need help!!! white cloudy eye

[ozpkchris]

6 inch pacu

it has a white cloudy film with a raised small white spot on the center, the eye appears to be swollen

the rest of him appears normal
as well as his activity

it is housed with aggressive fish

water parameters are all WNL except nitrates a little raised

SO MY QUESTION IS .. IS THIS A SICKNESS, or maybe just a wound

below are pix the first is the eye in question

the second is the normal eye

 

[CathyGo]

Looks like the beginning of either pop eye or a fungal problem.

For pop eye: I like Melafix for that sort of stuff but if it doesn't start to respond in a few days move to a stronger antibiotic. If you have a huge tank you might find buying the pond version or calculating out the dosage using pure tea tree/melaleuca oil to be cheaper. It's 5 ml/1 tsp of a 1% solution per 10g.

I dose with Melafix at the first sign of trouble and never have to treat with a fungal med so I'm guessing it's at least halfway effective on fungus. Just don't know if it would do anything on something more advanced.

 

[Lupin]

What are your water parameters? You never mentioned it. Tank size and tankmates?

 

[ozpkchris]

well i put him in a Q-tine 10 gal at the moment, but he was in a 75 w/ 2 Green tex and an oscar (just a grow out tank)

the water parameters are WNL - nitrates are 40ish ph 7.8

im gonna start melafix today and ill see what happens

btw this is a friends tank which i take care of because im the only one who will do it

but pacu's are so disease prone it seems like there always getting sick

 

[CathyGo]

well i put him in a Q-tine 10 gal at the moment,

A 6 inch fish shouldn't go in a 10g. It will poison itself with the ammonia it produces. Put it back in the big tank and treat the big tank.

 

[ozpkchris]

i guess hes more like 4 inches the picture above is him in the 10 gal

the tank is well cycled and has a bio-wheel hob rated for a 50, ammonia is not my concern [tank has tested all zeros w/7.9 and 20 nitrate]. it might be a little cramped for him but im trying to cure him, i also don't want to expose my other fish to antibiotics if i need to use them.

first dose is in(mela-fix), i also added some ick-cure, just because in the past i had a tank infected by ich that had pacu's and there eyes resembled his.
also it cant really hurt i'll do a h20 change tomorrow about 50% then add some more mela-fix ,salt and ick cure , antibiotic/antifungals will be my attack in a couple of days if i see no improvement.

so far it looks slightly better / the same
thanks for the feedback ill keep you guys posted

 

[ozpkchris]

well i went over to check him today and his eye is almost completely clear, i had to revisit this post to see which eye it was!!!, theres only a slight scratch over the cornea,

so i skipped the water change all parameters are WNL
i added another 5 cc of mela-fix and 10 more drops of ick-cure
if all is well ill give him another 2 days of Tx and return him back home under a watchful eye.

 

[Uncle.Ned]

Erythromycin also called Maracyn and EM tablets
are best for eye problems

it is likely the pacu damaged itself
by hitting the wall or a decoration