Fish with damaged eye. Should I do anything?

[Chaz88]

I have an African cichlid that has manged to damage an eye. Looks like an eye cap after a snake sheds. Doesn't seam to be getting better or worse. Should I try and do anything about it? Sorry, no pics.

Thank you in advance.

 

[CLDarnell]

Hi Chaz,
I had the same situation recently. I isolated, took the temp to 82 and added just a bit of salt. The fish recovered just fine and is back in his original tank.

 

[Chaz88]

Hi Chaz,
I had the same situation recently. I isolated, took the temp to 82 and added just a bit of salt. The fish recovered just fine and is back in his original tank.

Good to know. Right now I have it with one other fish keeping my daughters piranha tank cycled until the piranha show up. I normally run some salt in my FW tanks and the other fish is smaller and sub-dominant so hopefully the injured one will be alright with it.

 

[CLDarnell]

Yeah, sounds like you'll be just fine. When do the piranha come in? Is the little one getting excited?

 

[Chaz88]

Yeah, sounds like you'll be just fine. When do the piranha come in? Is the little one getting excited?

She is being fairly patent, is still happy looking at the live plants and decorations she picked out. Even after I line item vetoed the blue and pink gravel and sunken treasure stuff.

The local stores are out of piranha and kind of pricey. So, I ordered from the net. They will ship out next week after back orders are caught up and they are sure there won't be any weather delays. Then the fun of catching two Africans in a 90g tank will commence. I will try and get pics up after they are in. Although I am little worried about getting flamed by the plant experts, because I don't know much about live water plants and am sure I made some big noob mistakes.

 

[black jackk]

Several things can cause Fish with damaged eye. This is true that, Internal parasites, such as protozoa or flukes, are one cause. And another one is the onset of cataracts in fish. I am not aware of any treatments for those problems. Bacteria can infect fish eyes damaged by injury. Treatment with a good antibiotic should cure these infections. Hope this helps you.

 

[Richie_ELP]

pictures.
How's your water quality?

 

[Chaz88]

Several things can cause Fish with damaged eye. This is true that, Internal parasites, such as protozoa or flukes, are one cause. And another one is the onset of cataracts in fish. I am not aware of any treatments for those problems. Bacteria can infect fish eyes damaged by injury. Treatment with a good antibiotic should cure these infections. Hope this helps you.

Thanks. I don't normally use meds much, just salt. I will keep an eye(no pun intended) on it and break out the meds if needed. I don't think it was the onset of a cronic condition. Looks more like an acute injury. Nothing wrong the night before and the next morning the eye problem.

pictures.
How's your water quality?

This tank is freshly set up and cycled, with two fish added to maintain cycle until new residents arrive. So water is pristine at the moment, I will double check measurements tonight. Sorry no pics at the moment, need new camera.

 

[cichlid_starter]

Thanks. I don't normally use meds much, just salt. I will keep an eye(no pun intended) on it and break out the meds if needed. I don't think it was the onset of a cronic condition. Looks more like an acute injury. Nothing wrong the night before and the next morning the eye problem.

Good plan I think.

 

[MonsterMinis]

I've seen this quite often, 99% of the time its attrributed to water quality issues. as yu already said it's a fairly newly cycled tank. check and re-check your readings. on the + side it's usually easy to fix. Just clean up the water quality and almost always the fish makes a full recovery. Salt can help, but clean water geenrally is the best answer. If the water tests fine, I've had great luck with melafix though some people absolutely hate this product. a similar broad spectrum anti-biotic would also likely do the job. But I would do the same as your doing.