Pacu With Eye Cloud

[batman4279]

I have one approx 14" pacu in a 90 gallon tank. He is a little over 2 years old. I am using two emperor 400 filters on the tank. He gets a persistent eye cloud, and will stop eating I have treated several times with maracyn. This seems to alleviate the problem somewhat, as the eye cloud will almost completely dissapear and he will resume eating. But it is very expensive at around $30 each time. It looks as if the eye cloud becomes worse almost immediately after I do my weekly 15% water change. Any suggestions as to how I may stop this problem? I really do love this fish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would increase your weekly water changes to 30% a week with dechlorinator(you do use dechlorinator don't you?), cloudy eye is usually a symtom of water quality issues or bacterial infections in the rarer cases. The maracyn won't be helping much as it can be a stressful med, you need to check out your water quality first by buying some tets kits from your local fish store.
Have you ever tested your water quality for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?
How do you go about cleaning the sponge in your filter and cleaning the substrate in the tank?
What do you feed your pacu on average an dhow much? As far as i know, most pacu's get to 3ft long, so although a 90gal is a big tank you will need to upgrade to at least a 150gal in the near future depending on what type of pacu you have .

Cloudy eye;

http/www.fishpalace.org/cloudyeye_planetcatfish.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/cloudyeye_qianhu.jpg

 

[batman4279]

I use Stress-Coat to dechlorinate the water. I use a vacuum cleaner to clean the substrate when I change the water. I have not tested the water in a while but in the past all numbers were in the safe zone. I feed him cichlid pellets twice a day, and I try not to overfeed. When he is eating I sometimes give him romaine lettuce or carrots.

 

[Paul_MTS]

you say safe zone, what do you consider as this safe zone?

Ammonia and Nitrites should be at 0 all the time and Nitrates with a fish like that could probable comfortable rise to 60ppm but when treating illness keep it as low as possible.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

well i hope you know that your pacu will need at bare minimum a 300 gallon tank.............