What The Heck?

[Cooky_luvs]

Anyone remember the pearl gourami I used to have? Well I gave her to a friend of mine for her 29 gallon tank. She's been doing very bad though since and we're not sure why, she is in a cycled well planted tank, her roomies are 4 kuhli loaches, two rubberlip plecos, a bristlenose, 6 or so danios, 2 mollies and a few cory cats. Since moving into the new tank she's started "swaying" back and forth, as my friend described (i haven't seen that myself). Today I went over and saw that the pearl now has a fat eye. One eye is somehow now bigger than her other. (it sticks out much more). Anyone know what that is? Could a tank mate have hurt her? My friend takes very good care of her fish so we're not sure what's going on, could it be pop-eye, if so how can it be treated? Also what causes it?

P.S. I don't have a pic, if I can get my digi cam over there I will.

 

[SPLiSH]

Sounds very much like popeye. Your friend should isolate her, do frequent water changes with some good meds. It may have been sparked by a nip to the eye, and you say your friend takes very good care of her fish I doubt it was bad water quality. But nonetheless, keep an eye on her...

Just realised the irony of that phrase... sorry.

I hope she recovers soon!

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Could have been the stress of the move that brought it on. Stress makes them far more susceptable to the bacteria present in the tanks which no amount of cleanliness gets rid of.
Popeye is generally a bacterial infection and she will need to be treated for internal bacteria. I have a female that was given to me who developed pop-eye. She lost the sight in both eyes because of it but she's still alive and doing well even now.
The sooner you start treatment the higher chance the fish will keep it's sight. Best of luck and make sure the water is keep scrupiously clean!
Hugs,
P.

 

[Cooky_luvs]

Could have been the stress of the move that brought it on. Stress makes them far more susceptable to the bacteria present in the tanks which no amount of cleanliness gets rid of.
Popeye is generally a bacterial infection and she will need to be treated for internal bacteria. I have a female that was given to me who developed pop-eye. She lost the sight in both eyes because of it but she's still alive and doing well even now.
The sooner you start treatment the higher chance the fish will keep it's sight. Best of luck and make sure the water is keep scrupiously clean!
Hugs,
P.

She doesn't have an isolation tank, would it be ok to treat the pearl in the 20 gallon? I just looked up Pop-eye and a website said that it usually only affects one or two fish in the tank, and shouldn't be considered contagious. (i hope that's true) So which medicine would you guys recommend?

P.S. I also read that the eye can burst out of the socket, (wow I hope not! )

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I used Interpets Anti-Internal bacteria med. Worked but I was late starting treatment and one of her eyes did burst. Was nasty and I did think I would lose her.
Yes you can treat in the main tank but keep an eye on your fish in case any do not respond well to the med in their tank. Also worth adding an airstone if there isn't one to make sure the oxygen levels in the water don't drop.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Cooky_luvs]

We ran out earlier to get the meds. They didn't have the medication you mentioned so we got her maracyn-two. I hope it works. *fingers crossed*

 

[sylvia]

About it not be contagious - this only true up to the point where a fish dies of it. If it's nibbled on, the fish that's done the nibbling almost inevitably ends up sick as well.

Tell your friend to keep a close eye on water parameters now that you're treating her as anti-internal bacteria meds tend to cause problems for biological filtration. This is one of the reasons isolation is reccomended for successful treatment.

BTW, that 'swaying' was probably what's commonly called 'shimmying' and is usualy a sign of discomfort or bad water quality. Again, tell your friend to check the water parameters in this tank. Also ntoe that, like many gouramies, pearls react rather negatively when exposed to fluctuations in pH, in particular, if your tank's pH is different to that of your friend's, this may well have been the trigger that made her susceptible to the popeye infection.

Popeye is caused (usualy) by the same things that cause dropsy. As such, if you can't find much info on popeye specificaly, look dropsy up instead. Obviously, certain things won't apply - but the same sort of meds will work on both ('dropsy' and 'popeye' are both symptoms of internal bacterial infections rather than an illness in themselves).