Cloudy eye not responding to salt

[Valkyrie_Lips]

I recently got a new betta almost 3 weeks ago. She has just stopped glass surfing, but during the first weeks she would flash and glass surf constantly. I tested the water and everything was good.

I noticed after a few days of having her that her right eye was starting to become cloudy, from what I assumed was an injury caused by the frantic glass surfing and dive bombing against the substrate. I increased WCs hoping it would heal on its own. However, it got much cloudier so last week so I added a tablespoon of salt to her 5 gallon tank (actual volume is closer to 4 gallons). I did a few WCs last week too, but it hasn't improved.

Yesterday I increased the concentration of salt to 2 tablespoons per 4 gallons. I'm hoping this will do the trick, but what else could this be? The eye is a bit swollen and visibly bigger than the other eye. The salt and WCs seem to have made no difference in the cloudiness and it looks like it is getting worse. I'm not used to ailments not responding quickly to salt and I'm going to have to remove the salt soon since I'm approaching the 2 week mark.

I will also mention that I recently added new plants last week but other than that nothing new has been added to the tank. Established tank running 3.5 years, pH 7.6 Ammonia + nitrite 0, nitrate 0-5 ppm.

 

[CarissaT]

What temp is your tank? For helping to heal usually on the warmer side is better….I would say 80-82 for a betta. As long as you have good surface agitation to ensure the water stays well oxygenated.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

What temp is your tank? For helping to heal usually on the warmer side is better….I would say 80-82 for a betta. As long as you have good surface agitation to ensure the water stays well oxygenated.

I keep his tank at 80 degrees.

 

[FranciscoB]

If there is a bacterial infection involved (very possible), temp will not help and can be detrimental. I would consider an antibacterial such as Maracyn two. I am sure all the gurus will disagree.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

I've never used anything stronger, so to speak, than salt so I'm a bit hesitant to dose an antibiotic until I know 100% what is wrong. Hopefully other members can take a look and chime in so I can get some other opinions since I've never dealt with anything that doesn't seem to respond to salt. The lights are still out, but I'll check to see if it looks any better today when they come on.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

Her eye looks the same, maybe even cloudier now. I'm going to do a 50% WC to remove some of the salt and another one tomorrow since it doesn't seem to be helping and it's been in the tank for over a week.

 

[Colin_T]

How much salt did you use?
To treat infections you want 1-2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water.

Big (75%) water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week will usually fix minor eye infections in fish.

A combination of daily water changes, gravel cleaning and salt (for 1-2 weeks) will usually fix most issues related to damaged eyes or minor wounds on the body.

 

[GaryE]

I have a killie whose eye has looked like that for a couple of months. I assume it was an injury, and it has never developed or gotten worse. I figure he has a dead eye and there's nothing to be done. It doesn't affect his behaviour.

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

How much salt did you use?
To treat infections you want 1-2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water.

Big (75%) water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week will usually fix minor eye infections in fish.

A combination of daily water changes, gravel cleaning and salt (for 1-2 weeks) will usually fix most issues related to damaged eyes or minor wounds on the body.

The first week I only had a heaped tablespoon, and I increased it this week to two tablespoons per 5 gallons because the cloudiness got worse, not better. I've been doing 50% WCs every 2 days since I noticed her eye.

I had to remove the salt yesterday and today since the salt had been in the tank for almost 2 weeks. I'll give her kidneys a bit of a break from the salt and start daily WCs. It still looks pretty bad, and I can't tell if it's healing. The swelling certainly hasn't gone down, and there is some redness on the eye, but I think there might be less cloudiness. Usually when I treat wounds or minor infections with salt I can see rapid improvement in a few days, I've never had to have salt in the tank more than a week which is why I'm concerned about her eye not responding at all.

I have a killie whose eye has looked like that for a couple of months. I assume it was an injury, and it has never developed or gotten worse. I figure he has a dead eye and there's nothing to be done. It doesn't affect his behaviour.

Hopefully her eye can heal. It doesn't seem to be getting worse at the moment, it's just staying the same. I'm looking at older pictures of her and that eye has always bulged a bit more than the other one and looked different. The pupil has always been way bigger than the other eye too. Do you think part of the appearance could just be genetics?

 

[Valkyrie_Lips]

Here's the same eye minus the cloudiness.Thoughts?