Preventing Infection

[invader]

Hey everyone. I've been having a lot of trouble with my fish and the newest problem is that my flagtail prochilodus (Semaprochilodus taeniurus) has lost an eye somehow. I have never seen any fish actively go for the eyes of others, but I am really not sure what happened. He seems fine, other than the fact that he keeps getting spooked by things close to his blind side... but how can I prevent infection? Should I add Melafix? My water quality is top notch (just cleaned out everything before this happened and doubled my filtration), so that is not something I am worried about.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[WILDER]

Bless him.
Was the eye bulging out before he lost it.
Some fish can suck there eyes out.
I would issolate him if you can he seems abit stressed.
I would just half dose the melafix to see if he handles it.
Don't forget to increase aeration as meds reduce 02 in the water.

 

[invader]

Bless him.
Was the eye bulging out before he lost it.
Some fish can suck there eyes out.
I would issolate him if you can he seems abit stressed.
I would just half dose the melafix to see if he handles it.
Don't forget to increase aeration as meds reduce 02 in the water.

Thanks for the quick reply, Wilder.

It wasn't bulging or anything... he seemed fine. I suspect that a fish did it, but since I was out last night, I didn't see any aggression or anything. One problem I have is that when I am not here, I am relying on someone else to feed my fish and I think they are underfeeding them, making them a bit nippy.

He seems pretty much ok. Just thrown off because of the eye loss. He was eating that night and everything.

I'll be adding Melafix, then. I figured I would have to anyway, but I wasn't sure how it would fare in a sensitive area such as the eye.

 

[WILDER]

How does the eye area look.
Does the wound look clean.
You can dab wounds but if the fish is small I wouldnt bother.
Do you have an issolation tank as he sounds abit stressed due to his ordeal, I would be stressed if someone had sucked my eye out.

 

[invader]

How does the eye area look.
Does the wound look clean.
You can dab wounds but if the fish is small I wouldnt bother.
Do you have an issolation tank as he sounds abit stressed due to his ordeal, I would be stressed if someone had sucked my eye out.

Very clean, no blood or anything. Just a big empty eye socket. I don't have an iso tank right now, since I have been moving fish around and everything because we are redoing our house, otherwise I would. I've gone from 4 tanks in the house to 2.

Imo, I think he's going to be alright in the tank. I would separate him with a net or something, but that would just stress him more. The fact that he's still alive right now astonishes me, since every prochilodus I have owned seemed pretty sensitive to change and certain stresses.

Thank you for your help, Wilder.

 

[WILDER]

Not all fish can handle melafix so I would just try half dose in the tank. Has he settled down.

 

[invader]

Not all fish can handle melafix so I would just try half dose in the tank. Has he settled down.

Ok, thanks.

He has seemed pretty settled since yesterday night (found his eye gone yesterday morning) and was eating and everything. Today, he is a bit more active and looks like he is getting a bit more used to his blind spot.

EDIT: I just walked in my room and he came up to greet me, like he always did before. I took a really good look at his eye and it already looks like some new tissue is growing inside the socket, covering the open wound.

 

[WILDER]

Just might sure its not fungus as that can grow on dead tissue.
Bless him.
Good luck.