Clown Loach & Bad Eyes

spannerman

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Hi all, I'm fairly new to tropical fish keeping , and having problems with my fish. My tank was in need of a good clean which should have been done a lot earlier. Overnight I noticed that one of my clown loaches had developed a completely opaque covering over both eyes, and I am sure it can actually see. I went to my local shop and was advised run a course of Melafix which I am currently doing. My actual question is, is this 'cloud eye' repairable, or will the fish be permanently blind?
I did a search but didn't find the answer I was looking for.
I didn't understand some of the shorthand terminology used.
Temp=78 approx
Symptoms. As above
Water changes. 4/5 weeks
No additional chemicals
20 Gall. tank of a communial nature
 
hi, they should not be left blind permanently, however that size tank is too small for clown loaches and you need to do water changes much more often than 4-5 weeks. it would be far better doing 20% on a weekly basis. do you add a water conditioner for chlorine?
I think you will find it is the water that is the cause of the fish eye troubles.

sue
 
First hi and welcome spannerman,

Good news it is cureable and I am a fan of Melafix :thumbs:

As wotfish? says it is often attributed to poor water conditions so a good regiem of maintenance and much more regular partial water changes should go a long way to solving the problem :)

cloudy eye

Not a great deal of info but is this what your fish has?


:)
 
Thanks wetwetwet and wotfish? you've both made me feel a lot better :D
I do use a dechlorinator/water conditioner, and also add aquarium salt at each water change. There always seems to be an argument about how much and how often the water is changed. I usually change about 6 galls. at a time, perhaps this is too much?
My loaches are only about 3" long and they seem to be happy enough and are always giving me a good laugh with their antics :hyper: I hope to change my tank soon to a Juwel 180 corner unit which has about twice the capacity.
This the first what I would call a serious problem and I will make sure I don't cause it again.
Many thanks
 
cloudy eye is curable and should not cause the fish to go blind. if you are using the melafix to cure this, make sure that you remove the carbon from the filter if you use it. otherwise the carbon will remove the meds before the fish can be properly medicated. once you are done with the treatment, put the carbon back in to remove the meds since they will be unnecessary.

doing a 6 gallon water change is not going to crash your tank. that is about a 30% waterchange. water conditions are very important to fish health. most disease and illness come from poor water conditions. you should make a habit of weekly waterchanges. as long as you do not go more than 75% you should be fine. more than 75% will cause your biological filter to crash. this helps in removing the harmful toxins. the essential bacteria in the filter feed on the toxins.

sounds like the setup you are planning will be great. keep us posted and post some pics when you are done.

maggie
 
:D You'll be glad to know my clowns are now back to being clowns again, thanks everybody for your help.
 

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