The temperature in his tank is 77 degrees, and he is the only fish in the tank.
 
He hasn't been eating much, but I read that sometimes it takes them a while to get used to a new environment. He did, however, appear to have eaten some of an algae wafer earlier today. What's concerning me is that he appears to be "gasping" at the bottom of the tank inside of the log he likes to hide in. The tank is filtered well, and there is plenty of oxygen and very low ammonia levels. He does not have any other issues besides the "gasping" thing that he's doing. It's not constant, but I've noticed him do it around 3 times today.
 
Is he filter feeding? Is he stressed? Will he get better once I finish acclimated him to brackish water? Is there anything else I should be doing?
 
I'd really appreciate any advise!

 

[LyraGuppi]

What is the "very low" ammonia levels?
Is the tank cycled?

 

[BiggTexx]

Couple of things:  
 

• What size tank? a Violet Goby can reach 1' or larger and will eventually require a 50+ gallon tank
• Walmart is not known for selling the healthiest of fish, so it is possible that he was sick already
• As Lyra mentioned, what does "very low" ammonia mean?  ANY ammonia is detrimental

 

[MadameFizzgig]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm pretty sure he's just eating. I've never had a fish like this before, so the way he eats was just kind of startling. Plus, I think he was adjusting to his new home, so he was behaving a little strangely. I know that Walmart isn't a good environment for these guys, but he looked so horrible in their tanks and I felt I needed to rescue him.
 
Since I've had him, he's doing much better than he was. I'm not positive what the ammonia level is in his tank now, but he's only been in the tank for 2 days. When I put him in, the ammonia level was zero. I doubt there's any issue with there being too much ammonia, I read about ammonia poisoning online and he's not displaying any of the symptoms.
 
His current tank size is kind of small (the same size as in the store, but he's the only fish in it, so it's not overcrowded)- but it's only temporary. I'll be upgrading to a larger tank in a couple weeks once I'm home from college.

 

[BiggTexx]

Was the tank cycled?  A non-cycled tank would have 0 ammonia before you add fish...

 

[MadameFizzgig]

Non-cycled then, I guess. I'm not positive what that means. Nearly all of the water was new, though I treated it to make sure there wasn't chlorine.

 

[BiggTexx]

Cycling a tank is going through all of the steps of the Nitrogen Cycle, which involves constantly monitoring the Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.
 
Here are a few links to help you out.  Please read these, as you have some work ahead of you to get this under control and ensure a healthy and happy fish.  The first link is about the Nitrogen Cycle, The second two are specifically written for what you are facing right now.
 
Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!
Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part I
Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part Il