Eye problems

[chichian]

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I was here. Sorry 'bout that, been really busy.

OK, now the bad part... two days ago I noticed that one of the baby SAE's looked as if his left eye was sunken in and cloudy or that it was completely gone (it's hard to tell, sometimes it looks like it's totally gone, and sometimes it looks like it's sunken in). I concluded after much following him in the tank, that it was gone. He acted normal, so I thought that he had injured himself or that one of the tank mates started being aggressive. I inspected all the other fish and they were normal. Last night I inspected all the fish again (and continued to monitor the baby SAE), and nothing changed. Oh and H2O params were 0 (or undetectable) for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

Okay, now tonight (it wasn't like this last night), I was watching the baby SAE again and checking out the other fish, and now a rummy nose tetra has a swollen area around his left eye. I thought 'Oh crap, popeye', but his other eye is normal and after more careful watching, it looks like it's the area AROUND the eye that is swollen, not the eye itself. It looks like clear/grey sac around the eye (like a greyish/clearish donut around the eye). I searched online, and I found something talking about reddness & swelling around the eye---it's not red at the bottom but at the top (but he's a rummmynose, so it looks like it's just his coloring)--and that could mean injury or bacterial infection. I'm not sure which one it is.

I just dropped some Maracyn II in just in case it was bacterial infection (popeye), and will treat wtih this to be safe... hopefully it will clear it up. If it's just an injury, then it will just prevent infection. More and more I'm thinking there is definitely something wrong (disease or something). And that the two fish's eye issues are related. I guess I could try to watch more and see where the fish swim to where they could possiblly bump their left eye? I doubt it's tank mate aggression... None of the fish seem aggressive and they've all lived together for a while now with no previous issues.

Reading more online, http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/fish_diseases/eyes.html, I read that eyes falling out while fish continue to act normal is TB. Do you think my fish have TB? Or is this some weird internal parasite? I remember reading at one point, but I can't find it now, about some parasite that would actually cause the eyes to sink in. I don't know. I'm just worried now, since this the second fish in one week I've found to have eye problems.

Any advice or ideas greatly appreciated. Sorry if I'm babbling, I haven't been sleeping much...

 

[Lotus]

It sounds more like an injury to me. Most of the time an infection will cause both eyes to show symptoms. Maybe the dwarf loaches are misbehaving... they can be nippy. Is there anything sharp in your tank (plastic plants, decorations, etc.) that the fish could have injured themselves on?

The baby SAE problem sounds like it could be a birth defect.

 

[chichian]

Thanks Lotus, you're always so helpful.

The swelling is going down on the rummynose. I guess it was an injury. I've been watching where they swim and it seem like they could bump into anything (plants, two fake driftwood pieces, two real driftwood pieces). If I take all the "hard" decor out, then that only leaves the plants, so I guess if this happens again, I'll do that, but I'd hate to take away the caves...

The loaches seem to stick to themselves, but it could be them. I still haven't had time or the funds to get more as I had planned, but hopefully within the next few months I'll get them more comrads (I was waiting also since we've been debating moving all the time, and I didn't want to get more just to move them again).

Oh and the baby SAE, well, he had both eyes before. He was really very healthly looking (nice body shape, all body parts, nice color). I think now he probably lost it from the same way the rummynose got injured.

Thanks again .

 

[Lotus]

I think it's more likely they bump into sharp-edged plants than the driftwood. You could try rearranging so that the areas where they swim most have the softer plants (if you have some like that), or otherwise rearrange so that the areas they swim in are less restricted by plants.