Pop Eye? Septicemia?

[Sid]

Hi,

In my 30 gallon tank (listed below), I've noticed that my flame tail gourami's eyes are popping out. He doesn't seem to be able to see very well (when I fed him, he would lunge at the food and miss) and it's red around his eyes. He is also acting very shy and lethargic.

The tank is currently infested with Ich which I started treating last night. He doesn't seem to have any or many on him. But the other gouramis in the tank are definately infested.

No one else is acting weird or having eye problems.

I just got them on Saturday and I did have 2 flame tail gourami's but the one was attacked by the others and after I moved him to another tank he died.

I've moved this other guy to my sick tank, but don't know what to do next. Any suggestions?

 

[Auslander]

the pop-eye could be caused as a secondary infection of his being attacked by the other fish. If this is the case then it may just clear up by itself. Otherwise it may be a bacterial infection, in which case you could try some anti-bacterial treatment. Make very sure you change water every day when administering anti-biotics, as they have a tendancy to screw around with your biological filter, which can be bad news.
Alternatively, it may be a water quality issue. Keep doing water changes for 3-4 days and see if the condition improves.
The most important thing, is to keep reading......eventually, you will be able to get a better idea of what the problem might be. Problem with things like pop-eye and dropsy etc. is that they are the symptoms to several different conditions. You need to decide what the problem really is before being able to effectively administer any treatment. Don't rely on the internet for information.....books are nearly always more helpful in my experience.
I havew a good book which I can reccomend:

Tropical Fishlopedia a complete guide to fish care.
Mary Bailey & Peter Burgess
Ringpress Books (1999)
ISBN 1-86054-102-x

 

[Sid]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definately get a copy of that book.

I don't think I have water condition problems, but I'll keep an eye on them in case it's something I haven't noticed. He's in a seperate tank now, so hopefully it'll go away but I'm going to go to the lfs today and see about getting something for him.

Any suggestions on the type of medicine I should get?

 

[Auslander]

I used some stuff called "waterlife Myaxin" with some sucess. Its just a general external anit-biotic for fin rot, ulcers etc. But be warned, it does do a bit of harm to your biological filter (although it says it doesn't), so keep up with the water changes. The damage to the bio filter didn't seem to last more than a few days, but as I didn't realise it was happening, the NO2 levels built up without me noticing, and I lost a few fish....guted, but you live and learn. Just check the water every day until you finish the course. This should clear the pop-eye up if it is of a bacterial type, but won't have much effect if it is being caused by something else. Hope that helps.....good luck mate