NIger trigger with pop eye

daniella3d · #1 11-06-2010, 11:06 PM

Few days ago I bought a niger trigger which has been in quarantine since then. It had some sort of cloudiness in the eye, but it looked more like internal. I thought it was from the netting and that it would pass but today his eye is sort of swollen and is poping out a little and it is larger than the other eye.

Should I treat it with antibiotics? I have kanamycin. The fish has a great appetite and still eat like a little pig, but I surely cannot let this go.

Will kanamycine work? especialy since he eats I can soak his food in kanamycine, will that work?

Can it be a parasite inside the eye causing the cloudiness? It sort of look like something reflecting the light inside the eye of the fish rather than a cloudiness on the lens outside the eye.

Lance · #2 11-06-2010, 11:15 PM

Kananmycin is one of the recommended treatments, although I personally have never used it. I have used Epsom Salts with good results. Is the water quality good? Ammonia, nitrates and high salinity can be causes of Pop Eye. Hope this helps: Good Luck!

daniella3d · #3 11-07-2010, 12:05 AM

yes the water quality is number 1. undetectible nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and nitrites. Problem is that the fish was kept at 1.017 at the store and my tank was at 1.023. So I acclimated him during 4 hours from 1.017 to 1.023. Could this have caused the pop eye? if so, should I put him in low salinity with epsom salt?

That's my frag tank and it's been setup for about a year and he's the only fish in there, so water is quite good. All my coral are thrving in there and I do water change 15% every week.

I have added 1 tbs of epson salt in 20 gallons. Is that enough? I have coral in there so I did not want to put more unless it is safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

Kananmycin is one of the recommended treatments, although I personally have never used it. I have used Epsom Salts with good results. Is the water quality good? Ammonia, nitrates and high salinity can be causes of Pop Eye. Hope this helps: Good Luck!

Lance · #4 11-07-2010, 12:20 AM

I can't remember the dosage for the salts, but you can find it on the Wet Web Media website. (type in pop eye and/or Epsom Salts in the Search box).
The sudden changes in salinity could very well have caused the problem.

daniella3d · #5 11-07-2010, 12:28 AM

I saw the dosage of 1tbs per 10 gallons on WWM but not sure if this is ok with coral in the tank?

I red on WWM that it will be ok for coral at small concentration..not sure if 1 tbs per 10 gallons is considered a "small concentration" though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

I can't remember the dosage for the salts, but you can find it on the Wet Web Media website. (type in pop eye and/or Epsom Salts in the Search box).
The sudden changes in salinity could very well have caused the problem.

Lance · #6 11-07-2010, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I saw the dosage of 1tbs per 10 gallons on WWM but not sure if this is ok with coral in the tank?

I red on WWM that it will be ok for coral at small concentration..not sure if 1 tbs per 10 gallons is considered a "small concentration" though.

I just found a treatment of 1 tbs per 5 gallons is fine in a reef tank, so at 1 tbs per 10 gallons your corals should be fine.

daniella3d · #7 11-07-2010, 02:02 AM

How long did it take in your case to improve?

I am feeding him with food soaked in kanamycine as well. He eats everything no question asked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

I just found a treatment of 1 tbs per 5 gallons is fine in a reef tank, so at 1 tbs per 10 gallons your corals should be fine.

Lance · #8 11-07-2010, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniella3d

How long did it take in your case to improve?

I am feeding him with food soaked in kanamycine as well. He eats everything no question asked.

If it's a scratched eye it should heal pretty quickly; it did for me. 2 to 3 days. If it was caused by poor water conditions at the time of purchase it may take a little longer. Just guessing here though.

daniella3d · #9 11-07-2010, 03:14 AM

I don't know, maybe it was poor water condition from where he comes from. I am not going to buy any more fish from that LFS because they always have something. I have a blue tang in quarantine in the other tank in hyposalinity because he had ich, and it was exchanged as the first one also had ich and refused to eat. So it's the third fish I buy from that place and all of them had something wrong.

I am not sure it's going to resolve because he seemed to have something a bit whitish and reflective inside the eye before he started the pop eye, but we'll see with time. I will keep feeding him twice a day with bloodworms soaked in kanamycin and epsom salt is in the tank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

If it's a scratched eye it should heal pretty quickly; it did for me. 2 to 3 days. If it was caused by poor water conditions at the time of purchase it may take a little longer. Just guessing here though.

daniella3d · #10 12-03-2010, 01:57 PM

After nearly 3 weeks in Paraguard the eye have cleared and I don't see the white thing inside anylonger. The pop eye has receided quite a bit but there is still some swelling as I can see one eye is larger than the other still.

I was hoping that I can put the fish in my display tank this weekend as I don't think I can do much more for this eye that what I have done already. Will this eye eventualy return to 100% normal? should I continue the paraguard treatment until it is 100% normal? Should I just put the fish in the display tank and let it finish healing there? I am not sure what to do at this point?

The fish is still small and I am pretty sure as it will grow up the eye will return to normal size has its body will grow, but not sure realley what to do for right now?