German Blue Ram popeye and white bulge on eye!

[Olivia118118]

Hi guys,

I am wondering if anyone can help me, my german blue ram female hasn't been eating and her popeye has gotten bad. She also has a white/pink bulge at the top of her eye and i can't figure out the cause! I am worried she is going to die soon as she hasn't been eating for a few days
I have been treating the tank with melafix for 4 days now with no improvement so far.
I have attached a picture of the fish.

Any advice on what is wrong with her and how to treat would be greatly appreciated

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

How long has the fish been like that?
How long has the pink stuff been there above the eye?
Are both eyes affected?
Can you opst some pictures showing the other side of the fish?

Melafix is unikely to do anything to help with popeye.

I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for at least one week. Clean the inside of the glass too, and clean the filter. Wash the filter media/ materials in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the lawn.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The pink bit looks like a tumour.

Popeye can be caused by an infection in the eye. This is more likely if only one eye is involved.
If both eyes are the same, there can be an infection in the skull causing the eyes to bulge out.

Infections can be caused by bacteria, viruses or protozoan parasites, but are usually caused by bacteria.
In the UK it will probably be cheaper to euthanise the fish rather than visit a vet and get a prescription for anti-biotics. Sorry if that sounds like I don't care about the fish but in realistic terms, it will cost a lot more to visit the vet and they might not be able to help if it's atumour. Plus the stress of catching the fish and transporting it to a vet and back home can kill the fish, which is already in a weakened state.

I would try daily water changes and if there's no improvement after a couple of days, euthanise it. It might even be more humane to euthanise it now if it has stopped eating.