Bristlenose with swollen eyes - please help!!

claire 1303 · Post by **claire 1303** » 26 Jan 2007, 09:09

One of my female bristlenoses has swollen eyes! She seems to be able to see okay but doesn't look very pretty!

She's in a community tank with 2 other females and one male, and lots of fry. I also have platties, corys, loaches, glass cats etc.

Can't provide PH etc as can't get to LFS until tomorrow. Have treated the tank for ich on Sunday, put in interpet whitespot treatment and raised tank temperature to 28.

No other fish are showing this symptom - please help! Am worried!!!

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Jan 2007, 13:26

This is probably what's called "popeye", which is "collection of fluid behind or in the eye".

Unfortunately, that's not really helpfull, it's a bit like head-ache or tummy-ache, that it's common factor for several different diseases. Most likely, your fish has a bacterial infection, but it's hard to diagnose from "over here".

A good start would be to do a large water-change, as that will almost always make things better in all cases of "ill fish".

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Mats

claire 1303 · Post by **claire 1303** » 26 Jan 2007, 13:31

Thanks for your help. I've got some interpet treatment for internal bacteria - would that help? How dangerous is this likely to be, do you think she's likely to die?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 Jan 2007, 13:43

It's VERY difficult to predict what's going to happen in these cases - it depends on how you succed with the treatment.

I personally woult try to treat only this fish (by putting it in "hospital tank"), as the medication is probably strong enough to affect other fishes that aren't ill.

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Mats

claire 1303 · Post by **claire 1303** » 09 Feb 2007, 12:38

Am very very pleased to say that her eyes have pretty much gone back to normal - and it hasn't spread to any of the others! Was very worried for a few days, then the treatment seemed to kick in.

Thanks for your advice - I know what do do in future! I haven't got a spare tank to use as a hospital, but as my numbers of fish increase I think it would be a good investment.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 09 Feb 2007, 13:16

Good to hear that it went well. I find myself quite often giving advice, and not hearing the result - and one starts to wonder if the original poster didn't reply because it wasn't good advice, or because all went well and there's no need for help any longer... The latter is of course better than the former, but getting a confirmation is in my opinion the best result.

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Mats