HELP: Bolivian Ram - damaged eye

nanahachi

nanahachi

AC Members
Mar 25, 2003
147
0
0
48
Los Angeles, CA
Visit site
Hi all,

Last Thursday I came home to discover that my precious little Bolivian Ram was hiding off in a corner, then saw that its right eye was bulging out. It looked red/torn on the rear side of the socket. I will see if I can get a pic or two up later.

I immediately removed the carbon from my HOB and put some stresscoat & some aquatic salt to reduce stress, and some Melafix to help repair damaged tissues. I have been dosing the Melafix daily, as per the instructions.

I do not see any other damaged tissue on the Ram, no noticeable disease or infection otherwise. I don't know how the eye problem occured. The ram's only coinhabitants are:
1 cardinal tetra (others mysteriously disappeard ;) )
2 bamboo shrimp
1 plecco

If you have any thoughts on the problem or recommendations for healing my little Ram, I would really appreaciate it!

As always, thanks.
 
BolivianRam_right_eye2.jpg


ignore the green spots on the belly, that's algae on the tank glass.

thanks!
 
Do you have a extra tank for him to go to? If so put him in quarintine. Then continue with your dosage and keep the temp at a normal temp. As for how it couldve happened I can not tell you but I hope he gets better and keep on doing what ypur doing!
 
im not positive but it definately looks like a fight to me. aside from the eye, his tail is really torn up. good luck with the treatment!!
 
IDK but I would watch when he goes near the pleco. That could be the cause of injury!
 
AFAIK, the plecco and ram get along fine. i've never seen a confrontation, not even once.

The Ram's tail has always been a bit haggard (sp?), with longer red streamers at the top and bottom. the ram's fins et al have looked better, but i was wondering if that is from the shock?

sadly, i don't have another tank handy into which to put the Ram. i'll see if i can possibly borrow one from a friend.

thanks for the thoughts guys.
 
I want to preface this only because I don't want to come across like I'm attacking you. This is just informative. I am in no way attacking how you take care of your fish. I am just adding my non-professional opinion on what I think that it looks like.

How big is your tank? What are your water parameters? How often do you do partial water changes? Ammonia can cause the tail to be ragged and it can contribute to popeye disease. It does look like it might be damage from fighting, but it also looks like it might be popeye in a more serious stage. Did you notice that the eye was swollen before the ram started hiding? Also, if it is a wound from fighting and gets infected, it could lead to popeye. Popeye is a disease that comes in when the fish is already weakened (from bad water, wounds getting infected, etc.). I've had success treating popeye with MelaFix, but it was never that far advanced (if it is indeed popeye).

Also, FYI, plecos are usually more active at night, so there may be fighting going on in the tank at night that you aren't seeing.

Just some more ideas for you to ponder on this. I hope that you figure it out.
 
The best thing for your fish now is to keep his/her water very clean. Keep the nitrates in this tank down to 10 if at all possible. If this is an injury, very clean water will enable the fish's immune system to fight off potential infections.

What is the temperature in this tank? I'd bump it to 80-82 if it is not already, this also stimulates the fish's immune system. I wouldn't add salt, just the melafix and clean conditioned water. Bolivians are a softer water species, so all the extra salt in the water wouldn't necessarily be appreciated by the fish.

This is also a good treatment in case it is some disease. If there are no signs of improvement in say a 5 days to a week, I'd get some antibiotics going... perhaps Maracyn 2 - internal gram negative antibiotic.

Good Luck!
Cathy
 
good call cathy g and Julie C..

get the tank parameters..and keep the water very clean.

it could be the result of a fight but I have seen ammonia damage before too.
matter of fact I have an angel that has some damaged fines from ammonia burns it got during transport from peru.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom