Popeye info?

L

lbbennett

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Sep 3, 2006
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My C. Borleyi came down with popeye last week and per advice have been treating him with melafix. His eye had gotten pretty swollen, but now it looks like the bubble has popped. Is this normal or is this a bad sign? If this is bad, does it mean he might just lose vision in that eye or will he lose his eye? Will he actually lose his eye, like it will fall off or does that just mean he'll lose the use of the eye? I feel so badly for him, only had him 2 weeks so far and he's my favorite fish! Any info you can give about popeye is greatly appreciated!!

Laura
 
I'm not sure on what happens after the eye has "popped" if that is what happened. However I do know that with popeye your best friend is your gravel vac. Keep the tank clean to prevent infection.

Good luck.
 
Usally "Popeye" is a secondary condition. This means that there is something else wrong with the tank. It could be something as simple as the tank water just isn't clean enough to something as severe as a bad parisite infection. The best thing to do it to keep doing water changes. If you are only doing them once a week I would suggest doing them every three days. At least for the time being it will help keep the infection clean and may rid it.

As for the eye "popping" did it really pop of has the swollen eye just start to heal and go back down. If they eye itself did pop then most likely he will have some lose if not all of vision in that eye. If the infection is bad enough then yes the eye will fall out.

I myself have only had to deal with Popeye once but was unable to save the fish. Other may also have some further thought on this. Try to answer the questions below as it may help to give a better idea as to what is going on.

What size tank?
How long has it been setup for?
What kinds of fish and how many are in the tank?
What are the water prams (pH, Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte)?
Have you added anything new to the tank without using a QT first?
Are any other fish having problems in any way?
Have you recently had any other issues with the tank?
How often do you do water changes and how much is changed?
How often do you clean your substrate, filter & filter media?

Let us know the above so we can go from there. At the moment keep treating with the Melafix as directed on the bottle unless you hear different.
 
My experience of popeye (with a betta):

I believe my situation was caused poor water quality due to a cycling tank. I treated with a little epsom salts in the water changes (which helped about 50%), but eventually had to resort to Maracyn 2 medication in a quarantine tank, and daily water changes to keep the water pristine. After a week of medicating, the popeye went away, but my betta was considerably weakened by the meds, and was never quite the same after that.
 
My last post seems to have disappeared so I'll do this again if I can remember all. Whether his actual eye popped or just the white bubble over his eye, it's very hard to tell, but something popped b/c it is now flat and yesterday resembled the remnants of a popped balloon hanging off his eye. The hanging tissue is now no longer there b/c, I've witnessed a few times, the other fish will dart in and peck at his eye. He chases them off pretty quickly but not quickly enough. And to answer a few questions:

What size tank? 44G Hex

How long has it been setup for?
About 6 weeks, took 3 weeks to cycle and added fish in after that.

What kinds of fish and how many are in the tank?
2 Red Zebras
1 Cobalt Zebra
2 Copadichromis Borleyi

What are the water prams (pH, Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte)?
pH 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

Have you added anything new to the tank without using a QT first? No

Are any other fish having problems in any way? No

Have you recently had any other issues with the tank? No
How often do you do water changes and how much is changed?
I change 5 gallons daily.

How often do you clean your substrate, filter & filter media?
I haven't done that yet, didn't want to disturb the good bacteria...

Thanks for responding guys!

Laura
 
I was able to take a good look this morning and now I'm pretty sure it was his eye that popped. Should I continue with the melafix? Per the directions, I haven't changed the water since I started the treatment, it says 7 days, but I just hate to let it go that long. I'm used to doing it every day. Should I go ahead and do a water change or wait out the 7 days? How will I know when his eye has healed? Also, the other fish keep picking at his eye or what's left of it. What does that mean? Will he be able to survive this?
 
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