sigh...yellow head goby sick? :(

sigh...if it's not one fish, it's another. Why can't everything just be happy together??

Now we are worried about our yellow head sleeper goby. He is very lethargic, not eating, not sifting through the sand. He just lays in "the cave" (as we call it) or near a rock. It's almost like his head is turning more gray as well.

Took a pic, but as it is night in the tank, it's a little dark. I'll try to take another tomorrow during daylight if he's accessible. ANyways...he was super happy and normal after the reefscape and water change. Then when we thought we'd lost the six line wrasse we disturbed the rock a little. Now goby just seems super unhappy.

Help. This pic is of him with his head literally pressed up against the glass and he's not really doing ANYTHING.

 

I've seen a lot of people include water tests...so here goes.

This is using the 5 in 1 test strips:
Temp: 78
GH (general hardness): 180ppm
KH (carbonate hardness): between 80-120ppm
pH: 7.5-8.0
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm

Are these bad numbers??? Some of them seem bad. yikes.

 

Nitrates are high. You want them below 20. Id do a small water change. Need a larger pic of your setup to help more.

 

ok, i will take some pics tomorrow during "daylight". hopefully will get a good one of goby

 

ok, some pics...with the note that we know the bio balls suck and we don't have a protein skimmer yet. HOWEVER, the craigslister we bought this setup and fish from has used the bio balls and no protein skimmer and only one heater for over a year and the fish seemed fine. So...just saying......






I thought goby was dead at lunch...seriously...he was not moving AT ALL. Not even breathing...then I saw his gills move a little...but yeah...not looking good unless this is normal behavior.