He lost an eye! O___O

[PlecoCollector]

I just looked over at my tank and noticed, Holy crap, one of my Cory cats is missing an eye! He's breathing a little heavily, but looks fine other than that.
The socket is a deep pink color, but that's it. I'm going to put him in a floating breeder trap, since my QT is in use right now.
There's Melafix in the water right now (I just added it today), is there anything else I can do?
Do I appear to have any fish that would be aggressive and do that to him?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Which tank? Depending on the tank, I would suspect either the serpae tetras (I've heard they can be nippy) or the honey gourami (remember Delta's stories?...). I would have imagined gouramis would leave bottom dwellers alone, but at one point I had an opaline gourami that felt the need to constantly chase and harass Stumpy (he made a trip back to the store).

Keep an eye on it (no pun intended) and make sure that it looks like it's healing. You mainly want to make sure that it is a bite injury, rather than a disease or something that caused it to fall out (that would be bad...).

 

[Lotus]

Is there anything sharp in the tank that could have caused it? My first thought was the serpaes too.

I had a one-eyed swordtail for several years. She did fine, other than not being able to see the approaching males. I believe most fish find food more by smell/taste than by sight.

As long as you keep the water clean and watch out for any infection, she should be fine.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i had a bubble eyed goldfish lose an eye. i think he swam too close to the filter... anyways it was gross. it was atill hanging by the optic nerve. i added aquarium salt, and raised temp for a while. it healed fine, and the bubble grew back.

 

[PlecoCollector]

Sorry, I forgot to specify which tank ^^; It's my 90g, and all my other Cories are fine.
My Gourami is really a sweet heart, but I suppose if she was nipping and not looking, she could take him out. I was more leaning towards my catfish that I think is an Upside Down Catfish but am really not too sure about. He's scary... and he now likes to hide in a cave that the Cories used to live in.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there aren't any particularly sharp objects in the tank: pretty basic black gravel, three pieces of driftwood, and various plants. No extra decor other than that.

I'm going to bump the temperature up a few degrees and add a little aquarium salt, hopefully that should help.

Thank you all so much for the fast responses!

 

[cinlnk]

Yahoo..... What a VERY GRAPHIC Picture you described....... Bout made me toss my cookies.....LOL

 

[Pure]

Do not add salt to that tank!

Salt is pretty useless in this situation, you've already done the best thing you can do by adding the Melafix.

Also salt does more harm than good to amazonian fish. Remember they have evolved in waters all but totally devoid of any salts. IE very soft acidic waters. Your plecs won't appreciate it either.

 

[PlecoCollector]

Okay Pure, I didn't add any yet, so I won't
Thanks for that! I'll be doing the 7 day Melafix dosage, so I'm really hoping he heals up okay. He's eating (fed him an algae wafer piece and a brine shrimp pellet), and still breathing rather heavily, but at least he's active. Also hoping the Melafix does my BN some good and helps him grow back his bristles.

And I'm loving the smell of Melafix, it makes my room smell like Big Al's xD

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

a while ago i was using melafix on fin rot. i loved it too. i smelled like it all the time. it took like two showers to get rid of it. i wasnt complaining though. i liked it. everyone just kept asking " who smells like mint?"

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Melafix smells awesome... smells like Icy Hot

 

[PlecoCollector]

It's the best smell in the world! D:

 

[bandito41]

I remember when my Molly was sick I used melafix in the tank. My tank smelled like melafix for a week, and what a wonderful week it was. Lol!

 

[plattygirl]

One Eyed Cory

I think you're cory will be ok. I've had a few mollys lose an eye and they seem to cope just fine with one missing. I've bought fish in the past partially because they've been missing one. Not everyone will accept a fish with just one eye and if it was a fish that i was wanting at the time then i didnt let it worry me if it didnt worry the fish lol. I'm using the melafix for a few ripped fins and yes i love the smell of it too lol. Kinda reminds me of licorice *twirlysmi

 

[PlecoCollector]

My cory seems to be doing very well
He's very active in his floating breeder trap and I'm planning on letting him out in a little while, since he seems eager to go with his buddies