# Question about treatment of white, cloudy eye



## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

One of my acei presented with a white cloudy eye last Wed or Thurs. I tested waters and they were good.

At first I took the watch and wait approach and 2 days later he was worse, not better. I removed him and he's in a 10G QT now. He also had some gray areas on his body and a bit of tattered fins. I did some reading and decided to treat with maracyn 1. I put day 5 of meds in the tank this am and while his body has improved, his eye has not. He is eating fine.

My question is how long should it take to see improvements with the eye? Do no improvements mean I should switch meds to maybe maracyn 2 or just continue to wait and give him more time to heal from the meds I've already used?

Another question - is there any special steps to take to turn this QT back into a QT for new fish vs sick fish?

THANKS!


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi Natalie,

It may take some time for the eye to clear up. You could try a different antibiotic--not all antibiotics are effective on all bacterias--but just keeping him in QT with good water conditions and no stress from other fish may be enough. 
Even though your water tests came out right it's not going to hurt to increase partial water changes to twice a week, (30-40%change) for the next couple of weeks. Give the gravel a good siphoning too and if your substrate is deeper than 3 inches you might want to remove some of it--after it's been thoroughly siphoned.

It's also possible that your fish has been fighting with other fish or is just being harrassed by other fish so you might want to investigate further on that once you return him to the main tank.

A couple of water changes and gravel siphoning on the QT should be enough to make it ready for new fish.

Robin


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Thank you Robin- I appreciate the reply and helpful tips!


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

I would like to post a couple pics of my acei with bad eye as it is worse today- yesterday was day 5 of maracyn 1 treatment. The eye started cloudy with a small white spot at the bottom and now the white spot has grown. I was going to wait a little while to see what happened, but like I said his eye is worse. I thought maybe a pic could clue someone with more experience about what's going on with him. Maybe I should try maracyn 2? Thanks!


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Do a round of both Maracyn and Maracyn-two.

Robin


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Thanks Robin- for round two, could I do just 3 days of maracyn 1 combined with the 5 days of maracyn 2, as I have 3 packets of the 1 left? - it would be nice to not have to buy another.


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Looking at mr acei again this morning- the white spot appears cottony and does not seem smooth like his eye lens should be. Does this indicate a fungus and if so would treatment change?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Continue the remaining Maracyn but start the Maracyn 2 as soon as you can. If there's no improvement following the M2 treatment, you should probably switch to another med.
Since there's been no improvement from M1, hopefully you'll notice a rapid improvement while medicating with M2.
Perform daily water testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as some meds reduce beneficial bacteria efficiency.


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Appreciate the reply GTZ- I will pick up the maracyn 2 and begin treatment tonight.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I tried a combo of Maracyn and Maracyn II for some Tapajos with cloudy eye, and it did nothing. Maracyn (Erthromyacin) is next to useless for aquarium diseases, and in my experience, Maracyn II is not much better. The only antibiotic I have had any real success with is Kanamyacin, at 3 times the dose recommended on the package (as recommended in the Tetra Manual of Fish Health).


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Thanks for the reply Bill! I'll keep your info in mind if the maracyn 2 doesn't help!


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Here are 2 pics I took today of the acei's eye. I finished the maracyn 1 and used all the maracyn 2. To me it looks a bit better, but not healed. The white became more centered in the eye, then kind of opened up and now there is a crater left. Not sure what all that means. New problem with said fish is that now he is spitting food, has been for a few days now. Tried skipping a day then feeding- still spit food. So not sure what to do.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

You may want to try the kanamycin as BillD suggests. I don't have any personal experience with eye ailments. Seachem KanaPlex contains kanamycin.
Keep an eye on water parameters, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates while medicating.
Perform a water change and vacuum and wait 24 hours (if you haven't already) before starting a new med.
Also, if the fish develops what looks like a cough or you see thin, thread-like white or clear feces, you may need to forgo the eye meds and begin medications for bloat.


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

The white in the eye went away with some time leaving a concave eye that is translucent/frosty in appearance. This hadn't changed in 1-2 weeks so I thought the fish is what it is and have nick named him one eye acei. He is eating well and is very lively.

I decided to put one eye back into the main tank yest. morning. The other three acei and the dom white top starting harassing him immediately. Within hours all his fins were shredded and I felt horrible. I scooped him out and put in a breeders net hanging in the main tank. In the net the other fish ignore him.

So I am not sure what to do at this point. I do not know if trying again to reintroduce him would work and I do not know if a fish store would take him back with one eye. Any thoughts?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

You may want to try reintroducing him during a water change/vacuum while at the same time moving all of the rocks around. It's a bit of a trick to sneak him into the tank while everyone's busy wondering what's going on. If this doesn't work, you'll probably have to re-home him.


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## natalie559 (Dec 6, 2007)

Thanks Gtz, but unfortunatly one eye went to fish heaven last night. I still had him in the breeders net and was thinking of trying your suggestions come water change this weekend, but when I got home last night his eye was back to looking like the original pictures I posted of him, very white and fuzzy/cottony appearance. I think that whatever was the problem wasn't really gone and resurfaced after the stress of the attempted reintroduction. After seeing him in that state again I decided that was enough, I had tried all I could and sent him on his way.  Thanks everyone for your help and should I have this problem again I would likely try Bill's med suggestion first.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

if you have an injured fish again someday, try and pour a handful of aquarium salt right over him while he's in the breeder net - I have been able to save fish with ALL their fins chewed off!! Salt works like magic


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Sorry for your loss Natalie. I think you did just about everything you could.


beachtan said:


> if you have an injured fish again someday, try and pour a handful of aquarium salt right over him while he's in the breeder net - I have been able to save fish with ALL their fins chewed off!! Salt works like magic


No, it's not magic. It induces a fish to produce a thicker slime coat, which in some cases will help to protect the fish and defend against infection, allowing the healing process to begin unimpeded.
A drawback of doing this is that a sick fish will devote energy to produce this slime coat that in some cases could be better spent allowing itself to heal. With clean water (low in nitrates) and an anti-bacterial med such as Maracyn/II, there's no need for the additional slime coat to defend against infection.
Also, with a thicker slime coat, there's less chance of waterborne medications actually reaching their intended target.


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