Damsel with popeye?

Ghost25 · Dec 30, 2021

Just noticed my Springer's Damsel as something seriously wrong with one eye. It is bulging out and milky. The other eye looks normal, no fish additions for several months, no other fish with symptoms.

The Damsel isn't swimming around quite as much as usual but he isn't lying down or gasping either.

What do I do?

fishguy242 · Dec 30, 2021

hi ,1 eye, hopefully just an injury,should heal itself, would watch close,any changes come back here.
good luck,others will chime in soon...

Jay Hemdal · Dec 30, 2021

Ghost25 said:
Just noticed my Springer's Damsel as something seriously wrong with one eye. It is bulging out and milky. The other eye looks normal, no fish additions for several months, no other fish with symptoms.

The Damsel isn't swimming around quite as much as usual but he isn't lying down or gasping either.

What do I do?

As said, with one eye, it is often just an injury. What other fish are in with it?

The standard treatment for this is to move the fish to a treatment tank and dose with Erythromycin (Maracyn 1). Otherwise, if you can't do that, there really isn't any in tank treatment, you just have to wait and see.

Jay

Ghost25 · Dec 30, 2021

I think my pink streak wrasse also has symptoms of infection. He has ragged fins, patches of pale color with no visible polyps or cysts and has been sitting on the sandbed. This has actually been going on for a bit with him but he seemed to recover for a couple weeks so I attributed the ragged fins to bullying.

I took the two fish out and put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and powerhead. I have Maracyn 2 on hand and I plan on dosing that as it claims to be broad spectrum and the symptoms seem to match.

Jay Hemdal · Dec 30, 2021

Ghost25 said:
I think my pink streak wrasse also has symptoms of infection. He has ragged fins, patches of pale color with no visible polyps or cysts and has been sitting on the sandbed. This has actually been going on for a bit with him but he seemed to recover for a couple weeks so I attributed the ragged fins to bullying.

I took the two fish out and put them in a 5 gallon bucket with a heater and powerhead. I have Maracyn 2 on hand and I plan on dosing that as it claims to be broad spectrum and the symptoms seem to match.

Bacterial infections showing up as primary infections on two fish at once is very rare….but possible I suppose.

Are there other fish in the tank with NO symptoms? Bullying is a distinct possibility.

Managing bacterial infections in a bucket is tricky, the ammonia level may rise fast enough that you’ll end up needing to do complete water changes each day, redos if the antibiotics of course.

Jay

Ghost25 · Dec 30, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Bacterial infections showing up as primary infections on two fish at once is very rare….but possible I suppose.

Are there other fish in the tank with NO symptoms? Bullying is a distinct possibility.

Managing bacterial infections in a bucket is tricky, the ammonia level may rise fast enough that you’ll end up needing to do complete water changes each day, redos if the antibiotics of course.

Jay

Clownfish, yellow clown goby, purple firefish, tailspot blenny, Bangaii cardinal, none of which appear to have any symptoms.

I also have 2 neon gobies, one of which has some damage but he is constantly chased by the other.

You think 1 day is the max for those two fish in a 5 gallon bucket?

Jay Hemdal · Dec 30, 2021

Ghost25 said:
Clownfish, yellow clown goby, purple firefish, tailspot blenny, Bangaii cardinal, none of which appear to have any symptoms.

I also have 2 neon gobies, one of which has some damage but he is constantly chased by the other.

You think 1 day is the max for those two fish in a 5 gallon bucket?

I would not be surprised if the ammonia climbs above 0.50 ppm in 24 hours in a bucket. You may skate the first day, but then, I think you'll start seeing a climb. It all hinges on biomass to volume though, so with two smallish fish and four gallons of water, it might go a couple of days...

jay

Ghost25 · Dec 30, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
I would not be surprised if the ammonia climbs above 0.50 ppm in 24 hours in a bucket. You may skate the first day, but then, I think you'll start seeing a climb. It all hinges on biomass to volume though, so with two smallish fish and four gallons of water, it might go a couple of days...

jay

Sounds good.

I rinsed some fresh live sand in there and I added some sand from my tank to seed it with some bacteria. I'll still do some water changes. Tank water should be fine right? It doesn't have any ammonia and I can do water changes at the same time. Or better to just stick with new water?

YOYOYOReefer · Dec 30, 2021

give popeye some spinach. He will heal up just fine most likely.

Jay Hemdal · Dec 31, 2021

Ghost25 said:
Sounds good.

I rinsed some fresh live sand in there and I added some sand from my tank to seed it with some bacteria. I'll still do some water changes. Tank water should be fine right? It doesn't have any ammonia and I can do water changes at the same time. Or better to just stick with new water?

Tank water is best - newly mixed saltwater can have pH issues, and many brands of sea salt have trace ammonia in them when first mixed up/

Jay

Ghost25 · Jan 4, 2022

Here's the update. Everything went ok until day 4. On day 4 my Pink Streak Wrasse died rather dramatically. He started rapidly swimming at the surface, flailing and jumping for several seconds then fell limp.

He was gasping faintly but had no control, no real movement. I dispatched him as it seemed clear he wouldn't recover.

The damsel is alive and just returned to the tank. His eye is still a bit cloudy and swollen but looking better. Perhaps it was purely a physical injury or Maracyn 2 was inappropriate. Either way he is back in the tank and I'll continue to monitor. I don't think attempting to treat the wrasse was a mistake though perhaps the choice of antibiotic was not correct. Here's a picture shortly before death. Thanks everyone for the help.

Jay Hemdal · Jan 4, 2022

Ghost25 said:
Here's the update. Everything went ok until day 4. On day 4 my Pink Streak Wrasse died rather dramatically. He started rapidly swimming at the surface, flailing and jumping for several seconds then fell limp.

He was gasping faintly but had no control, no real movement. I dispatched him as it seemed clear he wouldn't recover.

The damsel is alive and just returned to the tank. His eye is still a bit cloudy and swollen but looking better. Perhaps it was purely a physical injury or Maracyn 2 was inappropriate. Either way he is back in the tank and I'll continue to monitor. I don't think attempting to treat the wrasse was a mistake though perhaps the choice of antibiotic was not correct. Here's a picture shortly before death. Thanks everyone for the help.

Sorry to hear. Sounds like it went to shock for some reason. The open mouth upon death is often a sign of lack of oxygen…..
Jay