Why Do Half Of My Fish Have Bloodshot Eyes!

[ihavefish!]

Hello All,

I'm a newbie and just got a beautiful 75 gallon aquarium last friday with (2) 5yo bonded Angelfish, some gourami, 1 bala shark, some little tetras, and miscellaneous little ones and some snails. I was sitting on my floor looking up at them and noticed half of my fish have what appear to be bloodshot eyes, including my black neon tetras, some miscellaneous fish that I don't know the names of, and my angels. Some miscellaneous fish and the gourami's seem fine. The tank was brought to my house and immediately set up, we used 50 gallons of the water that was in the tank previously, and 25 gallons of treated tap water. We did not use a new filter or anything like that. It was an almost total reset, aside from the 25 gallons of water from tap we added with conditioner.

1. Water parameters. (ammonia-??, nitrate-20, nitrite-0, PH-7.8, temp-77, Hardness-300, alkalinity-180, total chlorine-0 etc)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. Eyes appear bloodshot, no other symptoms, half the fish seem fine.
3. How often you do water changes and how much. Haven't done any yet.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water. Cycle added on Friday, along with tap water conditioner.
5. What tank mates are in the tank. 2 Angelfish, gourami, tetras, 1 shark, miscellaneous little fish (sorry, don't know the names of them), and some snails.
6. Tank size. 75 gallons
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish? 2 little sucker fish, not plecostomas though, from Petsmart, on Saturday.

Any thoughts? I am so worried!

Thanks!

 

[ihavefish!]

Oops, a little more info......

- All are eating normally from what I can see.
- No one is acting oddly.
- I have the lights on 8 hours per day, from 1p-9p, set with a timer, keeping with old owner's schedule.
- They all eat 1x/day.
- This is a very peaceful tank, no fighting that I have ever seen.
- Fish were very carefully transferred here and there should not have been any trauma.

Thank you!

 

[lordofthesea]

could you find out what the miscellaneous fish are?

 

[Gilli]

You need a test kit to check the ammonia - sometimes the tank will go into a mini cycle when 'reset'

 

[Davo86]

I would be doing a large water change and start treating with a bacterial med,

Something is obviously irritating their eyes, this could either be a chemical that has got into the water, air freshners, deoderants, polish etc etc...
or it is bacterial or being caused by ammonia or chlorine presence.

Do any of the fish have any black spots or patches ?

 

[WILDER]

Any pools of blood in the eyes.
Any white specs behind the lens of the eye.
Does the eyes look cloudy.
Any excess slime on the body or gills.



I would stop using the cycle if its by nutrafin as it not very good,.
It could be irratating them.
How did you set the tank up.

 

[ihavefish!]

The miscellaneous fish are all tetras: neon, black, blind cave, yellow, rainbow, and glow. No one has any black spots or patches. And I have not lost one fish yet. Not even my crippled gourami who is really pathetic, but 8 months old, he just lays on the bottom and swims on his side (he has always been like this).

I am scared to do a large water change because we have HORRIBLE tap water. As in the worst utility in the state which is why we transferred so much of the water from the old owners house to mine. And, I don't want to stress them out any more than they already are. The tank looks great and everyone appears perky and normal. Aside from the red eyes of course!

Not sure what to do at this point, I don't want to put medicine in without knowing what they have but they swim really fast when I go over with the camera and I haven't been able to get a shot of them close up. I can attach a pic of the set up though.

 

[ihavefish!]

Sorry Wilder, I didn't see these questions...

Any pools of blood in the eyes. Not that I can see.
Any white specs behind the lens of the eye. No
Does the eyes look cloudy. Not at all.
Any excess slime on the body or gills. None



I would stop using the cycle if its by nutrafin as it not very good,.
It could be irratating them.

Ok, that's what I put in last Friday, not alot, just a little.
How did you set the tank up. It was broken down, and the water was put into the buckets the old owner used for the tank, along with the fish in the old water, it was moved in 2 trucks, and immediately set back up at my house. There was my husband and the old owner, both are big guys, total time was approximately 45-60 minutes. Water was cloudy for 12 hours and was totally clear the next morning. All the same plants, same gravel, etc was used.

 

[Davo86]

was the filter touched at all? new tank syndrome (cloudiness) is a sign that the bacteria had died off.

How do you mean you have horrible tap water? in what way??

 

[WILDER]

Laying on the bottom of the tank can be a sign of a bactrial infection.
Swimming on there sides can be swim bladder, lost an eye, internal parasites.

What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
is there any enlarged or red and inflamed.
Lost any fish to being skinny or bent spines.

Could any toxins got into the water.
Any signs of laboured breathing or gasping at surface of tank.
Does any fish dart around the tank.

Info take from here.http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Lawler_some_signs_of_sick_fish.html
Eyes
----Cloudy (bacteria, toxins, poor water quality)
----Red, bloody (bacteria, toxins)
----Dark spots in eyes (embedded parasites, tumors)
----Eyes protruding or pop-eye (exophthalmos) (gas bubble disease, lymphocystis or parasites or tumor
behind eye in socket pushing eye out, bacteria)
----Eyes sunken (starved, bacteria, Mycobacterium)

I would run some black carbon,.
Then after aday add a bacterial med.

 

[ihavefish!]

My crippled Gourami has always been that way. No other odd behavior from any of the other fish. No gasping for air or hanging out at the top, they just seem normal.

The water was cloudy from the gravel settling from what I was told. As to the tap water, it just is gross, tastes yucky with an egg smelling odor. My neighbor has had no problems using it in her aquarium though.

I haven't lost any fish to being crippled or skinny. I haven't lost any at all yet.

The filter wasn't touched at all. It's a power max 350 or something like that.

 

[WILDER]

Egg smeling waterl means you have a bad bacteria infection in your tank.,

I would do some water changes and start treating with a bactrial med.

<a href="http/www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/FishHeal...tleBacteria.htm" target="_blank">http/www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/FishHeal...tleBacteria.htm</a>

Taken from the above link.

In extreme cases you can smell bacteria. It smells bad. If your pond smells like sulfur or rotten eggs it’s a good bet that bacteria is running rampant in your system.

What's your location.
You should report the water board if your water smells like that.
Don't drink the stuff.

 

[ihavefish!]

No, the tank water has no smell at all. My tap water though occasionally smells like egg. It's a recurring problem where I live and the county just bought the water company and is supposed to be fixing it. No current egg smell from the tap water, I just don't trust it because of the past with it smelling.

 

[WILDER]

Disgraceful.

I would add a bacterial med.
They are not showing signs of toxins as they would be laboured breathing, gasping, darting, erratic swimming, excess slime, turning upside down.

 

[Jdubz]

They said the tap water smells eggy

Could you not set a water purifier up just to treat water going into the tank on water changes?