Clown Fish's eye

[cerickson]

One of the eyes on one of my clowns looks a little cloudy....

 

it seems to have a very fine gray film over it... So far it doesn't seem to be causing a lot of harm, just making it hard for it to see.

 

 

Any idea what it is and how i could treat it?

[1fish2fish]

Without seeing the fish it is it is really tough to make a diagnosis as to what the problem is. Clouding of the eye could be caused by external parasites such as flukes, but it could also just be a result of diet.

 

What are you currently feeding him?

 

Try to keep his diet as varied as possible. Frozen brineshrimp are almost useless as a primary food. They are ok for protein and ruffage, but not much else. Include items such as euphausids (sold as marine plankton) etc. You could also make your own gel diet. This is what i feed my clownfish broodstock. It uses food grade gelatin as a binder and allows me to mix in a great variety of food items into one single food. I then keep it in the freezer until I use it.

 

If there is interest I'll post a generalized recipe later in the week.

 

A greater amount of vitamins in his diet would also be beneficia. If you can get it hikari frozen foods include bioencapsulated vitamins. In this case frozen brine shrimp are not so useless, though the euphasids from Hikari are better. I also find that their quality is a little better. There is less "extra" stuff in with the food and the brineshrimp tend to be more intact than other brands.

 

Yikes... I sound like a salesman today...

[cerickson]

Well I feed a mixed diet of flakes and actually the hikari 'bioencapsulated' forzen brine shrimp.

 

hopefully it is a dietary issue, because i would really rather have that then flukes or something..

 

 

the flakes that i feed it are O.S.O marine flake food

[Aiptasia]

IMHO, most eye problems with fish are caused by injury, or an injury that gets infected. The fish could have had a scrape with an object or coral in the tank or gotten into a scrap with another tank inhabitant.

 

Keep a watch on the fish and if it's otherwise healthy, it will recover in time. If the eye continues to cloud up, fungus itself or begins to protrude (pop-eye) then you know you've got a good infection going on as well. The fish will need to be removed to a quarantine tank and treated with antibiotics. The problem is, corals/inverts and your bacteria populations in your reef tank won't like antibiotics. So, removing the fish is the only responsible way to treat it.

 

Even if the fish completely loses one eye, it will still be able to survive and thrive. I've kept a lot of scrappy (aggressive) fish in my day and have had fish lose both eyes in fights, yet still grow and thrive. Fish have an incredible sense of smell and your little clown will adjust if need be.

 

For now, just watch him for signs of further problems. If they present themselves, quarantine it and treat it accordingly.

[cerickson]

Yea good call,

 

It seems to be pretty healthy, except it is slower at getting to the food than my other clown who can see properly, making the other one get more food.