Pepper Cory with Swollen Eye

[Needeles]

Hello, I bought a couple pepper cories about a week ago and they seem pretty happy so far. Tonight I noticed something strange. One of my cories is sitting on the powerhead (by the top of the tank). Now I did get it to move and when it did I noticed that one of it's eyes are messed up. It is almost like it has a swollen eye. It is almost like there is an air bubble over it's eye. The other cory doesn't have this. What might this be. I bought the fish from PetSmart. The tanks are well kept there so I didn't think there were any issues. Please let me know what this might be and what I need to do. Thanks

I also wanted to add that the other cory seems to be alot more active then the above one. The one above is just more of less sitting there not doing alot. Not sure if this matters.

 

[Roan Art]

Is there a white ring around the eye as well? Or is it clouded over and "whitish" looking? It sounds like pop eye, but confirmation of the ring et al would help.

Pop eye and/or cloudy eye usually show up when the water is less than pristine. The best course for anything of that nature is fresh water. Can you QT this fish? If so, put it into QT and make sure you partial the water daily at 50%. If it doesn't improve in a couple of days, you'll have to go the meds route.

In the meantime, do at least a 50% on your main tank (with no Nitraban or any other chemicals except water conditioner )

It's not unusual for one fish to get sick while another doesn't. It's just like people: when a cold goes around some people will get it, some won't, some will get it really bad, and others will just get a few sniffles. Depends on the individual and their immune system.

Roan

 

[Needeles]

Hello, is is more like a clouded air bubble over it's eye. If I look real close I can see it's eyeball and it seems to be pushed out alittle inside the bubble. It just looks like and air bubble is over the eye. There is nothing else on the body that I can see. It seems to be breathing normal also. It is eating, at least alittle because when I fed the fish this morning it did move to the top and get a bite. I also noticed when it did move it was slow and kinda like stiff when swimming. The water also is very crisp and clear and my water levels are fine as far as I have been told. I do have a 10g tank but no media to put into it. Is there anything I can use for a QT as I have nothing setup for it. What do I need to put into it to make sure the fish doesn't get any sicker.

Just also wanted to let you know I just saw something really weird. My small kissing fish (about 2") just went up to the cory and kinda kissed it like it does with the plants in the tank. The cory didn't really do anything about it and just continued to sit there.

Water levels...
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 0
Hardness - 300
Alkalinity - 300
pH - 8.4
Ammonia - .25

 

[Roan Art]

Just also wanted to let you know I just saw something really weird. My small kissing fish (about 2") just went up to the cory and kinda kissed it like it does with the plants in the tank. The cory didn't really do anything about it and just continued to sit there.

Needeles,

Kissing fish don't kiss, that's how they battle. Sounds like your kisser is starting to attack the other fish, as I said they would, and it sounds like that is what may be wrong with the cory's eye. You need to get those kissers out of there ASAP or move your other fish.

I've just had to move one of my two peacock males out of quarantine and into another tank because he was biting the other's eye. I thought it was the water at first and I did a water change, but I saw him attack and damage the other eye.

Cories don't react very fast to an attack and if the kisser attacked the same eye, the corie probably didn't see him cause his eye is already damaged.

Roan

 

[Needeles]

Hello, No the kisser didn't attack his eye. Normally the kissers go around the tank and do a kissing type thing to the plants, I have been told it is they are getting the are bubbles, he just went up to the back of the cory quickly did the kissing type thing and then just moved away to a plant that was right next to them. He then continued doing the kissing motion to the plants.

I did buy the kissers from Wal-Mart about 3 months ago. I will see if I can possibly return them for some smaller type of fish.

Also how would I go about setting up a QT in my situation. Thankd for the help.

Just updating to let you know Wal-Mart won't take the fish back. The only place in my area that will accept fish is the Petco. I guess I will take them there and hope that someone can give them a better home. I can say they do a good job with there tanks at least at this Petco. They keep them very clean and don't seem to have them as stocked up as the other stores in the area. Also I don't think I have ever seen a dead fish floating in on of there tanks. When I do take the Kissers and Bala there what kind of meds should I pick up for the cory? Below is something that I have found but not sure if it is the right Med to use.

Mardel Trisulfa Tablets
For infections of: fin and tail rot, gill disease, popeye, and secondary infections
TriSulfa is a specially compounded broad-spectrum antibiotic for use in both fresh and saltwater aquariums.

TriSulfa treats both gram positive and gram negative infections in ornamental fish.

TriSulfa is also effective for preventing secondary bacterial infections from developing when fish are attacked by parasites.

Thanks again.

 

[Needeles]

Hello again. I went out and purchased some Melafix and some Pimafix. I was informed that one is for bactiria and the other is more for fungal. I was also told that the Melafix is good to use when adding new fish to a tank. I have added some to my tank and will go through the 7 days and see if my fish gets any better. I also figured that due to problems I was having less then a week ago it might be a good idea to simply treat all the fish since I had a nasty problem with fish dying. Still not sure what was causing it but I hope this will assure me that all the fish will be healthy.

 

[Needeles]

Hello, I just wanted to update things. I went ahead and took out the cory to get a better look at it. I just took a small jar and filled it with tank water. Now when I looked at the eye it looks as though the whole eye is being pushed out. I also noticed what looks like blood in the eye. It is not coming out but there is alot of dark red inside the bubble. Not sure if this will help but just thought I would add it. Also the cory seems like it is trying to swim to the bottom but not having much luck. It tries but keeps floating back to the top after what seems like it gets tired out from trying to get to the bottom. Thanks

 

[Needeles]

Hello, I just wanted to let you know that the cory passed away sometime through the night. I will be doing water changes over the next couple of days to get whatever was in the water out. Thanks agin for the help.