The Puffer Forum

I have 2 figure 8's in a 3 foot tank cycled, got my second today and one eye is slightly cloudy but looks like there is something on it (maybe a scratch though) Is it normal for these problems to happen on a newly moved fish? Mark on eye is very slight and small, he is still swimming well and eats better than my original one. They both share the tank with a clown loach who couldnt care less.

Is this a problem? I have done a 30% water change do i need to do anything else or will he be ok after a couple of days?

Thanks

Melafix helps with cloudy eyes. It's usually caused by poor water quality, possibly from the pet store.

Thanks ill get some today.

My water parameters are perfect so the pet store gave me some melafix FOC. I also added 40 ml of cycle just as a matter of course. Both puffers are more lively just to wait and see what happens to captain cloudy eye.

There's no need to add cycle to the tank. It's just dead bacteria in a bottle. It's better if you don't add it. Once you start raising the sg to brackish for the figure 8's you will have to move the clown loach to another tank. I don't think a clown loach will like bracksih water.

added the cycle as it has done well for me in the past, the clown is gonna go back into the other tank soon, hes just really good at getting out the last bits of food that the puffers dont really bother with after a belly full.

Am i best to do the 7 day treatment for the wounds etc or is it ok to do the other treatment on the bottle?

How is your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in numbers? Well done adding melafix into the water, I would do WC of 80% before the treatment and 80% when it's done to make sure the water is pristine. Cloudy eyes is a bacterial skin infection much more related to poor water quality than caused by a physical trauma.

Update: After 24 hours of melafix she is visibly better, the eye is much clearer and behaviour has changed quite a bit, she was pacing up and down the glas repeatedly but now is exploring with my other F8, she ate well yesterday but very quickly went back down to flattish belly, today is supposed to be a fasting day should i keep it that way? Or should i feed her? I can feed her alone as she very quickly learned to hand feed.

How long till her belly got flat? If it happens too quickly, that can be a sign of internal parasites. IPs are very common in new fish, and they're easily treated. If their poo is pale and stringy, that's a sure sign.

I would say only an hour or 2, how would i treat that? Is the melafix going to be enough? Her apetite is great behaviour is fine, i havent paid much attention to her crap yet though. Shes very very active in comparison to my other one that remains fat.

Is it worth doing a treatment anyway? to make sure i mean, and how do i do it?

Well, an hour or two is normal. Don't treat unless you see symptoms. Give her poo a look because it's such a commmon problem for fish first coming out of the store. If you don't see signs, don't worry.

Ok thankyou for the fast response, ill watch closely. They are still in fresh water and happy, I know ive to use marine salt only for raising SG, but for a bit of a treatment in general should i put some rock salt in just to help with healing in general? If so how much? Bearing in mind im on day 2 of the melafix treatment and it works really well for the cloudy eye, its all but cleared up, im still gonna do the full 7 days.

Anyway i digress, the salt?

Rock salt, like for sidewalks? No, that would be bad! I'm sure it's got all kinds of stuff in there, chemicals and whatnot. Aquarium salt, like API brand? Don't worry about it. The Melafix has done the job, and we try to avoid treating unnecessarily.

Proper rock salt is very very pure and practically is aquarium salt. But as you say melafix has worked total cure. 3 days of treatment still to go, ill do the full week.

Sounds good. I would still check with a site guru and make sure it's safe to use rock salt, should you ever want to use it.