Cloudy Eye

[fishwife]

My scooter has one cloudy eye, and he hasn't come out in the open to eat for a couple of days. He usually comes to the front of the tank and swishes his tail around to get my attention until I feed him in the morning.

 

I managed to get him to eat a couple of small pieces of mysis this morning by holding it down next to his head with a pair of tweezers.

 

Any ideas? All other occupants - cleaners, fire shrimp, hermits, snails, corals, are all fine.

[Six]

What size aquarium? These guys usually dont fare well in nano's (under 50 gallons). they thrive on live food. They can survive on frozen, but it can be a full time job getting them to eat enough to remain healthy long term.

 

 

Not enough food = breakdown of immune system = health problems.

 

 

How long have you had the little guy?

 

GL

[fishwife]

Yeah, I know. He's been in my 10L for about a month. I'm working on converting my 90 to SW and intended to move him.

 

He's small (2" or less), and was frankly starving at the LFS. After a little TLC, he's been eating frozen mysis and krill like a champ, and was getting a nice little pot belly.

[Six]

Well, if the fish was already starving, it can be difficult to bring them back. Unfortunatly, buying starving or dying fish from a LFS only shows them they will sell the animal regardless of the means. I understand the compassion, totally, but the fish store, or pet store only sees that they have sold the fish and consequently get more in. I'd say it's a safe bet that for every fish sold, they get 2 more in of the same species. If the fish sits in their tank and dies, they think twice about ordering more.

 

Unfortunatly, there aren't limitations on what fish can and cannot be imported due to difficulty of husbandry. The only thing that talks in the hobby right now is money.

 

Anyways, it sounds as though it may have a bacterial infection, which causes the commonly called "pop eye" and "cloudy eye". Usually this stems from water quality and nutrition. Those two causes, if remedied, usually fixes the problem. If you'd rather set up a QT tank, that would work also. You will have problems medicating ina 10L display aquarium with other animals, such as invertibrates. So if you want to medicate, QTing would be your best bet.

 

Has the fish been getting fatter all around? Or just in his belly? It could have internal worms, which parasitize the fish by consuming it's nutrition thus leaving it skinny even if it's eating well. Wild caught animals often come down with such diseases and problems.

 

GL

[fishwife]

Sigh. I really knew better. The LFS owner isn't a bad guy, and he's told me he isn't ordering these anymore becauase their survival rate is so poor. I was just so encouraged when he started eating frozen mysis.

 

I guess I should set up a qt. I've done that before with FW, but have no clue how to do so with salt. No time to cure LR, but maybe it's not required. I guess I need to do some research.

 

Thanks, Six.