# how long to treat popeye?



## psyber (Jan 7, 2009)

Last week I wrote a post describing the aquatic plague that petco gave me here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/posting.php . Long story short, I ordered a fish that I was really looking forward to getting and a week or so after getting her she got popeye and 2 other fish got ich. Ich has cleared up now I am just worried about the one with popeye.

My question today is how long should I treat a fish for popeye? So far I have had her in a hospital tank for 7 days and have treated her with maracyn-two. Her eyes have gotten much better and she has stared to eat again. However, is still acting super scared and does not eat much. I do a 10-20% wc every 2 or 3 days to vacuum the bottom of the tank (I put a used sponge filter and air pump in the hospital tank and it made a mess) before adding more meds on those days.

I am nervous about putting her back in the main tank. Although she seems better I am still not sure if she has fully recovered (her eyes are better but not back to what I would call normal). Should I keep treating her with maracyn? My main concern is that if I don't fully kill whatever caused her problems they might flare back up again. So anyone here treated popeye and have any advice?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

You should be doing daily water changes to resolve pop eye. Just do them prior to adding the meds.

7 days isn't that long to have a fish, so I'm not surprised that she's still acting frightened.

Pop eye usually stems from poor water quality, an injury, and sometimes can even be a precursor to a bacterial infection.

In all reality, she _should_ have been quarantined BEFORE being added to your main tank, for a minimum of 2 weeks, so once she's well, I would leave her in the hospital tank for a couple more weeks just to make sure nothing else is going on.

You can save yourself a lot of trouble and money by doing this with every new purchase.


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## psyber (Jan 7, 2009)

cichlidaholic said:


> In all reality, she _should_ have been quarantined BEFORE being added to your main tank, for a minimum of 2 weeks, so once she's well, I would leave her in the hospital tank for a couple more weeks just to make sure nothing else is going on.
> 
> You can save yourself a lot of trouble and money by doing this with every new purchase.


Don't worry, I have learned my lesson. From now on all all new arrivals will have a mandatory 3 week stay in the quarantine/hospital tank before being introduced to the main tank.


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