Popeye Injury

[TinkL]

Hello! A couple days ago my Mccosker's Flasher Wrasse got spooked and I ASSUME he ran into the glass as I found him soon after on the sand with stress markings. Later I noticed he got a pretty nasty popeye developing afterwards... theres no cloudy eye but its pretty balloooned out, and now he is acting super slow and sluggish, hiding in his hole for most of the day and not coming out for food. I know these injury caused popeyes can cure themselves over time but does this sound like he'll be fine? He's my favorite fish so I'm gonna be devastated if he ends up dying over this.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello! A couple days ago my Mccosker's Flasher Wrasse got spooked and I ASSUME he ran into the glass as I found him soon after on the sand with stress markings. Later I noticed he got a pretty nasty popeye developing afterwards... theres no cloudy eye but its pretty balloooned out, and now he is acting super slow and sluggish, hiding in his hole for most of the day and not coming out for food. I know these injury caused popeyes can cure themselves over time but does this sound like he'll be fine? He's my favorite fish so I'm gonna be devastated if he ends up dying over this.

The outcome of injuries are tough to forecast - it depends so much on the degree of the injury. Then, there is little that you can do to influence the outcome other than to keep the fish in good conditions and try to avoid further injury.

One deciding factor is, will the fish begin feeding again? If your wrasse starts feeding again, the problem may resolve, but it takes a long time - up to a month in many cases.

Do you see any clear gas bubbles in the eye?

Jay

 

[TinkL]

The outcome of injuries are tough to forecast - it depends so much on the degree of the injury. Then, there is little that you can do to influence the outcome other than to keep the fish in good conditions and try to avoid further injury.

One deciding factor is, will the fish begin feeding again? If your wrasse starts feeding again, the problem may resolve, but it takes a long time - up to a month in many cases.

Do you see any clear gas bubbles in the eye?

Jay

No bubbles that I can see... he still moves the eye around as well. He seems really skittish since it happened so hopefully the skittishness goes away so I can get him to eat something.