andrewkw Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 If this was any other fish other then my flame wrasse or maybe my labouti I probably wouldn't even worry but it looks like my flame has suffered an eye injury. He had a scare today and ended up in my overflow. I'm not sure how long he was in there, but no more then 14hrs or so. He probably did spend the night there which stressed him out a bit. The only way I could get him back in the display was to drain the overflow. This left just a couple inches of water in the overflow, I'm guessing this is when he touched a bristleworm living in the overflow although it could have happened earlier. I am of course just assuming this is the problem he could have rubbed against something else but I think this is the most likely. Here are a couple pics. The other eye is fine and he looks otherwise fine so I don't think this is a disease. Tested for nitrate and got 0 same with ammonia. As you can see it looks like there are 3 maybe 4 bristles or something else stuck in his eye. Do you think these will come out on their own? I can't even imagine trying to take them out but this guy is my pride and joy so if theres something I could do I'd be willing to tear my tank down to get him out. Link to comment
tstone Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 I think trying to catch him would stress him to much. Doing surgery to remove what ever is in the eye would double that stress. Plenty of fish live long lives with just one eye. That is a worse case scenario. I think the eye will probably heal on its own and be just fine. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 I think trying to catch him would stress him to much. Doing surgery to remove what ever is in the eye would double that stress. Plenty of fish live long lives with just one eye. That is a worse case scenario. I think the eye will probably heal on its own and be just fine. Do you think it is indeed bristles from a bristleworm? Those do fall out of peoples hands so I'm hoping they will just come out of his eye in a day or 2. He is the show piece of my display tank and basically irreplaceable. Link to comment
Professor Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 I think the best thing to do would be to wait it out. The additional stress of trying to capture, restrain and treat the eye would only cause more damage. If they truly are bristles from a worm, you would probably only succeed in driving them further into his eye trying to catch him again. Fish are resiliant and have amazing regenerative abilities. Just keep your water quality top notch and make sure he continues to feed well. I would wager he will be fine, given time. Prof. Link to comment
tstone Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Do you think it is indeed bristles from a bristleworm? Those do fall out of peoples hands so I'm hoping they will just come out of his eye in a day or 2. He is the show piece of my display tank and basically irreplaceable. It may take more than a day or two but like the Professor says; "I would wager he will be fine, given time." Link to comment
Marasol Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Sorry to hear about your pal. Good luck and best wishes. -JD- Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 Sorry to hear about your pal. Good luck and best wishes. -JD- thanks I will monitor him closely. I haven't had anything go wrong in my tank for a while so something like this was bound to happen. I just wish it happened to anyone but him. Link to comment
tstone Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 thanks I will monitor him closely. I haven't had anything go wrong in my tank for a while so something like this was bound to happen. I just wish it happened to anyone but him. Same as in the horse business. Its always the best ones that get hurt. Link to comment
ezcompany Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Same as in the horse business. Its always the best ones that get hurt. maybe dosing vitamins will help Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 maybe dosing vitamins will help what kind of vitamins? Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 yeah thats popeye http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/popeye.php Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Doesnt look like popeye to me as of yet. The eye isnt popping out. Pop eye could be caused by this but only at a later stage once the eye becomes infected, if it becomes infected which it shouldnt unless you tank is nasty. I agree with the birstle worm incident. I have a neon goby that had a run-in with a bristle worm somehow a few weeks back. He had about a dozen spines in him, some in his back and one in his eye and a few on his face. He was lethargic for a couple days, hide in a small hole in the LR(which is totally unusual, neons stay out in the open in the water column) and didnt eat. I keep my water quality top notch(as everyone should, no excuse not to) and he healed in less than a week and is 100% now. And this was a inch long goby with 5 times as many bristles stuck in him. They fall out in a day or two. If it makes you feel better, I know a guy who has a coral beauty that only has one eye and has been living for years. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 25, 2007 Author Share Posted March 25, 2007 Doesnt look like popeye to me as of yet. The eye isnt popping out. Pop eye could be caused by this but only at a later stage once the eye becomes infected, if it becomes infected which it shouldnt unless you tank is nasty. I agree with the birstle worm incident. I have a neon goby that had a run-in with a bristle worm somehow a few weeks back. He had about a dozen spines in him, some in his back and one in his eye and a few on his face. He was lethargic for a couple days, hide in a small hole in the LR(which is totally unusual, neons stay out in the open in the water column) and didnt eat. I keep my water quality top notch(as everyone should, no excuse not to) and he healed in less than a week and is 100% now. And this was a inch long goby with 5 times as many bristles stuck in him. They fall out in a day or two. If it makes you feel better, I know a guy who has a coral beauty that only has one eye and has been living for years. Yeah its not popeye not yet anyway. Yesterday he spent a lot less time hiding but still quite a bit, came out every time I fed and a few other times. He certainly didn't look any worse, but my camera batteries were dead so I couldn't take any comparasion shots. I am pretty sure this is not life threatening but as shallow as this is I don't want him to suffer any cosmetic damage either. He cost 100$ more then my next expensive fish, is super rare and is basically a super male with great colouring. Other then my aussie acan lord he is basically the show piece to my tank. Link to comment
Professor Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Yeah its not popeye not yet anyway. Yesterday he spent a lot less time hiding but still quite a bit, came out every time I fed and a few other times. He certainly didn't look any worse, but my camera batteries were dead so I couldn't take any comparasion shots. I am pretty sure this is not life threatening but as shallow as this is I don't want him to suffer any cosmetic damage either. He cost 100$ more then my next expensive fish, is super rare and is basically a super male with great colouring. Other then my aussie acan lord he is basically the show piece to my tank. Just be patient and do everything you can to keep water quality up to avoid a secondary infection. Make sure he continues to feed and be patient some more. It may take as much as a month to get him back to normal. I have seen some bizarre fish eye injuries and it truly is amazing how well they can heal. As for being shallow, I get that. Just remember, the most famous clownfish in the world has a gimpy fin! Prof. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 25, 2007 Author Share Posted March 25, 2007 his eye certainly is not popping but is irritated. here is another shot from today (view image for full res) He can certainly still see from it and is spending more time in the open and less hiding but is still a little over cautious. I'll continue to monitor him closely Link to comment
Professor Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Looks like a definite improvement. I think he will turn out OK. Just keep a look out for infection. Prof. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Looks good! Keep feeding him good food and maybe a little more often to keep him fat, but watch your water quality. Im sure he will be back to normal in a wekk or two. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted March 27, 2007 Author Share Posted March 27, 2007 It looks even better today! He is now coming right to the middle of the tank to feed, still spending a lot of time hiding, but more so resting then hiding as he's still in sight. I couldn't be happier and in a week or 2 I hope he's back to swimming around and being the center piece to my tank. Link to comment
Jordon Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 I know how you feel you just have to ride this cind of thing out. when every my baby my Picasso trigger gets hurt i filp out and cant seem to get help as fast as i'd like (which is imediatly) but everything always works itself out. Link to comment
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