View Full Version : popeye cure
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 1:57 PM
my flame got popeye.. how should i cure this?
Wow, what a coincidence. My downstairs neighbors flame got it just last week and I had to find the cure.
Advice from my LFS was to do a freshwater dip for 1-2mins. Make sure it is RO water, PH and Temperature adjusted to match the tank. He also said you could use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals PimaFix but usually the freshwater dip is enough to solve the problem. It seemed to in my neighbors case anyway.. catching the fish was the hardest part.
It is caused by a bacteria infection in the eye.
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 2:06 PM
ill try that thanks for the quick answer.
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 2:38 PM
it looks like he got more beat by something. hes lower fins and tails are beat up.!! im so upset while my purple fish is fine and my water
he was swimming against current often these few days and has been putting sands all over my rocks.
Could still be an infection. I would definatly try the FW dip first, and try and get some medication soon. He could have fin rot or something else as opposed to being beat up. Get some Melafix and Pimafix and setup a small hospital tank if you can. Shouldn't be more than $40 for a 5-10g tank and meds.. about the same price as the fish. You could also try Ruby Reef HydroPlex (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idproduct~RR1131.html)instead of the others meds it seems. I have no personal experience with any of them so I can't offer much advice about them.
mandy21
02-17-2008, 3:43 PM
I've always read that removing fish from possible further irritation and other fish pecking and letting time work its magic is the best way to help the fish. I'm actually not a fan of FW dip either. It is not always caused by infection. Can be physical trauma. Yes, a bacterial infection can result from that.
strangerdejavu
02-17-2008, 3:58 PM
From my readings, it appears that if it's just one eye that's popped, then it's probably from physical trauma (one of my clowns had this for a few days in QT). If it's both eyes, then it's probably time to start medicating. Personally, I treated him with melafix, but I think it was just time to heal that helped him. At the time, the 2 clowns were figuring out who was dominant. Maybe that's what decided the battle :-p
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 5:18 PM
fw drip process.
processing-did it for 3mins. 1 mins was too short after 2 mins it started to show.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/DSCN1442.jpg
after processed. (its nasty)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/DSCN1443.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/DSCN1444.jpg
(without pics you can see it more with your own eyes)
im doing another fw drip on tuesday.
ace-i thank you so much.
lets hope him the best.
Wow, great photos of the process. You can definately see it helped remove what looks like some nasty parasites.
Such a great looking Flame, hope he gets better now.
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 6:16 PM
hes staying in one spot and swimming back and forth. i see little white stuffs still hanging in his both eyes. will my purple firefish get the same?
thanks ace. you saved him!!!!!
In my neighbors flame it still took a few days before it really started looking a lot better. But now it has been almost a week, he did it on Monday, and you can hardly tell anymore.
Just watch him carefully (like I needed to say that, lol) and make sure he doesn't get any worse. I would really think of getting the hospital tank setup, or at least parts on hand just in case. It is much less stressful to the fish to hang out in a hospital tank for a few days vs getting shocked in freshwater. His wound has to heal on his eye, then the bacteria and parasites will stop attacking it. So if it isn't healed enough yet it may come back. This is where being in a hospital tank would help out.. the medicine will keep the bacteria and parasites away and it will speed up the healing of the wound.
nycsicktank
02-17-2008, 6:35 PM
hes in my qt tank i set up a week ago(good thing i set it up). i think fw drip helped alot. for med, i wouldnt do until he gets worse. as long as the water quality is good and the bacteria staying away, it will be okay.
nycsicktank
02-18-2008, 6:12 AM
i really dont know how he got this...:(
Could be any number of different things.. from just an infection, to scratching himself on a rock, to getting into a fight. Unfortunately unless you witness it happen it is almost impossible to find the "why".
So how is he looking and acting today? Hopefully much better. Still a little early to really tell I know, but if he hasn't gotten worse, is swimming, and most importantly, is eating then I think he will make a full recovery.
nycsicktank
02-19-2008, 10:02 AM
hes just swimming in one spot. not eating. still cloudy. fins has more damage.
Ace25
02-19-2008, 10:55 AM
OH NO! That doesn't sound good at all. I hope you can get some medication soon. If he isn't eating anything by the end of the day today I would start him on a little melafix in the QT tank. Come on little guy, you can make it!
nycsicktank
02-20-2008, 12:00 AM
hes blind. he cant see where the food is. so sad. i hope dr foster sends my equipment asap.
did you ever try force feeding?
Ace25
02-20-2008, 12:06 AM
No, fortunately we didn't have to go that route. My neighbors flame never stopped eating. Just an hour ago I watched him feed and he was munching everything in sight. His one eye that did have popeye doesn't look as good as his other eye at the moment, it is kind of shrunken now, not popping out. Hopefully it is still healing.
Are you sure its blind and not just healing and can't see at the moment? Is there anyway you can put a cube of food on the bottom near him and hope he can find it. Suck out the food later on if he doesn't eat it.
nycsicktank
02-20-2008, 12:08 AM
yea i tired that. he just swims by....:cry:
not only that i did hypo treatment. hes in 1.009.
Ace25
02-20-2008, 12:20 AM
Hmm, I am not positive about this so please look this up before you do it, but I thought a higher salinity will help the healing process. I understand the hypo is to help rid them of the "bugs" but I thought one you did a FW dip or Hypo treatment you should go back to normal, or slightly above normal salinity to help the healing process. Please don't do anything without getting others opinions or more research on that. The fish has been shocked enough in the last few days. I don't want to subject him to any more stress than absolutely needed.
If that is wrong and someone else knows better PLEASE correct me. I don't want to harm the fish any more than it is.
nycsicktank
02-20-2008, 12:35 AM
ace look at this.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinityeffects.html
Ace25
02-20-2008, 12:48 AM
It is a good read, but definately not complete. By reading that it sounds like you should keep him in Hypo for 4 weeks. There are certain quotes that leave questions though.
Unfortunately, various studies into the effect of changing salinity on the metabolic rates, or at least oxygen consumption, have provided inconsistent results. It appears that not all fish react in the same way to variations in salinity. Nordlie (1978) proposed 4 different metabolic responses:
Oxygen consumption does not change significantly over a wide range of salinity.
Oxygen consumption is at its lowest when the osmotic concentration of the water is the same (isosmotic) as that of the fish's blood. Oxygen consumption increases if the salinity is increased or decreased from the isosmotic level and the increase is proportional to the concentration differences between the water and the blood.
Oxygen consumption is at its lowest when the fish is in its "normal" salinity and increases proportionally with changes (increases and decreases) in salinity.
Oxygen consumption is at its highest when the fish is in its "normal" salinity and decreases with changes (increases and decreases) in salinity.
Last updated: May 8, 2004
Wow, so, they are saying they don't know how a fish will react and it could help or hurt. That doesn't sound good. Also, they list 1 angel in their study and it wasn't a dwarf. That study only seems to test the lowest levels of salinity a saltwater fish can survive in. Also, was last updated almost 4 years ago. It does have a nice picture though. ;)
WoodRight
02-20-2008, 12:54 AM
Sorry to hear about your little guy and I hope he makes it OK.
nycsicktank
02-20-2008, 2:03 AM
i guess ima give it a try. did you ever hear Epsom salt for mild cases of Pop-Eye disease? mind as well start this tom cause i dont want to wait until i get my equipment deliver.
wood-thanks for your concerns. i hope he does.
Ace25
02-20-2008, 10:34 AM
Ack! Please don't. I really wanted you or others to chime in first to verify what I was thinking because I don't know if it is correct. The only thing I would say to do at this point, unless you get better advice from someone else, is to let him be and get some meds in the tank asap. Most LFS, even big box ones, sell Melafix I believe.
I was really hoping some others.. you know.. those more vocal ones on here, lol, would chime in and correct me as they like to do in every other thread I post in.
Amphiprion
02-20-2008, 10:48 AM
i guess ima give it a try. did you ever hear Epsom salt for mild cases of Pop-Eye disease? mind as well start this tom cause i dont want to wait until i get my equipment deliver.
wood-thanks for your concerns. i hope he does.
Epsom salts work, assuming it is merely a "bump" or an injury. Infections need to be treated (usually, an actual infection involves both eyes, which cloud over substantially. There is a somewhat large difference between the two, if you have seen them). I don't usually like to mess with the fish otherwise, unless I know it is an infection for sure. The hyposalinity treatment is only proven effective against ich. (Those almost look like --big-- trematodes that fell of the flame angel, unless I am seeing that wrong...). If the angel no longer has ich and the full treatment period is over, then you can start raising salinity. You should be able to administer antibiotics if you have to, though just watch the dosage since it will be more soluble.
nycsicktank
02-20-2008, 7:14 PM
amphiprion thanks for your advice.
ace i know what you mean. i couldnt sit around and wait. few people i trust advice me using espom salt.
update.
its not cloudy. but bigger.....getting better? he is sure blind he cant even see the net infront of him! lol
mandy21
02-20-2008, 8:56 PM
It seems like you've tried a lot of drastic stuff in a short amount of time stressing the fish out more and that could be one cause of not eating and the eye getting bigger. A stressed fish is generally not going to heal so swell.
That was what I was thinking as well Mandy21. The more you stress out the fish the longer it will take to heal, if it does.
But I can't say I wouldn't be going nuts myself if my favorite fish was sick. I just don't want you to love your fish to death, that is what I am afraid of now.
Amphiprion
02-20-2008, 10:14 PM
This is something I should have mentioned before, but most of the time, unilateral (i.e. one eye) popeye goes away without any help on your part. In most cases, it is better that way.
nycsicktank
02-23-2008, 7:25 PM
i got some good news
today when i woke up he was laying down side way, so i immediately did 50% w.c. waaah-la he started swimming again. plus his popeye reduced alot.
its still to soon to make a actual judgment, such a great news for me =).
nycsicktank
02-26-2008, 3:10 PM
he is eating!!!!!!!!! popeye cured!!!!!!! now i need to get him back to full strength!!!!!!!
AWESOME!!! So glad to hear that!! Hope he makes a 100% recovery. :clap::cheers:
nycsicktank
02-26-2008, 8:11 PM
AWESOME!!! So glad to hear that!! Hope he makes a 100% recovery. :clap::cheers:
:dance:
nycsicktank
03-01-2008, 8:20 PM
look at the white spot circled in black
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/312.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/th_MOV00079.jpg (http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b221/fkyounggs/?action=view¤t=MOV00079.flv)
Holy bubbles batman! Maybe those are stressing him out? I dunno. Honestly I don't have any advice for that myself. Hopefully someone else can ID it and help you out. Is he scratching on anything? Just throwing ideas out there.
nycsicktank
03-01-2008, 8:42 PM
it was there before those bubbles and those bubbles are created because i used pimafix and melafix. he doesnt scratch anything, everything is normal except he doesnt eat and that white spot.
maybe HLLE?
Do angels get HLLE? I thought that was a tang disease?
ack.. trying to think what it could be.. not coming up with anything I would put money on though.
nycsicktank
03-01-2008, 9:19 PM
i thought that too but i guess its angel and tangs disease
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1992&articleid=2587
nycsicktank
03-02-2008, 11:22 PM
:cry:
nycsicktank
03-06-2008, 7:14 PM
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IM SO FREAKING HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE IS 100% EATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is what i did i found some minced garlic in my fridge and i squeezed the hell out of it until i got some drops of garlic juice out and i dropped it into my tank and feed some formula two pellets he didnt eat it, but next day it was GONE! i wasnt sure if he was eating or the filter suck it up. so i did a w.c(cleaning the sponge out) nothing was there. And just now i feed few pellets and he went right at it!!!!!!!!!!!!! isnt it so cool~?!!! i feel like i accomplished something i never thought i cant!! wow this is truly amazing(tough) project to me. ill show a feeding video tom cause i dont want to foul the water. =D
i just got few more questions:
1-i was thinking to put him in qt for another week or so. or longer?
2-would HLLE go away?
nycsicktank
03-15-2008, 12:14 PM
hes still alive and eating(just not eating in front of me)
i already tired recording him while feeding but it looks like he knows something is there and he wont eat. =/.