Cloudy Eyes

[spesh]

Tank size: 125L
pH: 7.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: <10
kH: 3d
gH: 6d
tank temp: 26c

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Ropefish only, both have cloudy eyes and are somewhat lethargic. Have been a bit 'off colour' for a wee while.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Average twice weekly, 30%

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Recently finished a treatment of Sterazin for a parasite infection (that strangely didnt affect the ropefish?). Was never properly diagnosed...Protazin failed to touch it so one of the guys from the LFS called to my house to have a look, suggested sterazin which worked a treat.

Tank inhabitants:

See Sig

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Changed from gravel to sand 2 days ago, but problem was apparent before that

Exposure to chemicals:

See meds above

Digital photo (include if possible):

Coming, but my card readers broken so cant get the pics off my camera

 

[WILDER]

Cloudy eye is a symtom of a desease not a desease in its own right.
Causes.
Bad water quality.
Stress.
Old age.
Poor diet.
Irratation.
Parasites.
Bacterial.

That waterlife meds for flukes.

Any signs of flicking and rubbing or laboured breathing.

Signs of skin and gill flukes are.
Opaque body with excess slime.
Red inflamed gills, or pale gills with excess slime.
Laboured breathing or gasping at the surface of the tank.
Flicking and rubbing.
Erratic swimmng.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Sores on the body of the fish.
Weightloss.

Flukes cause bacterial infections as in the parasite hooks they carry a nasty bacteria which enters the fish blood stream when the parasite peirces the skin.
Some flukes are egg layers so you have to retreat to kill the young after they hatch.

Another flukes thread.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=261010

 

[spesh]

Causes.
Bad water quality. - Never, I'm ultra careful to keep up the maintenance
Stress. - Possibility, but nothing hassles them really and they have lots of hidey holes
Old age. - They are still growing but cant be sure
Poor diet. - Nope, they live on mussels, cockles and catfish pellets
Irratation. - Maybe to the meds of the last month or so?
Parasites. - sterazin should have killed these off
Bacterial. - unknown

That waterlife meds for flukes.

Any signs of flicking and rubbing or laboured breathing. - Not really, Ropefish always seem to be a bit laboured in breathing

Signs of skin and gill flukes are.
Opaque body with excess slime. - Colour looks normal
Red inflamed gills, or pale gills with excess slime. - No slime, colour looks normal
Laboured breathing or gasping at the surface of the tank. - No more than normal, and ropefish partly take oxygen through they're bellys so they are frequent travellers to the surface
Flicking and rubbing. - No
Erratic swimmng. - No more than normal
Swimming in a jerky movement. - No
Sores on the body of the fish. - No, although one does have a wee bit of red around its bum
Weightloss. - Nope, but they're growth has slowed

/cries

 

[WILDER]

You could still have flukes if you didn't retreat.
Do your fish dart around the tank.
A red imflamed anus can be dropsy to internal parasites

Signs of internal parasites are.
Long stringy white poo, or clear mucas poo.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Sunken in belly.
Looking thin or bloated.
Bent spines some times.
Enlarged anus to red inflamed anus.

Can get weight loss with flukes and internal parasites.
Also fish can get internal flukes.

 

[spesh]

If it wasn't a ropefish i'd give you a fantastic description but its so difficult to spot some of this stuff on them

Never ever see feaces from the ropefish, probably as they swim along the bottom mostly so i guess it would 'drag' out if it was hanging. No worms that I can see

Only visible indication is the cloudy eyes (both eyes on both fish) and one has a slight red ring around its anus, but i mean very slight.

 

[WILDER]

Is the fish bloated or look thin.
No signs of flicking at all.

How many fish and which type are in the tank.

 

[spesh]

They look healthy aside from the eyes and no flicking, they have just become quite lethargic. They're trips to the surface for 'belly breathing' have drastically reduced so i'm concerned they will drown as they cannot get enough oxygen through they're gills.

 

[WILDER]

Is there enough aeration in the tank.
Does your filter ripple the surface well.
Increase aeration in the tank.
Can you please say how many fish and which type are in the tank.

Two things could be the flukes are still around.
Inflamed red anus is a sign of dropsy to internal parasites, hard to say without other info.
Also what do the fish gills look like.

 

[spesh]

125L Community Tank, Well Planted, Fluval 305
4 tiger barbs, 4 albion barbs
3 golden barbs, Pair of Kribs
6 sterbai cory's, 2 ropefish

Plenty of ripple on the surface yep, all the other fish look good. Gills look fine, no redness or paleness - they are the same colour as the rest of the head.

Sorry if the info is poor from me, its just hard to see 'normal' signs as the fish' physiology is so different

 

[WILDER]

To be honest know nothing about rope fish at all I would post in the right part of the forum to see if they can come up with something.
Water stats are good.
Gave you info on the waterlife med what it treats.
Gave information on cloudy eye.
What a red anus means.
Havent you seen any of your fish go to the toilet, if so what does it look like.

 

[WILDER]

According to this article rope fish need 100 gallon tanks.
[URL="http/freshaquarium.about.com/b/2003/10/02/rope-fish.htm"]http/freshaquarium.about.com/b/2003/10/02/rope-fish.htm[/URL]

Taken from the link.

To relate this to ropefish, ropefish require at least 100 gallons of tank space because they are large, curious, sociable fish and do best in groups. I have heard of people keeping them in tanks as small as 50 gallons, but only keeping one to two fish in the tank. They can be kept in smaller tanks, much like other fish, but they do not do well in them, and will be more stressed, more prone to disease and most likely more prone to escaping to try and find a larger “pond.”

 

[WILDER]

Cloudy eye can be bacterial aswell as you are meant to use a bacterial med after flukes.
Also with bacterial infections it can affect there breathing.

Did the lfs say why they perscribe that med.
The waterlife med no good on internal parasites.

 

[spesh]

Well one of them died overnight, was found belly up on the bottom this morning

Not sure why the LFS prescribed it, but the problem i was having with the other fish was best described as "micro" white spot, which has now gone after the sterazin.

Look at the plec very closely, especially near the tail

http/i47.photobucket.com/albums/f163/spe...sh/DSCF0163.jpg

The 100Gallon I never knew about, i always thought i was close to the minimum but not that far from it Maybe it is just stress then? Although i'm a bit concerned as to whether i need a bacterial med still following the other problem!

 

[WILDER]

More concerned about the red inflamed ring around the anus as that can be a sign of internal parasites.
Internal parasites do alot of damage to the internal organs resulting in bacterial infections.
I would get this med just to be on the safe side as it best to worm fish anyway.
Does your lfs have a microscope as you can take fish poo to be examined under a microscope to find out which parasite it is.
http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936

Do you have any livebeaeres in the tank or wild caught fish.

 

[WILDER]

R.I.P.
Sorry stocking in your sig never look at sig should learn to.