Frogfish with cloudy eye

[Rodan]

My frogfish has a cloudy eye and Im wondering what I should do. I heard from @lion king that treating frogfish is a bad idea I'm not to sure what to do. Can this eye heal on its own?

 

[fishguy242]

hi, hopefully just an injury, pics will help tremendously ...
#fishmedic ,@Eagle_Steve

 

[Rodan]

hi, hopefully just an injury, pics will help tremendously ...
#fishmedic ,@Eagle_Steve

I know its hard to see but I cant really get a better picture hiseye is swollen and cloudy

 

[fishguy242]

I know its hard to see but I cant really get a better picture hiseye is swollen and cloudy

just one eye ?
expert help should arrive shortly.

 

[Rodan]

just one eye ?
expert help should arrive shortly.

yep just one eye

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Can't really say what's going on, visual clues by themselves don't always tell the whole story.

When just one eye is involved, the general thought is that it is from an injury, as most diseases would affect both eyes. However, frogfish are not very active, so it running into something and injuring its eye seems unlikely.

"Cloudy eyes" are frequently seen in fish that have a general cloudiness to their bodies, but you can only see it on their eyes.

How long has the eye been like this?
Did it happen suddenly, or gradually develop?
Is the fish still eating?
How long have you had the fish?
Any other fish in with it?

Jay

 

[Rodan]

Can't really say what's going on, visual clues by themselves don't always tell the whole story.

When just one eye is involved, the general thought is that it is from an injury, as most diseases would affect both eyes. However, frogfish are not very active, so it running into something and injuring its eye seems unlikely.

"Cloudy eyes" are frequently seen in fish that have a general cloudiness to their bodies, but you can only see it on their eyes.

How long has the eye been like this?
Did it happen suddenly, or gradually develop?
Is the fish still eating?
How long have you had the fish?
Any other fish in with it?

Jay

I think it has been gradually building up because I noticed something a wrong maybe 2 days ago. There is another frogfish and one domino damsel with him. The fish hasn't been eating really at all he has maybe eaten 2 shrimp but it was hard to feed him. So he really isn't eating because I just tried to feed him and he wouldn't bite. I have had the fish for 6 days.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Can't really say what's going on, visual clues by themselves don't always tell the whole story.

When just one eye is involved, the general thought is that it is from an injury, as most diseases would affect both eyes. However, frogfish are not very active, so it running into something and injuring its eye seems unlikely.

"Cloudy eyes" are frequently seen in fish that have a general cloudiness to their bodies, but you can only see it on their eyes.

How long has the eye been like this?
Did it happen suddenly, or gradually develop?
Is the fish still eating?
How long have you had the fish?
Any other fish in with it?

Jay

To add to this, what all corals are in the tank? I see some zoas on a frag, so assume this is a reef tank.

 

[Rodan]

To add to this, what all corals are in the tank? I see some zoas on a frag, so assume this is a reef tank.

Zoas and clove poylps

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Zoas and clove poylps

OK, none of those can "burn" a frogfish. I have seen this when a frogfish gets stung by euphillia.

As for the eye, did it have any signs of this when you got it?

Most of the time (from what I have seen), this is due to an injury from collection or when the LFS catches them and bags them up. Does not take much impact on them to do damage to their eyes.

What worries me is the eating part. While frogfish can go a bit without food, I worry it may not have enough stores of fat to deal with no food. But that would depend on how much it has eaten previously and how much it has eaten in the time you have had it.

 

[Rodan]

OK, none of those can "burn" a frogfish. I have seen this when a frogfish gets stung by euphillia.

As for the eye, did it have any signs of this when you got it?

Most of the time (from what I have seen), this is due to an injury from collection or when the LFS catches them and bags them up. Does not take much impact on them to do damage to their eyes.

What worries me is the eating part. While frogfish can go a bit without food, I worry it may not have enough stores of fat to deal with no food. But that would depend on how much it has eaten previously and how much it has eaten in the time you have had it.

To be honest I'm not sure how his eyes looked when I got him but I didn't notice anything. Also I did order him online and he was in a plane so that could be why.

 

[lion king]

Really hard for me to add much other than make sure your water quality in optimum. For any injury to heal on it's on the water quality will need to be perfect. Most frogfish come in starving, so after 6 days they should have put down a good amount food. I would try and get him some guppies, live fish are a more complete food. Proper nutrition and water quality is absolutely necessary.

1st instinct is to treat with antibiotics, treating with antibiotics is tricky and I've never seen it successful. If you even considered this he would need to be moved to a hospital tank and I would defer to @Jay Hemdal for any recommended treatment.

Frogfish have a very high mortality rate and all conditions have to be near perfect for success. Hopefully it is an injury and with perfect water conditions and a live fish diet they will recover.