Potential popeye

[sewagner86]

Looking for some guidance. I have a 20 gallon aio with 2 clowns, a flametail blenny and a dottyback and multiple inverts and corals. Tonight while feeding the fish, i noticed the blenny has what I believe to be popeye in 1 eye. The other eye does not appear to be affected. My water quality isn't stellar, but I am going to do a 4 gallon water change tonight. Any advice on treatment to give him the best chance at survival?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Looking for some guidance. I have a 20 gallon aio with 2 clowns, a flametail blenny and a dottyback and multiple inverts and corals. Tonight while feeding the fish, i noticed the blenny has what I believe to be popeye in 1 eye. The other eye does not appear to be affected. My water quality isn't stellar, but I am going to do a 4 gallon water change tonight. Any advice on treatment to give him the best chance at survival?

When one eye on one fish is involved, it is due to an injury. These can take time to heal. If the eye worsens, or changes color, it could be infected. Treatment in a hospital tank with erythromycin (Maracyn 1) would be indicated.

If both eyes move fish are involved, it’s an internal disease issue. If multiple fish show symptoms, it is caused by gas supersaturation.

 

[sewagner86]

I got him in a treatment tank. I put Fritz maracyn two in the tank. His eye looks so painful. He didnt eat today either. Anything i can do to help with the horrendous swelling? I read about epsom salt. Is that something i can just put in the tank with him?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I got him in a treatment tank. I put Fritz maracyn two in the tank. His eye looks so painful. He didnt eat today either. Anything i can do to help with the horrendous swelling? I read about epsom salt. Is that something i can just put in the tank with him?

Ugh, Maracyn 2 isn’t the proper medication, it is doxycycline and despite what they say on the label, does not work well in seawater. You need to use Maracyn 1

Epsom salts won’t work either, seawater already contains a lot of that salt (magnesium sulfate). Epsom salts also only work on freshwater fish.

The eye does look infected, so you’ll want to get Maracyn 1 started right away. It is possible though, that the fish may lose its eye, but fish often survive that and live just fine.

 

[sewagner86]

I will get maracyn 1 today and get it started. I feel so bad for him because it looks so incredibly painful. The redness happened yesterday and it took me a little to get him caught and in a treatment tank. You know, nothing seems to go right when you really need to do something!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I will get maracyn 1 today and get it started. I feel so bad for him because it looks so incredibly painful. The redness happened yesterday and it took me a little to get him caught and in a treatment tank. You know, nothing seems to go right when you really need to do something!

Fish don’t feel pain like mammals do - I’m just worried about the infection becoming too severe.

Be sure to monitor the ammonia level in the hospital tank!

 

[sewagner86]

I know the swelling will take time to improve, but how quickly should i see improvement of the redness?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I know the swelling will take time to improve, but how quickly should i see improvement of the redness?

Antibiotics typically work in about 5 to 7 days....

 

[sewagner86]

This is his eye after 5 days of Maracyn 2 and 4 of Maracyn. I am having trouble getting him to eat. I dont know if i should put him back in my display tank after i am finished with the maracyn or continue to hold him in the hospital tank. He acts very scared in the hospital tank and i think thats playing a role with him not eating. My concern is that now he is blind in that eye or the eye is gone, will the other fish pick on him? Or will it become infected again? Looking for some thoughts.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

This is his eye after 5 days of Maracyn 2 and 4 of Maracyn. I am having trouble getting him to eat. I dont know if i should put him back in my display tank after i am finished with the maracyn or continue to hold him in the hospital tank. He acts very scared in the hospital tank and i think thats playing a role with him not eating. My concern is that now he is blind in that eye or the eye is gone, will the other fish pick on him? Or will it become infected again? Looking for some thoughts.

The photo isn’t very clear, but it does look worse. Fish can completely lose their eye and still do ok in aquariums.

The not eating is more serious though.
What is the ammonia level?

 

[sewagner86]

Here are both sides of his face. I did a 50% water change as there was ammonia present. I am going to also dose a little more prime to help with that. Everythinf was slimey i am assuming from antibiotics so i cleaned the glass off a bit. The LFS told me to continue Maracyn for 14 days to help with any residual infection. Thoughts?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here are both sides of his face. I did a 50% water change as there was ammonia present. I am going to also dose a little more prime to help with that. Everythinf was slimey i am assuming from antibiotics so i cleaned the glass off a bit. The LFS told me to continue Maracyn for 14 days to help with any residual infection. Thoughts?

What was the ammonia level after the water change? Maracyn can nuke your biofilter.

I though erythromycin/Maracyn was supposed to run for 7 days max?

 

[sewagner86]

The ammonia level was 1, now its 0.5. I dosed with amguard to help protect him. This tank was set up quickly to help him so it has no biological system set up at all.

 

[Fish Fan]

The ammonia level was 1, now its 0.5. I dosed with amguard to help protect him. This tank was set up quickly to help him so it has no biological system set up at all.

I'm not one of the R2R Fish Medics, but in the interest of time I'm going to advise monitoring your ammonia very closely. Products like AmGuard and Seachem Prime do not "bind" or "reduce" ammonia as indicated on the bottle. Testing has been done on this, which I'll link. I'd advise using water changes to mitigate any high ammonia.

A Deep Dive on Ammonia Neutralizer Chemistry - Prime, ClorAm-X, Rongalite and friends.

Summary (the whole thing in one paragraph) ClorAm-X is the best-performing of a barely effective product concept. Under the label usage ClorAm-X (but not Prime, or other common products) can be measured to lower the amount of total ammonia in a saltwater sample. This process is slow...

www.reef2reef.com

Best of luck!

 

[sewagner86]

Here are both sides of his face. I did a 50% water change as there was ammonia present. I am going to also dose a little more prime to help with that. Everythinf was slimey i am assuming from antibiotics so i cleaned the glass off a bit. The LFS told me to continue Maracyn for 14 days to help with any residual infection. Thoughts?

What was the ammonia level after the water change? Maracyn can nuke your biofilter.

I though erythromycin/Maracyn was supposed to run for 7 days max?

I also forgot, the box says 5 days, day 6 do a 25% water change and then day 7, start dosing again for a 2nd round. I am just going to go for 14 days straight. I dont want to completely shock the fellow with a complete water change so i did 50% today and i can do another 50% tomorrow. I really want him to make it so i will do what i need to to keep him alive if he has the will to do so

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The ammonia level was 1, now its 0.5. I dosed with amguard to help protect him. This tank was set up quickly to help him so it has no biological system set up at all.

Try to keep the ammonia level below 0.5, below 0.25 would be even better.