Cloudy eyes

[aquaman45]

None of my hystrix, wc or cb, have cloudy eye's. I have really soft water and wonder if that has anything to do with cloudy eyes?

I think you may be right here Jason,

I bought a male ray a few years ago from a guy in London, he described it has having blue eyes, they were not blue they were like many other Hystrix I have seen. This I believe was because of as you say, hard water. I have heard that some areas of London have such hard water you can walk on it. The eyes never cleared but had no effect on its well being what so ever.

This of course might not be the reason at all but it sounds feasible, only seen it in Hystrix.

All my group have clear eyes, wild and captive bred, the condition of this individual never passed onto the other Hystrix either, my water is also soft.
Try softening the water Mike.

 

[MHDevelopments]

I think you may be right here Jason,

I bought a male ray a few years ago from a guy in London, he described it has having blue eyes, they were not blue they were like many other Hystrix I have seen. This I believe was because of as you say, hard water. I have heard that some areas of London have such hard water you can walk on it. The eyes never cleared but had no effect on its well being what so ever.

This of course might not be the reason at all but it sounds feasible, only seen it in Hystrix.

All my group have clear eyes, wild and captive bred, the condition of this individual never passed onto the other Hystrix either, my water is also soft.
Try softening the water Mike.

Very interesting Richard, as always you're very helpful with your experiences.

What's the ph at the shop? Sure you said it's like 8? Mine is around 7.5-8.

Best way to reduce ph, use RO? I run HMA into a stored tank over night, heated and aerated prior to the next day WC.


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[aquaman45]

Hi Mike,

Had the water in the tanks checked today, the tanks where your Hystrix were, I know it was a long time ago and things do change. The water is back to what it always was, Ph 7.0 and Kh 3, so quite soft, it must have been a one off reading someone did that made me think otherwise, my tanks at home are also soft, I have to buffer it weekly.

 

[MHDevelopments]

Hi Mike,

Had the water in the tanks checked today, the tanks where your Hystrix were, I know it was a long time ago and things do change. The water is back to what it always was, Ph 7.0 and Kh 3, so quite soft, it must have been a one off reading someone did that made me think otherwise, my tanks at home are also soft, I have to buffer it weekly.

Hello Richard,
Appreciate the reply and info.

I'll get round to lowering the PH a bit sometime and also softening the water, they all appear to be thriving but it would be nice if they could see where they're going lol!


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[jim barry]

Hi Mike

I have no experince of this so can't help and i hope you manage to get it sorted. I live on the South Coast with very hard water so i don;t need to mess with PH buffering or anything like that, the rays live in what comes out of the tap. But from what i have heard regards messing with PH, i just wanted to say, be very carefull. Not trying to teach you to suck eggs as i would not know what to do myself!! All i know is, it's best to stick with what you have rather than trying to mess with the natural chemistry of your local water. Once you get on that road it can be very difficult to maintain stability.You probably already know all this but thought it worth mentioning mate. Good luck.

Hello Richard,
Appreciate the reply and info.

I'll get round to lowering the PH a bit sometime and also softening the water, they all appear to be thriving but it would be nice if they could see where they're going lol!


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[yargnits]

ive had a few hystrix and i never saw any with cloudy eyes before but i have seen the odd fish here and there with a cloudy eye.
my first thought after noticing the other ray seemed to have clear eyes was that one of the other rays/fish might be trying to suck this rays eyes causing some trauma. that would possibly cause more reddening of the eye.
however if its affecting them all then its likely a water issue as suggested or possibly water quality.

i would keep up with water changes, check filters and poss add salt as someone else said. keep an "eye" on it incase it gets worse though.

i once saw a blind ray doing perfectly well so even with deteriorated vision im sure it would cope but obviously its only reference to a worst case senario.

good luck !

 

[MHDevelopments]

Hi Mike

I have no experince of this so can't help and i hope you manage to get it sorted. I live on the South Coast with very hard water so i don;t need to mess with PH buffering or anything like that, the rays live in what comes out of the tap. But from what i have heard regards messing with PH, i just wanted to say, be very carefull. Not trying to teach you to suck eggs as i would not know what to do myself!! All i know is, it's best to stick with what you have rather than trying to mess with the natural chemistry of your local water. Once you get on that road it can be very difficult to maintain stability.You probably already know all this but thought it worth mentioning mate. Good luck.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the words of advice. No egg sucking here mate!

I'm not one for adding chemicals/buffers to the water either, on one hand I don't fancy it and on the other I'll probably cock it up and cause real problems. Totally agree, keep them in the water I have. I do run it through an HMA in the loft before its stored for tomorrow's WC. Could always run an RO as well as that would drop the ph wouldn't it, or am I wrong? Don't know if it effects the hardness tho - I'm the first in the room to admit I'm no chemist!

But on the flip side, the rays are all happy and healthy enough as growing well, active etc. If the eyes were really cloudy I'd panic but it's just like a second eyelid on a crocodile at the mo, slightly merky.


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[keepinfish]

I think you may be right here Jason,

I bought a male ray a few years ago from a guy in London, he described it has having blue eyes, they were not blue they were like many other Hystrix I have seen. This I believe was because of as you say, hard water. I have heard that some areas of London have such hard water you can walk on it. The eyes never cleared but had no effect on its well being what so ever.

This of course might not be the reason at all but it sounds feasible, only seen it in Hystrix.

All my group have clear eyes, wild and captive bred, the condition of this individual never passed onto the other Hystrix either, my water is also soft.
Try softening the water Mike.

mine were wc as well. But like i said all three of mine had the cloudy eyes. I have had flowers, hybrids, p14, henlei, leo and none of my other rays have ever had this. something that hystrix are susceptible to only.

i agree with spotfin, it is probably due to hard water.

 

[bonesb66]

Jim has a very valid point with playing with water chemistry, hard to match what you do again next time and if it's not the norm it's easy to have a PH swing if you forgot to do something next time.
If you dilute the water with RO you will reduce the PH yes


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[jim barry]

Hi mate

Not sure on the R.O thing as i have never used it. I use a HMA 3 pod kit and thats it.
So long as they are happy and eating, thats the main priority. Especially if others who have kept Hystrix are reporting about theirs also having cloudy eyes.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the words of advice. No egg sucking here mate!

I'm not one for adding chemicals/buffers to the water either, on one hand I don't fancy it and on the other I'll probably cock it up and cause real problems. Totally agree, keep them in the water I have. I do run it through an HMA in the loft before its stored for tomorrow's WC. Could always run an RO as well as that would drop the ph wouldn't it, or am I wrong? Don't know if it effects the hardness tho - I'm the first in the room to admit I'm no chemist!

But on the flip side, the rays are all happy and healthy enough as growing well, active etc. If the eyes were really cloudy I'd panic but it's just like a second eyelid on a crocodile at the mo, slightly merky.


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