Baby Oscar Eye Injury.. Opinions

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LindaD

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Jan 6, 2000
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Ontario, Canada
I posted before the boards switched over... I need opinions on how to treat the eye.

I originally thought it was popeye. It's just the one eye, which which generally signifies an injury. Well today I noticed there is a scratch/tear that going up into the socket of the eye. I'm assuming this is the original injury and the swelling has finally allowed me to see it. The scratch/tear does not touch the pupil. But the eye appears to be fluid filled. And he cannot see too well out of it. It looks normal colour ect... no white rings or film, bubbles or spots of any kind.

I don't want to throw meds in there if it's just an injury.
I've been told to treat with salt. That it will drain the fluid from the eye. How much salt per gallon? I have no idea how much to put in. Any help in that arena would be great.

Also I have a 4-line Pictus in the aquarium with the baby Oscar. Would he be able to handle the salt treatment? I've used a small amount of salt with the 4-line before, but it was only 1 teaspoon per 5g. Which was to treat his wounds when he was torn up by another fish. He did fine with that concentration of salt. But would that be enough to treat the Oscar's eye?

If not I could move the Pictus to a 10g for the duration of the salt treatment. He should be ok with small daily water changes until the Oscar's eye goes down. I'd rather leave the oscar be and not move him around too much so I don't cause anymore trauma to the eye.

Any help would be great.. I don't know how to proceed.
Just salt and Melafix possibly?
 

Co/\/vict

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Nov 27, 2002
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Well the Pictus cat I don't think would do too well in salt. Also note that those stupid pictus's tend to be prone to ich! Anyway, yea Melafix, and salt, and I think that is your best shot:D
 

LindaD

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Jan 6, 2000
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I'm going to try leaving the Pictus in there. If he show distress I'll move him to the 10g and have it setup and waiting just in case.
Depends on how much salt I need to add. He was fine at one teaspoon per 5g's. But I think I'm going to need to add more than that to treat the Oscar's eye.

How much salt should I add? I picked up Doc Wellfish salt today and some Melafix.. After supper I want to add the salt during my water change..
 

Co/\/vict

AC Members
Nov 27, 2002
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Columbia, TN
Alrighty, well you don't have to spend all the money on special aquarium salt, just go to wal mart or something and get NON-IODIZED salt. It is like 23 cents for a big thing of it. The amount of salt for cichlids is 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. And you should leave salt in the aquarium, it prevents ich and many other diseases. Every water change put some salt in there. The Pictus cat should do fine in a 10 gallon if he does get stressed. Well keep the melafix in there, salt the tank, and I think your oscar should be alright. You might want to get some advice from oscar experts though. Hope it turns out alright.....;)
 

LindaD

AC Members
Jan 6, 2000
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Ontario, Canada
I bought Doc Wellfish salt and the Melafix. I doubt the melafix will help much since it's probably not bacterial.. but I figured I'd try it anyway just in case. Says it's good for injuries. But I've never tried it until now. The stuff smells nasty.

I used one tablespoon of salt per 10g's. The Pictus is doing fine so far. If that amount doesn't help the eye in a few days, I'll try adding a couple more tablespoons.

I was hoping just fresh water and food would help the little guy. But that's not working. I noticed the eye was bigger yesterday, but today it's the same. No worse but no improvement. Hopefully the salt helps drawn the fluid out his eye.
 

Nippy

Sweetie's keeper
May 26, 2002
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Fairbanks, Alaska
From personal experience, your oscar and pictus will be just fine. One of my oscars had a similar sounding eye injury and he healed up nicely on his own. I did have the tank already salted so I didn't add anything else. Also from my own experience, I salt my other oscar tank on a regular basis and I have 2 oscars and 2 pictus in there. They've been in there for over a year now, no problems.
 

Faramir

The twit from over the pond.
Nov 20, 1998
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Chesterfield UK
You don't even need to go to the trouble of getting non-iodized salt. The levels of iodine in iodized salt are well within safe limits. Iodine is actually an essential trace element, only toxic above certain levels. Same goes for any other additives the table salt manufacturers use. It's safe.
 
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