Bubble eye goldfish had eye popped out-Please help!

[Inka4040]

Not entirely sure what you could do to increase the chances of preserving the bubble, but its not entirely unheard of for them to heal and reinflate. From the looks of the pics, I doubt she'll lose her eye, but that's based solely on the visual appearance of it. Beyond the melafix, I think it'd be a great idea to salt the water as well. With wounds like this, it becomes hard for the fish to regulate its osmotic balance, and salting the water would go a long way towards helping to ease the salt loss through the wound. A standard dose would be about a tablespoon per gallon, pre-dissolved, and added in 3 or 4 12 hour increments building up to full strength so as not to cause shock. Like has been touched upon previously, super clean water will do much to ease the stress load on the fish, and allow it to devote its energy to healing. Don't feel so bad about what happened, I lost one of my favorite fish to a siphon accident once. It happens, and we learn from our mistakes.

 

[mel_20_20]

I agree... I wish you could do a couple of stitches... or some of that super glue they use to seal up surgical wounds.

It looks to me like some of the vessels that supply blood to the tissue are still intact. I've drawn arrows to the bubble on the left eye showing veins and their origins which hopefully are still intact in the right bubble sack.

On the iris of the fish, the semi-circular dark line that I've pointed out - is that new since the injury or is that the way it has looked always?




EDIT: I'm glad Inka chimed in with the salt dosage. I've been searching to find that info for Somer. The dosage you've suggested Inka is pretty much the standard for the treatment of Ich.

Do you think that concentration is best, or could she back off a bit, say to 1 rounded teaspoon per gallon, which would be about half the dose you've recommended?

I defer to your experience and advice on that, however, if you feel that a tablespoon per gallon is best.

 

[mel_20_20]

If you have any calcum and magnesium tablets/supplements you could break one in half, crush it and add it to the tank as well, to help assist osmoregulation.

 

[Somervell]

Mel- Maurice's eyes have always looked like that at the top. (I know-- weird name for a female ) I have no question that the stem of the eye and eyeball is firmly intact. I am just hoping that flesh will fill in around it as scar tissue. I doubt that the bubble will be saved. From the pics, it looks deflated, but it is actually a flap of skin that has torn away.

Ricky- Thanks for the salt advice. I believe that I will discontinue the preemptive antibios and go with salt and clean water. Hopefully, she will pull through.

To all of you-- Thank you so very much for your help and support. I will keep you posted on Maurice's progress. So far, swimming, eating, chilling and pooping, so seems like regular fish-type behavior. If she makes it, it might prove to be an interesting thread, since few of us seem to keep bubble eyes.

 

[mel_20_20]

We're all pulling for you and Maurice. I hope she recovers fully from this. Keep us posted.

 

[froglover007]

Man that sucks. Here eye looks intact so hopefully she'll pull through.

 

[Inka4040]

Mel, the tablespoon per gallon basically works out to a .03% concentration. Having never dealt with this particular circumstance myself, I am just repeating what I've read on other forums pertaining to the subject. The staggered addition of salt however, would definitely allow for you to observe the fish's behavior and scale the dosing back if necessary though.

 

[mel_20_20]

Thanks, Inka... Good information to have...

 

[Somervell]

Inka and Mel. Fish doing fine with slightly less salt than Ricky's recommenda. In fact, seemed to perk her up quite a bit. (I just hope it doesn't hurt the raw edges of the wound-- ouch!) She rested on the bottom most of the night and is up swimming around quite normally with no signs of distress this morning. Keep your fingers crossed that the flesh will heal in around the bottom of the eye.

The ironic thing is that with one non bubbled eye, she seems to be able to spot food much more quickly and is going at it like a shark.

 

[Somervell]

Update 2/22/10- Eye is clouding over. She is somewhat active. The raw flesh is still whitish, but there appears to be blood flow to it.

I don't think that she has vision in the bad eye at all. Is it safe to leave the wound alone for a little longer since she is in pristine water with Melafix and salt? I would like the area under the eyeball to fill in a little before I go removing any tissue unnecessarily.