Fluffy white eyed Catfish! Help??

[Megsy]

Hiii,
I recently (a month ago) brought three black catfish. About two weeks ago one started, what i thought was him loosing a few scales round his eye, however this morning its started to turn almost fluffy and grown quite significantly? I've been googling most of today with no real answer. I'm guessing its some kind of fungal/bacterial thing.
Anyone had any experience with this kinda thing?

 

[Demeter32]

Sounds like popeye of the fungal sort. Can you post a few pictures? What species are the catfish?

Also, can you give more info on the tank? Things like water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, hardness), size, temp, and tank mates are all useful buts of info.

 

[Megsy]

Thankyou so much for the quick reply. I believe they are just black corys. I don’t think they are anything particular - just super pretty fish! (I’ve been waiting so so long to find them!)
The first photo is from a few weeks ago, and the second was from just now - grown quite a lot and looks really scary now.

Everything is within normal limits - I don’t know the exact figures though, sorry. It’s a 100L, (or 26gal) and hes housed with two other black catfish, three leopard corys, several forktail rainbows a tonne of guppies that are being rehomed shortly(!)

 

[Megsy]

I should also add that the green in the back of one of the photos is decoration on a ornament not crazy algae growth!!!

 

[Demeter32]

Corydoras have soft and sensitive whiskers that are easily damaged. They do best in fine sand substrates and when kept on rough gravel their whiskers get damaged and they often develop fungus on their pectoral fins from getting them scraped up. I'm not saying the eye problem is a direct result of rough gravel but it may play a part in it.

I think you should separate the sick corydora in a separate tank and treat it for fungus and bacteria. Many fungal meds also work on bacterial issues so just go with something like Jungle Fungus Clear or something similar.

Keep in mind that the hospital tank needs to have a heater and proper filtration, but the meds will kill the biological filtration so extra water changes will be needed to keep levels safe.

 

[Megsy]

thank you so much for the quick advice. I was planning on getting a bigger tank in the next few weeks (adding the sand in then. They were kind of a impulse buy when i saw them because I've been wanting to add them to my tank for ages - so i was hoping they could of survived on the gravel for a while).
Is this 'popeye" infectious? Should i be worried about all the others? either way though I'll find my small old tank out in the morning for him and get him healthy again! Thank you!!

 

[Colin_T]

The white fluffy stuff is fungus and that only affects injured areas on fish. So as long as other fish don't injure themselves they should not get fungus.

If the eye has a bacterial infection (causing it to bulge), then that is usually caused by an injury and again is not normally contagious.

The issue is what caused the infection/ swollen eye to begin with? Sharp gravel is a common cause of injuries to catfish, as are sharp rocks, wood and ornaments in the tank.

How often do you do water changes and gravel cleans, and how much water do you change?

As a guideline, if a fish ever dies or gets sick, the first thing to do is test the tank water. Then wipe the inside of the tank down with a clean sponge to remove the biolfim (slime on the glass), and then do a 75% water change and complete gavel clean. If you have a power filter, wash that out too. Filter materials should be washed in a bucket of tank water, then rinsed in another bucket of tank water.
Make sure any new water going into the tank is free of chlorine/ chloramine.

You should do the water change and clean before treating any fish tank too.

The cleaner the tank and water, the fewer things that will be in it to infect the fish.

 

[Megsy]

The first picture of the small white patch was the day i got him a few weeks back, so he was already 'injured' i guess, then 2 days ago it suddenly became huge and fluffy.

I've got my little routine that I've been doing for years that seem to work for my fish - but corys are a recent addition, so we're still learning. I tend to do about 50% about 3 times a month and a big 75% once a month, then move the gravel around every so often along with giving it a proper clean about twice a month. It seems to work fine for me.. the gravels always extremely clean. Its the glass that causes the issues.
I'll definitely be changing to sand as soon as i get my new tank delivered. I just don't see the point in stressing myself and the fish out to change it in my current one for a few weeks (let alone the crazy cost that would be!!)

Thank you for all your help though, i've never come across this issue before in my years of fish keeping. I was convinced my whole tank was a death trap! The injured cory is now in another tank, with some anti-fugal drops going in every day. Lets just hope he gets better quick and can be reunited with his tank mates soon!
Meg

 

[Colin_T]

he should be fine.

You can use a small shallow plastic container and put some clean sand in that and put that in the tank. The Corydoras can play around in the container of sand and will hopefully avoid the gravel. Just a temporary measure until the new tank is set up