Eye Injury/Infection Advice

[DirtyPaws949]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If I did not test my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

If I do not change my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Hey folks,
My male calico angelfish has an eye injury (I’m assuming from his neighbor).
Yesterday it was cloudy, no inflammation... today it looks like a ruptured abscess ??‍
Any advice for care? I already have a one-eyed fish, so I’d very much like for him to keep his.
plus it looks super painful.

test results as of June 6th
(I do 10-20% water changes every 2-3 days to water plants)
*test kit may be faulty, ammonia read .25 ppm for both filtered and tap water, bottled water, and across the 4 other tanks I tested that day.

• pH : 7.4
• Ammonia: .25 ppm
• Nitrite: 0 ppm
• Nitrate: 40-60 ppm hard to tell for me. They all just look red lol

 

[fishguy1978]

If you have the ability to move him to quarantine I would move and dose salt to the tank.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

If you have the ability to move him to quarantine I would move and dose salt to the tank.

Okay ??
I have some empty 10gal tanks, I could set one up for him temporarily and seed it with a sponge(s) from my shrimp/fry/blackworm tanks. Everything else is pretty heavily planted— most meds I’ve needed are plant/invert safe. Another option is a 20gal I recently moved fish from, lightly planted since I had to take everything out to catch them, but worried the salt will kill the blackworms/MTS in there and cause huge ammonia spikes since they’d be buried in the substrate.

he’s acting normal (being huffy with his neighbor) and eating fine. Should I move his female friend with him to reduce stress?

 

[fishguy1978]

A 10g would suffice. Solo should be fine.

 

[FJB]

I agree it may be best to treat in Q tank.
However, the stress of catching it and rehoming may end up being more damaging than helpful.
Maintaining excellent water quality will be key to prevent secondary infections (bacterial, fungal) on the open wound.

But the main issue is improving the overall conditions and practices that resulted on that. This is likely not the result of a physical injury; I suspect not enough water changes have been the problem. There should not be any ammonia, and nitrate should be as low as possible. Either 40 or 60 ppm of nitrate is way too high, indicative of insufficient water changes. Good luck!

 

[DirtyPaws949]

I agree it may be best to treat in Q tank.
However, the stress of catching it and rehoming may end up being more damaging than helpful.
Maintaining excellent water quality will be key to prevent secondary infections (bacterial, fungal) on the open wound.

But the main issue is improving the overall conditions and practices that resulted on that. This is likely not the result of a physical injury; I suspect not enough water changes have been the problem. There should not be any ammonia, and nitrate should be as low as possible. Either 40 or 60 ppm of nitrate is way too high, indicative of insufficient water changes. Good luck!

I don’t like moving fish unless I have to, stress being a big reason why.
like I said before, ammonia in 3 types of non-aquarium-pristine water showed ammonia levels, so pretty sure the test is just faulty for that one.
I do small water changes frequently, and larger ones semi-regularly (30-50%) due to combating GSA (the only algae that grows in the tank, which has since subsided in the last week or two.
test kit says 40ppm or below is desired for fresh water. Tap & filtered water also displayed 10-20ppm nitrates as well.

 

[Rocksor]

So distilled water showed ammonia? API tests total ammonia

 

[DirtyPaws949]

So distilled water showed ammonia? API tests total ammonia

Not yet. Saturday’s are in-person grocery days, my online grocery sub. didn’t have distilled water.
I’ll let you know once I perform that test.
also have some free time today to try and find another test kit that’s buried under supplies and try that out.That one came with a tank I bought, so not sure how reliable it will be either.

just did a 50% water change just in case the test is good. 30% water change was done 6/6 after the test results, and 20-25% done throughout the week, but this time I pulled heavily from the bottom... plants, fry, snails be dammed. I know I trashed some plants in the process (cannot see well with the glare during the day), scarlet temple is in taters.

 

[DirtyPaws949]

So distilled water showed ammonia? API tests total ammonia

distilled water test #1, still showing ammonia readings... at least I know the pH, nitrite, and nitrate tests work. I will post this to my “wonky test kit” discussion in general for easier comparison to other water sources.
Found the other test kit, will perform additional test using that for distilled water test #2

 

[DirtyPaws949]

So distilled water showed ammonia? API tests total ammonia

here is test kit #2 for distilled water.
less ammonia reading, & pH/nitrite/ nitrate readings are similar. This lot expires 2024.