Sick Jag - Help please,

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Diamondhitch

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 23, 2006
208
2
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Alberta
I have an 8" Jaguar cichlid that has developed a very slightly bulged eye that is a bit cloudy in the top front quarter and has about a half dozen white spots suspended inside the cornea below the pupil. Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it? The cloudy area is the part that is bulged a bit.

P.S. Despite being clean I am about to do a 50% water change and add a good amount of salt for starters.

Thanks
Derek
 
:eek:

possibly anchor worm? or some other parasite?

did he get in a fight with another fish or get stuck somewhere [what happned to my old jag]
 
sounds like it could be popeye. More common in marine aquaria but I've seen it in cichlids before. Here's a quote from a google search I did on treatment of popeye.
Treatment - In cases where eye trauma is involved it is suggested to not remove the fish from the aquarium, unless harassment from other fishes is becoming a threat. Handling of the fish can cause further irritation to the eye, as well as additional trauma. In most minor cases the injury will heal in time as the condition is allowed to run its course. To help aid in the continued health and healing of the fish during the course of this condition, oral feedings of foods soaked in selcon or another type of liquid vitamin, along with foods mixed with a broad spectrum antibiotic such as tetracycline, chloramphenicol or kanamycin are suggested. Eventually the eye will deflate, but may result in various conclusions.
  • In minor eye trauma situations, the eye will usually return to its normal appearance without blindness.
  • In more serious cases where treatment is not provided or proves to be ineffective, the eye may appear colorless and gray, resulting in blindness to the eye, but is not necessarily fatal.
  • In cases where one or both eyes have sustained severe trauma and treatment is not provided or proves to be ineffective, the eye(s) may burst or disappear altogether. This can be such a traumatic event that the fish may not recover and death will occur.
 
I would add a HEAVY dose of aquarium salt, and raise the tank temp to 86 to 88 deg.

The high tank temp should speed up the life cycle of what sounds like a bacteria, and the aquarium salt may help the prevention of new bacteria growth, and help prevent infection of tankmates. I think popeye is contageous, but usualy needs a small injury to take hold in most cases. (scrach on eye)

My p's had this problem once (cloudy eye) and i beleive it was caused by some minor scratching, and poor water quality.... I had too many hungry rbp's in a tank too small, so the workload was compounded. Good luck, and keep us posted on your jag's progress.
 
It is not contagious. Why would you put the temp up THAT high??? 82 Max. A heavy does of salt will only prove a bit better than a slightly smaller does. Too high will make the tank slide towards brackish. Salt is not good for plants/pleco's/ and possibly invertebreas?
 
82 deg will only slightly increase the life cycle of the bacteria. The faster the mature bacteria dies, the less chance it has to reproduce. The fish will do just fine with the temp at 88, And the aquarium salt will harm the plants, but plants are a much smaller investment than the fish.

diamondhitch, I forgot to mention in the original post, you will need to do something to raise the O2 levels in the water, as the warmer water with salt will not be able to absorb as much O2. A powerhead with a bubbler is an excellent choice as it adds O2 and more surface agitation. Good luck.
 
Well today the cloudyness is gone but the swelling is still there. The entire eye is not bugged out, the cornea is however swelled up. The white spots are there still. I am not sure that it is popeye or not but some sort of bacteria could be the culprit.
As I said the water had no detectable amonia or nitrates but I did the 50% change last night and added 1.5 times the normal salt volume. It may have helped because she looks a bit better today.
 
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