Sunken eyes and panaques....

[Orthopod]

There Is a blue eye from the buy and sell thread with eyes that are sunk back into the skull. I unfortunately have never seen a panaque recover once the eyes are that sunken in. Eyes like that have also been a harbinger of disease at times in my experience.

Anecdotally, I picked up a blue eye 6 or more years ago that wiped out thousands of dollars worth of plecos because it was a carrier of some pathogen. I think I have posted on this mysterious pathogen years ago and sporadically commented about it as panaque blight. The experience almost knocked me out of the hobby at the time. Almost all genuses seemed affected. The only genus or species that seemed immune was an L95.

Hope the animal in the buy and sell thread (it seems to already have gone to a good home) is able to be rehabilitated but I'm skeptical. Anyone else have any thoughts or experience with this?

 

[Orthopod]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/fs-blue-eyed-pleco-350-nj-pickup.683927/

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

My Orange Cheek did this as well, was dead is 2 days after I noticed it, eyes sunk in, belly sunk in when usually very fat, then his body bent in a U shape and just twirled around in the water till it died. I think it had something to do with my Albino Arowana, same thing with the sunken eyes, stopped eating, blood from fins, etc.

 

[UnstoppableJayD]

Charney brought a l47 back from sunken eyes like that i believe

 

[Charney]

I have brought back a really sick 12 inch L14 and 8 inch L47 with sunken eyes. Kept pristine water with tons and tons and tons of oxygenation (think this was the key) and feed enticing frozen foods

 

[Orthopod]

It's good to hear it can be done in certain situations. From my experience, once the eyes sink in to the head, death is often very close at hand. I think panaques and plecos in general are very hardy and can live often in spite of poor care and that this physical sign of illness is often expressed after significant morbidity and impending mortality.

 

[JasonsPlecosCichlids]

This sunken eyes issue has got me thinking. I think for the most part, when a pleco has sunken eyes, it may not be a health issue. I think most are actually the pleco protecting itself.

Few things I've noticed:
1. This morning while cleaning the Blue Eyed tank, I noticed Big Blue had what looked like one eye, one eye was out in the open and the other eye which I couldn't see was up agaisnt the wood. Few minutes go by and he is out in the open and both eyes are out as normal.

2. Last night I replied to a post about the eyes issue. I noticed my Spiney Monster had a fungus on it's belly, his fins looked chewed up and something growing on them, when he swam away I noticed he his eyes we sunken in, not 100% but probably half way. So I got a 10 gallon out and tossed him in there. Came back about an hour later and his eyes were back out and they were the same as of this morning. I know I have seen my Luteus fight with the Spiney several times but it didn't last long usually because I broke it up or they went their separate ways.

3. My Orange Cheek had sunken eyes and when I first noticed it he was also doing cartwheels in the tank, his body was bent in a U shape and then he passed the next morning, still have no idea what happened to him unless he caught what the Albino Aro had which also had sunken eyes, bloody fins, etc. but I can't prove that.

4. UnstoppableJayD bought that Blue Eye, in the original owners tanks the pleco looked like he had no eyes whatsoever, but as soon as he put it in his tank, the eyes popped back out. That was probably because he was getting beat so bad, he wanted to protect his eyes.

So to me, I think sunken eyes on a pleco is more of a protection mechanism for the pleco itself, either it being they are fighting or close to an object. Sunken eyes can also mean the pleco is unhealthy in some way, as possibly I experienced the two with the spiney and blue that are alive and with the orange cheek that is dead which all had sunken eyes.