Weird Eye Problem, please help!

[studmaster]

I agree with PP about the poke in the eye. The pictures you sent today look much better than the last set. The opacity of the corneal tissue looks better and not quite as bulged out. Corneal tissue is some of the more resilient tissue in the body and heals fairly quickly. Keep doing what your doing for treatment.

I hope that's all it is, this morning it looked like some of the white stuff flaked off, the scary thing is that I couldn't see the pupil underneath it. I'm really hoping he doesn't loose an eye out of all of this.

[Pufferpunk]

Tell him no more swimming with sissors.

[studmaster]

Tell him no more swimming with sissors.

I tell him that, but of course he doesn't listen...you know kids

Even though his eye still looks like it's going to just be a hole, I almost think from watching him and seeing his confidence restored that he can see out of it a bit. He seems to be able to judge where things are better. Just way more confidence in general. I've got my fingers crossed!

[Myaj]

Even if he does lose the eye, it shouldn't really affect his lifestyle too much. He may need a little extra help in finding food (if he has tankmates, make sure they aren't stealing it), but he looks plenty fat

I'm glad to see he's healing up pretty well It looks bad, but they are tough animals.

[studmaster]

Even if he does lose the eye, it shouldn't really affect his lifestyle too much. He may need a little extra help in finding food (if he has tankmates, make sure they aren't stealing it), but he looks plenty fat

I'm glad to see he's healing up pretty well It looks bad, but they are tough animals.

haha, plenty fat is an understatement. Zephyr's a blimp (har har)

He's finding the mussels fine (in shell and sinks), but any floating food he can't track down with one eye yet.

[Myaj]

Well, I was trying to be polite but since you went there.. he's freakin HUGE!!! LOL

[studmaster]

Well, I was trying to be polite but since you went there.. he's freakin HUGE!!! LOL

Yeah he's a monster....I try not to feed him much, but then he eats his tankmates, the live rock, plastic decorations, gravel....whatever he can fit in his mouth. The only option is to feed him more than I should. I've never seen a fish with such an appetite....and I had paranas back a few years ago.

[studmaster]

So here's my dilemma, Zephyr's eye looks a little better, but I still don't think he see's anything out of it....not sure he might see a bit. It's still mostly white. I've had him on Melafix for a week now. My protein skimmer just came in the mail....should I set it up or continue with the Melafix? Better water quality or Melafix is what it comes down to.

Any thoughts?

[Myaj]

Ummm... I think my guess would be skimmer, but you'll have to do a big water change to get most of the Melafix out of the water first.

And watch the skimmer especially at feeding times, they can fill up fast on you and overflow sometimes. Generally they take a few days to "break in" and you'll get a feel for how often it needs to be emptied, etc.

[studmaster]

thanks, I think I'm going to go ahead and do a 25% WC and add the skimmer in there. Any other opinions one way or another?

[Pufferpunk]

Better skim really dry (cup way up high), until it gets out all the Melafix. Try to find SW Melafix to keep treating, since it seems to be working.

[studmaster]

Better skim really dry (cup way up high), until it gets out all the Melafix. Try to find SW Melafix to keep treating, since it seems to be working.

good thinking with the skimming....and I didn't even think the SW version of Melafix probably solves the problem with protein skimmers. Crap I was just at the fish store.

[studmaster]

Good news, I wanted to post this sooner, but Zephyr looks like he has completely recovered from his eye injury. Here's a pic and it looks like he used to and he's back to being his old self now.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr16 ... re038s.jpg

What I ended up doing was first making sure the nitrate level was below 20ppm....closer to 10ppm by doing a large water change. Then I added Melafix for 7 days. Also since I wasn't sure if he also had an infection, I took 1/50th of a tank dose of Tetracycline and soaked his food in it before giving it to him. I did this by taking a mussel and using a paper towel to soak up all the moisture in the meat of it. Then I added about 5ml of tank water to the Tetracycline and shook it up and let it dissolve a bit. I soaked the dried mussel in the Tetracycline solution for about 1/2 an hour and fed it to him. Zephyr was slow at finding the mussel because he was blind in the one eye so I wasn't worried about over dosing him with the antibiotic....I'm sure most of it went into the water anyways....but surely not enough to hurt the biological filter (at 1/50th the normal tank dose). His eye looked way less puffy in about a day, and after 7 it was really starting to clear up. About a week after, he is back to his fine self.

Thanks everyone for your help!

[LilGreenPuffer]

Yay!

[Pufferpunk]

Great job!