Spinning otto with swollen eye

[A'Lauren]

Hi,

I am on the 5th day of treatment, in the 55 gallon tank, for Blue Green Algae(Cyanobacteria). Today is the last dose with Maracyn. The active ingredient is Erythromycin. One 200 mg tablet per 10 gallons.

I have 2 sick ottos. One spins like an iceskater anytime he tries to swim He is exhausted when he finally comes to rest on the substrate. He has one swollen eye. I say swollen instead of pop eye because the pupil is where it should be, but the tissue around it is swollen. (no visible gas bubbles either) One other Otto has the same swollen eye but normal behavior. Also, Maracyn lists popeye as one of the diseases it treats. So if it was popeye, these fish would already be 5 days into treatment. Doesn't make much sence that the sysmptoms would manefest this far into treatment if it was popeye.

I didn't see anything else in the disease database that seemed to match.

Temp a steady 74 deg F.
All 3 nitrogen forms are 0.
pH is a steady 7.0

(I have been testing all these parameters daily because of the antibiotic treatment. If I have a problem with nitrogens due to the BGA die off or if the antibiotic affects the Nitrosomas and Nitrobacter I want to catch it right away.)

The BGA is starting to peel away from all the plants, substrate, etc. There is a white haze in the tank that I attribute to the antibiotic.?

I did put one grape in the tank last night for the ottos as a suppliment. (microwaved it for 5 seconds and peeled it first.)

I got these 2 ottos 3 days ago. I bought 3 and the other one is fine so far. They all had flat stomachs and red around the gills. All 3 have bellies that are noticabley round now and the red seems to be dissapating. I got one other otto a while back in the same condition. He now has a good round belly, no redness, and poops allot. He also teases the Penguin Tetras.

All the other fish are doing fine. 2 more unaffected ottos, 7 corys, 5 blood fin tetras and 3 penguin tetras.

Thanks

A'Lauren

 

[WILDER]

The one that is spinning get it out of the tank, it's not right i had to put one down as there is a nasty desease out there,the red gills are they heavy breathing with it, and also what does it look like when the otto's go to the toilet what colour.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well....
Your fish could have what my little Jasper had.
Viral Hemorraghic Septicemia. I have been told it's incurable, but try telling him that - he's staring at me right now in perfect health on my desk at work.

I took this off a website for symptoms of it:

The disease becomes apparent in three stages. The first stage is characterized by high mortality in fish that are dark, lethargic and have hemorrhages at the base of fins and gills. The second stage is recognized by very dark colored, anaemic fish. Pale gills and exophthalmos is common. The third stage is characterized by atypical swimming behavior (looping) and a swollen and discolored kidney. This disease is widespread in many European countries. In the United States, thus far, the disease has only been found in the state of Washington. There are no methods to control or treat this disease once introduced.

When I got Jasper (a betta), he was very pale and laid on the bottom of the tank.
When he tried to swim, he made a slow spiral circle to the top.
He could barely get to the top, and once in a while he started darting around the tank like a madman, and would ram into things. Jasper had really dark circles around his eyes - like a bloody/black eye. he still has one eye that when he loses color from stress it looks like he's got a big ol' black eye.

Anyway - I cured him with 2 rounds of tetracycline.
I wouldn't doubt that might be what he has.