Am I on the right track?

[Silvanna79]

@Jay Hemdal

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Is just one eye affected? If so, it is likely an injury. It might be infected, but a simple injury with mucus can look like an infection. These eye injuries can take a long time to heal, and in some cases, never fully heal.

Let me know if both eyes are affected, that can have different causes.

Avoid kanaplex in food! If you don’t dose it correctly, it will cause organ damage. The proper dose is 50 mg per kg of fish mass.
Also, skip the Epsom salts - seawater already contains a lot of that salt. It is a freshwater tonic only.

If you found that incorrect advice on a single web site, I’d avoid using that as it is giving you bad info.

I just saw this, I apologize. I am new to this. I did feed kanaplex and it seemed to have gotten better but then it got worse. I have her in a QT tank at the moment and just did a second dose of erythromyacin. There is significant improvement after two treatments but I still see little specks in her eye and am wondering if it could be flukes. She doesn't flash or have any symptoms of flukes .

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

There are two different types of eye flukes - one that creates a cloudy surface, and another species that lives inside the eye. The latter one is a digenean, it requires multiple hosts to propagate, so you don’t have to worry about those, they die out on their own. The eye surface fluke is called Neobenedenia. It invariably causes both eyes to be cloudy.

I think this fish got a minor injury that is healing on its own, two days is too fast for an antibiotic to have worked. Still, it’s a good preventative.

 

[Silvanna79]

There are two different types of eye flukes - one that creates a cloudy surface, and another species that lives inside the eye. The latter one is a digenean, it requires multiple hosts to propagate, so you don’t have to worry about those, they die out on their own. The eye surface fluke is called Neobenedenia. It invariably causes both eyes to be cloudy.

I think this fish got a minor injury that is healing on its own, two days is too fast for an antibiotic to have worked. Still, it’s a good preventative.

Ok. Thank you! I will skip the freshwater dip. She has two more doses of the erythromycin and then I will assess and add her back to the display tank.

 

[winxp_man]

Ok. Thank you! I will skip the freshwater dip. She has two more doses of the erythromycin and then I will assess and add her back to the display tank.

Yes no reason to jump the gun here. Is the fish flashing? Hiding? Not eating? Yawning? Anything to say flukes?

Compared to day one and how bad the eye was, yes this fish is recovering. Make sure the tank has clean water at all times, this also helps speed up healing.

 

[Silvanna79]

Yes no reason to jump the gun here. Is the fish flashing? Hiding? Not eating? Yawning? Anything to say flukes?

Compared to day one and how bad the eye was, yes, this fish is recovering. Make sure the tank has clean water at all times, this also helps speed up healing.

She isn't doing any of those things. She is being a bit more shy in the QT tank. She ate two times today, not her usual gluttonous self but she ate. I did syphon out remainig food and am dosing bacteria 2x’s per day, using an airstone and dosing prime just in case. It was a last-minute tank I set up to medicate erythromycin. Initially kanaplex worked but then it got cloudy again and swollen thats when I transferred her.

 

[winxp_man]

She isn't doing any of those things. She is being a bit more shy in the QT tank. She ate two times today, not her usual gluttonous self but she ate. I did syphon out remainig food and am dosing bacteria 2x’s per day, using an airstone and dosing prime just in case. It was a last-minute tank I set up to medicate erythromycin. Initially kanaplex worked but then it got cloudy again and swollen thats when I transferred her.

Prime is not gonna help much. Early on in my QT learning I would dose it and it helped for few hours then back to elevated ammonia. It becomes a WC every day, and redose new water going in with meds once ammonia got a hold in the tank. But with one fish you should be good for a few days. How big is your fish?

 

[Silvanna79]

Prime is not gonna help much. Early on in my QT learning I would dose it and it helped for few hours then back to elevated ammonia. It becomes a WC every day, and redose new water going in with meds once ammonia got a hold in the tank. But with one fish you should be good for a few days. How big is your fish?

She is about 3.5 “ . I am dosing bacteria 2x’s per day. I just did a 25 % water change. She has one more dose left in the tank. I am syphoning food oit thr she doesn't eat. She ate yesterday but hasn't so far today.

 

[Silvanna79]

She is about 3.5 “ . I am dosing bacteria 2x’s per day. I just did a 25 % water change. She has one more dose left in the tank. I am syphoning food oit thr she doesn't eat. She ate yesterday but hasn't so far today.

She seems to have slightly more mucous now. This is what happened with Kanaplex. I am wondering if she needs a second round of erythromycin or if I should add her back to my main display after tomorrow.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

She seems to have slightly more mucous now. This is what happened with Kanaplex. I am wondering if she needs a second round of erythromycin or if I should add her back to my main display after tomorrow.

Just the left eye though?

 

[Silvanna79]

Just the left eye though?

Yes. Just the left eye. Would you add kanaplex or do a second round of erythromycin or back in display?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Yes. Just the left eye. Would you add kanaplex or do a second round of erythromycin or back in display?

Tough to say - the not eating is a bad sign. If it’s stressed from being in the QT, then moving it out would help. However, if the not eating is due to some undiagnosed contagious disease, moving it to the DT would be risky.

If you do move it, capture it gently! Mechanical damage is the main cause of these eye issues.

 

[Silvanna79]

Tough to say - the not eating is a bad sign. If it’s stressed from being in the QT, then moving it out would help. However, if the not eating is due to some undiagnosed contagious disease, moving it to the DT would be risky.

If you do move it, capture it gently! Mechanical damage is the main cause of these eye issues.

She has eaten a couple of times, but not her typical feeding. She is not thrilled to be in the QT, for sure. I will try moving her tomorrow after the last dose. She is pooping so maybe sneaking in some food without me seeing her.

 

[Silvanna79]

She has eaten a couple of times, but not her typical feeding. She is not thrilled to be in the QT, for sure. I will try moving her tomorrow after the last dose. She is pooping so maybe sneaking in some food without me seeing her.

@Jay Hemdal - Here is the latest pic. The eye was nearly healed but now looks more moucosy.

 

[winxp_man]

@Jay Hemdal - Here is the latest pic. The eye was nearly healed but now looks more moucosy.

Still in the QT tank?

 

[Silvanna79]

Still in the QT tank?

Yes.

 

[winxp_man]

Yes.

When did you do a WC last? Some insight. With eye issues/damage, dirty water can play a bad roll. With my flame when he went through the ordeal, I skippped out on WC because no ammonia. But just because nitrifying bacteria is taking out ammonia does not mean your water quality is good. I have had a pair of clowns evens too eating. And a week later after a water change they started eating again. I kept an eye out on poo, it did not look like parasite infection, also after they started to eat poo was the same. I was looking for parasites, and without meds and just a good ol WC the fish went back to normal.

The issue with QT tanks is this, there are not pods (most of the time), cuc that can clean up the tank so keeping water clean without a WC is not possible. Many monitor for ammonia but forget about water quality. I should don write up about this haha. I have seen it many times on FB pages, where there are no higher educated medics like here, how some just test ammonia and keep the water as is. Nutrient export is literally not possible in QT tanks with not fish and bio filters to hold bacteria.

So enough of this sorry, to shorten the story my lasted patient, the flame, after I did a good ol WC the healing ramped up way faster. It’s like farting in a room with literally no air to escape or come in to said room. Eventually you’re breathing in just farts haha.

Just an idea to think about.

FYI it’s why I did the kana route with the flame. You can do WC if need be. Not saying enthromycin does not work, but because of how’s it’s used WC are not usually part of the QT method.

 

[Silvanna79]

When did you do a WC last?

Yesterday, going off of Erythromyiacin instructions. I syphon everything out multiple times per day. And this is the eye now. It seems better, it seems like this weird cycle where the mucous increases every few days and then reduces to tiny dots. I could put her in the DT in acclimation box, I just want to visibly see her eat.

 

[winxp_man]

Yesterday, going off of Erythromyiacin instructions. I syphon everything out multiple times per day. And this is the eye now. It seems better, it seems like this weird cycle where the mucous increases every few days and then reduces to tiny dots. I could put her in the DT in acclimation box, I just want to visibly see her eat.

your in such tough spot. As Jay said if the fish has something additional and that being the reason why it’s not eating well, it can spread to the other fish.

I would do a 50% water change and dose some Dr Tim’s or Turbo Start 900. And let the fish sit in the QT.

Do you run In the UV for QT setups?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal - Here is the latest pic. The eye was nearly healed but now looks more moucosy.

Can you get a video of the fish while it is in the QT? I want to get a better sense of how it is faring.....

 

[Silvanna79]

Can you get a video of the fish while it is in the QT? I want to get a better sense of how it is faring.....

Sure. She was swimming right before this but as soon as she saw me she hid behind the spnge in the first video and then in then darted to the PVC. She does this if she notices me, otherwise she is out of hiding. I don’t think shes thrilled with me at the moment. I had to tare apart my tank to catch her. I just spotted a little pebble looking thing in the second video, it's on her fin. I was able to make two more videos after the initial two.