Swollen Eye

[ed seeley]

Hi guys.
I've just been up to feed my fish and noticed that my male Apistogramma eremnopyge's left eye has rapidly and shockingly expanded. It's about twice the diameter of the left eye and is sticking out from the socket. The fish doesn't look too happy and isn't feeding. It was a little sulky last night, but there was no swelling on the eye. Tonight it's huge.

Any ideas?
I've treated it with Melafix (it was the only thing I had to hand that I thought might help).

Anybody know what I can do? I've not had much luck with this species and have just ordered some more. I don't want them to die too! Can it be caused by something infectious?

NB. the other fish in the tank have recently had white spot, but the apistogramma stayed spot free. They all seem very healthy and are eating well.

Any ideas?

 

[fishgeek]

unilateral exopthalmus(pop eye) i find best treated with good clean water
and topical steroidal/antibiotic combination ointment
unless a full work up is doe, which our smaller fish are not so amenable to

the swelling in the tissue is painful and will prepuate further damge there irrespective of the cause

you are likely to need prescription medication for this
all the pet dispensary web site's that have poped up maybe worth a try, i am uncertain how stictly they enforce prescription regulations and i am sure that any signature on there downloadable forms would satisfy them

maxitrol is one i have used previously
i apply it twice daily, the ointment will stay on the eye longer though it may be harder to get there i the first instance, prehaps keep it slightly warmer so the oily base is more lily to run from the tube and be easy to get onto the eye

otherwise in water antibacterial treatments are the standard fish shop type approach
all of these approaches have a tendency to fail as anything behind the eye can lead to the swelling from gas accumulation through to growths

 

[ed seeley]

Thanks, I'll try to get some of that tomorrow. I'm amazed how quickly it's swollen. The other fish in the tank seem fine, including the other wild dwarfs - I can't understand it. I'll do another big water change again tomorrow.

 

[retro_gk]

In addition to the water change, move the affected fish to a tank with warm, clean, dechlorinated water. I've had fish recover overnight when placed in a clean tank.

Melafix is reported to work well, too. I've never had occasion to use it.

 

[ed seeley]

Cheers Rahul,
I've got a quarantine tank but at the moment I'm a bit loathed to move him don't want to disturb him and stress him more. None of the other fish are bothering him.
Finding a vet who will even think about fish around here is proving a little hard, but I'm trying! I'm keeping up the water changes and adding Melafix. He seems a bit perkier now, but the eye is still swollen.