The Puffer Forum

45 gallon tank
Nitrate 10, nitrite 0, GH 150, clorine 0, KH 180-300, PH 7.0
2 balas, 4 commets, 1 dwarf gourami, 3 barbs, 1 farowella, 1 Chinese algae eater, 1 gold dojo loach, 1 ghost shrimp, 1 elephant fish, 1 red tailed shark. About 39.5" total including tails.
Recent changes; daily water changes for 3-4 days to get the nitrates down.
The elephant fish is new from yesterday, but the shark's symptoms pre-date the new (adorable) tank mate.
Symptoms; one protuding eye, a little sluggish. Colors are _normal_, eye looks healthy in all respects other than it protudes more than the other. Hiding more than usual. He/she is still a dark black with a bright red tail.

All other fish seem healthy, I did have a bala with one cloudy eye that cleared on it's own in under 48 hours.
Interactions; the elephant fish took over his/her favorite hidey-hole, much to my dispair as well since I prepped him a nice PVC tunnel to live in.
Is it something I just didn't notice before?

You could treat the tank with melafix and pimafix, this should help his eye. Also you are going to have big problems with nitrates. You will have to upgrade your tank or bring some fish back to the lfs. The tank is overstocked and the high nitrates may be what caused his popeye.
Can you post a picture of the eye?

The stocking of the tank has been gone over thoroughly in a previous post He's aware and will be making changes.

Popeye, as in the disease, is usually both eyes. I would guess its an injury, and therefore clean water, some Melafix and maybe Pimafix would help heal it up. Keep an eye on that algae eater.. they have a rep for sucking out eyes...

Sorry! I must have slept through that post.

Nah, it got moved down to the freshwater forum when it was clear he couldn't add a puffer to his current list and the discussion turned to all freshwater non-puffer fish.

Easy to miss if you don't go to the non-puffer forums very often (I rarely do, and just have had the time recently with being off work all week. I was very, very surprised how many actual puffer posts are down there in the brackish, non-puffer forum, people must be posting there by accident)

Unfortunately no, right now my Internet acces is limited to an iPod touch. Also it would be a 1 in a million shot to photograph unless I anestitised him and put him on a table, and since I think it's something I didn't notice or a possible injury I don't think that would be worth the stress.

Myaj; have you looked at the nitrate watch recently? Even with the addition of the elephant fish nitrates are holding at 10.

Still no improvement, but it also isn't worse. I still don't think it could be the algae eater because the shark shows no fear of him, and if I had to decide who picked on who before it was the shark picking on the algae eater. Even now in his hidey state the algae eater isn't picking on him.

I haven't seen the shark poop in a while either, he hasn't been cleaning my decorations for a few days now...

Eye is still big but fish is happy again. No idea why, the other eye is still good and the affected eye looks no different. Good to see him eating and pooping again though.