How to treat popeye?

skillzdatkillz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2006
1,119
0
0
somwhere
My pbass has gotten a pretty bad case of popeye. Ive been treating with melafix for 5days now and it hasnt gotten any better. What else should I do?
 

davo

Aimara
MFK Member
Jan 9, 2006
17,529
39
132
England
found this if it helps. sometimes it can be treated with antibiotics (penecillin) with some success, but there are many factors that are in here:

The eyes bulge out abnormally in pop-eye because of an accumulation of fluid either in the eye itself or behind the eye. The many causes of pop-eye include infections from bacteria, viruses and parasites, as well as from water nitrogen supersaturation (gas bubble disease), water quality problems, tumors, internal (metabolic) disorders and nutritional deficiencies. Treatment of pop-eye is based on identifying and treating the underlying problem.

Gas Bubble Disease is a result of supersaturation (excess levels) of the water with the gas, nitrogen. Supersaturation occurs whenever the pressure of a gas in the water is higher than the pressure of the same gas in the surrounding atmosphere. When there is this difference between gas pressures, the gas gets pulled too quickly out of the bloodstream, leaving gas bubbles behind. This is what happens to SCUBA divers who ascend too quickly and create a big difference in gas pressures, which leads to the diver getting gas bubble formation or the “bends”. In fish, gas bubbles can accumulate behind the eye, making it bulge outward.

Water in a newly filled tank will be supersaturated with gases and you will see the gas bubbles covering the inside of the tank. The more that the water is agitated as you are pouring it in for the first time, the less supersaturation you will have. Agitation of water releases gas from it. Normal aeration will speed up the time that it takes for this excess gas to leave the water. When the bubbles on the tank disappear, then it is safe to put your fish into the new water.

High-powered powerheads, that shoot streams of air into your tank’s water, can lead to nitrogen supersaturation. Treatment in this circumstance would be to turn down the powerhead water stream adjustment to its’ lowest setting and allow the air pump to be the only source of air. For the next few days, observe your fish. If the pop-eye starts to go away, then it was due to nitrogen supersaturation. If there is no change or the condition worsens, then the pop-eye is most likely due to an infectious cause and probably a bacterial one.

An excess of nitrogen gas can also occur as a result of a large build-up of nitrites and nitrates in the water and has been seen in deep wells and frozen-over ponds and lakes, but probably does not happen to a significant degree in the aquarium. It is always important however to maintain excellent water quality for your fish. Under normal circumstances, there should be no measurable nitrites and the nitrates should be kept at 25 ppm or lower for all but the most sensitive species.

The bacterial causes may manifest themselves as septicemia from such organisms as Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and Edwardsiella, all gram-negative rod bacteria. To diagnose septicemia, you should look for red blotches or red streaks on the body and fins. Bloody splotches at the base of the pectoral fins are often the first indication of septicemia. It is when the bacterial infection attacks the internal organs that the eyes begin to collect fluid. If your fish is still eating, treat by feeding antibiotic food. The most effective medicated food is Medi-Gold, which contains three antibiotics, including kanamycin. Romet B and Tetra Medicated Food for bacterial infections are alternatives to use, but the Tetra brand food may be less effective due to bacterial resistance that has developed to its’ antibiotic, oxytetracycline. If your fish has stopped eating or seems to be quite sick even with medicated food, then he should be treated with antibiotics in the water. The antibiotics minocycline (Maracyn-Two) and kanamycin (K-mycin), have gram-negative rod bacterial coverage and therefore kill the bacteria which cause septicemia.

Other bacterial causes of pop-eye are from Mycobacteria (fish TB) and Nocardia. Fish infected with these bacteria tend to waste away and may have open ulcers on their bodies. Few studies have been performed to determine which antibiotic is best to treat fish TB. There has been some reported success with minocycline (Maracyn-Two) and kanamycin. Minocycline successfully treats Mycobacterium marinum (fish TB) in humans, so it makes sense that this antibiotic should work for the same infection in fish.

Viral causes of pop-eye have been identified in the fishing industry in channel catfish, trout and salmon. These viral diseases cannot be treated with medication and all fish must be destroyed, as it is very contagious. Even the survivors of these viral diseases are destroyed because they then become carriers of the virus with the potential to spread it to healthy fish.

Pop-eye is very rarely a result of such parasites as Ichthyophonus and flukes. The fungal-like organism, Ichthyophonus hoferi, formerly known as Ichthyosporidium, is not the same as Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). The disease that it causes is known as the Swinging Disease or the Tumbling Disease, as fish infected with it rock and sway as they swim. No treatment is known and affected fish should be removed from the aquarium and destroyed. Eye flukes (Diplostomum) cause the eye to become cloudy, on occasion to bulge and often leads to blindness. This parasitic infection can only result from a fish being exposed to an intermediate host in its’ life cycle and usually that’s a snail.

An inadequate diet may result in pop-eye. In this circumstance, you would also expect to see other signs of severe starvation, such as curvature of the spine. It is important to provide a varied diet to meet the nutritional requirements of your fish. Remember that flake and freeze-dried foods provide moderate nutritional adequacy, pellet and frozen foods provide high adequacy and live foods provide the highest.

Pop-eye may be seen with dropsy, which is a condition in which fluid accumulates in the abdomen as a result of dysfunction of the internal organs. A fish’s scales will stick out and away from the body, giving it a “pinecone” appearance. Also, the underside or belly may look swollen in dropsy. The most aggressive treatment for this very often fatal condition includes treating your fish for the first three days with a medication, such as Rid-Ich+, for external parasites in a hospital tank. This is then followed by rapidly raising the water temperature to 86*F, keeping the oxygen levels high and treating for a bacterial infection as outlined above for septicemia, for as long as 2-4 weeks. Epsom salts are to be used at the rate of 1/8 of a teaspoon per five gallons of water. Do not use aquarium or other similar salts.

A bulging eye may be seen as a result of injury. If both eyes are affected, then trauma is unlikely to be the cause.

Finally, pop-eye can very rarely be the result of a tumor, located behind the eye, pushing it outwards.

The good news is that pop-eye is not often fatal, especially if given proper treatment. Pop-eye will sometimes even go away on its’ own with no treatment. As pop-eye is generally not very contagious, one fish expert, Dr. Chris Andrews, recommends observing your fish with pop-eye, while left in the main tank, to see if he gets better on his own or not. If the other previously healthy fish in the tank begin to get pop-eye, he then recommends isolation and treatment of the affected fish. I personally would advise that you search carefully for the cause of the pop-eye as discussed in this article and treat accordingly. If you cannot figure out the cause, then I recommend treatment with either Maracyn-Two or kanamycin, for a possible bacterial infection, in a separate hospital tank. While the main tank may be treated with these antibiotics without harming its’ biological filtration, treating in a hospital tank allows you to isolate the sick fish from the others and medicating a smaller tank means lower medication costs.

Even with proper treatment, your fish may be left with a grotesque eye and fish have even been known to “lose” the eye, that is, the eye becomes detached from its’ socket. Losing an eye is not necessarily traumatic for a fish. Fish can live a relatively normal life with just one eye, except that they can have problems with depth perception, that is, knowing how close or how far things are away from them. This can make swimming and eating a bit of a challenge. A fish that is blinded in one eye should not be destroyed, as they most often can live out a healthy and full life!
 

skillzdatkillz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2006
1,119
0
0
somwhere
It is only in the right eye so It may be from an injury. I added some epsom salt to the tank and it still isnt getting much better. He is still eating though.
 

skillzdatkillz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2006
1,119
0
0
somwhere
His eye is still pretty large and it has now clouded over. So I assume hes blind in that eye now :(. I have been doing %20 WC every other day and been adding epsom salt at 1tsp/g. Hope this clears up soon.
 

Jayzao

Gambusia
MFK Member
Aug 3, 2010
360
1
18
Lost Wages
What ever became of this issue?
Did it resolve or worsen?
 

LawdyLu

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 23, 2010
5
0
0
46
Massachusetts
If it's from an injury, and from the sounds of it, it could be, try adding more salt. Sometimes salt therapy for a week can do the job allowing the air bubble to release. I've done this with bettas to oscars when the eye got to the cloudy state. It's hard to tell if it will be blind, but what I did was using a small pen light when the fish was resting and seeing if he/she responded on that side to movement. Hope it gets better!
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store