Sick Marine betta

[joe_sharkk]

Hello,

I have been searching nonstop for anything regarding sick marine bettas and I just keep finding that they basically just “never get sick.”

mine has been doing great for months. Eats great (I feed him live feeder ghost shrimp) and is one of my favorite fish. He’s recently stopped eating (about 3-4 days now) and has been sitting in his cave - I wanted to leave him alone, thought maybe he just had a bigger meal than usual and wanted to relax. Today while doing a regular water change I noticed he has one extremely swollen eye… it’s not cloudy or seemingly injured. Just definitely a swollen eyeball. I’ve heard of popeye when I used to keep freshwater fish… but I also read that it’s basically unheard of for these fish to get that type of sickness.

60 gallon reef tank nitrates and ammonia basically zero (had a slight nitrate reading less than 0.1 so did water change), everything is as it had been while everyone is safe and healthy.
Other fish/living creatures in tank:
2 storm clownfish
Coral beauty
2 mandarin gobies
Diamond goby
2 cleaner shrimp
1 blood red fire shrimp
1 tailspot goby
1 harlequin shrimp with his chocolate chip starfish
1 bubble tip anemone
Frogspawn coral
Torch coral
Birds nest coral
Xenia
Hammer coral

how can I save this poor guy? Or will he heal on his own due to their hardiness?

 

[joe_sharkk]

Hello,

I have been searching nonstop for anything regarding sick marine bettas and I just keep finding that they basically just “never get sick.”

mine has been doing great for months. Eats great (I feed him live feeder ghost shrimp) and is one of my favorite fish. He’s recently stopped eating (about 3-4 days now) and has been sitting in his cave - I wanted to leave him alone, thought maybe he just had a bigger meal than usual and wanted to relax. Today while doing a regular water change I noticed he has one extremely swollen eye… it’s not cloudy or seemingly injured. Just definitely a swollen eyeball. I’ve heard of popeye when I used to keep freshwater fish… but I also read that it’s basically unheard of for these fish to get that type of sickness.

60 gallon reef tank nitrates and ammonia basically zero (had a slight nitrate reading less than 0.1 so did water change), everything is as it had been while everyone is safe and healthy.
Other fish/living creatures in tank:
2 storm clownfish
Coral beauty
2 mandarin gobies
Diamond goby
2 cleaner shrimp
1 blood red fire shrimp
1 tailspot goby
1 harlequin shrimp with his chocolate chip starfish
1 bubble tip anemone
Frogspawn coral
Torch coral
Birds nest coral
Xenia
Hammer coral

how can I save this poor guy? Or will he heal on his own due to their hardiness?

The video didn’t work. Here’s a photo of his eye.

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello,

I have been searching nonstop for anything regarding sick marine bettas and I just keep finding that they basically just “never get sick.”

mine has been doing great for months. Eats great (I feed him live feeder ghost shrimp) and is one of my favorite fish. He’s recently stopped eating (about 3-4 days now) and has been sitting in his cave - I wanted to leave him alone, thought maybe he just had a bigger meal than usual and wanted to relax. Today while doing a regular water change I noticed he has one extremely swollen eye… it’s not cloudy or seemingly injured. Just definitely a swollen eyeball. I’ve heard of popeye when I used to keep freshwater fish… but I also read that it’s basically unheard of for these fish to get that type of sickness.

60 gallon reef tank nitrates and ammonia basically zero (had a slight nitrate reading less than 0.1 so did water change), everything is as it had been while everyone is safe and healthy.
Other fish/living creatures in tank:
2 storm clownfish
Coral beauty
2 mandarin gobies
Diamond goby
2 cleaner shrimp
1 blood red fire shrimp
1 tailspot goby
1 harlequin shrimp with his chocolate chip starfish
1 bubble tip anemone
Frogspawn coral
Torch coral
Birds nest coral
Xenia
Hammer coral

how can I save this poor guy? Or will he heal on his own due to their hardiness?

This is indeed popeye and may have stemmed from injury. If you look below the eye, there is scratch/scar from injury also.
While it should subside on its own and the area heal, keep on eye on it so that it does not progress to infection. If eye starts to haze, you will want to treat with Maracyn- NOT Maracyn 2 in separate tank for 5 days. Other causes are nutrition deficiencies and even a fungal or bacterial issue in tank, but if other fish are doing well, eating and breathing normal- that may rule this out

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The fish is also breathing way too fast. That is a sign of water quality issues or gill disease. I think you can rule out water quality here. Gill disease can come from bacteria, protozoans or flukes.
Any chance you can isolate this fish for treatment?
Jay

 

[joe_sharkk]

I had actually just done a water change so he may have been breathing a little extra heavy due to that… I’ll QT tho for sure.

I have a MENACE of a diamond goby. Just since my original post he buried an entire piece of live rock along with my bubble tip anemone and a coral, and luckily I saw it in time to uncover them and save them. I’ve decided he’s going back to the store before I flush him… (mostly joking about flushing).

is there any chance he’s stressing everyone out and/or hurting water quality with all the debris he’s constantly throwing? I’ve had diamond gobies before who never were as insane as this one, not even remotely. I love all fish but… this goby… may be the exception to the rule.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I had actually just done a water change so he may have been breathing a little extra heavy due to that… I’ll QT tho for sure.

I have a MENACE of a diamond goby. Just since my original post he buried an entire piece of live rock along with my bubble tip anemone and a coral, and luckily I saw it in time to uncover them and save them. I’ve decided he’s going back to the store before I flush him… (mostly joking about flushing).

is there any chance he’s stressing everyone out and/or hurting water quality with all the debris he’s constantly throwing? I’ve had diamond gobies before who never were as insane as this one, not even remotely. I love all fish but… this goby… may be the exception to the rule.

I don't think the goby would have caused the stress/heavy breathing in the betta. Mostly, bettas will move away and hide from an aggressive fish. If they are still being harassed, you will see signs of that in spit fins and skin damage. If you aren't seeing that, I don't think the goby is the culprit here.

If the betta is still breathing that fast today (you can use the video as a reference) then it wasn't the water change either.


Jay

 

[joe_sharkk]

Thank you again! The Betta is in his cage again relaxing so I will watch for him to come out or try to entice him out with some food.
I know the goby isn’t aggressively going after him, I was thinking way more out of the box thinking that since he’s often stirred up the water sooo much that it has looked cloudy at moments maybe there’s some crazy chance he’s affecting the bettas ability to get O2. The betta seems to be relaxing and ok for now. I’m going to treat inQT for Popeye and be able to monitor better for any signs of anything else. Thanks for all the help!

returning goby to store today anyway. It’s been months and all he does is destroy the tank and bury corals.