Anthias w/Pop Eye

[blenny90]

We have a Lyretail mail Anthias with Pop eye in one eye. We first noticed it about 2 weeks ago and took the wait and see approach. The eye no longer has the clear bubble around it, but is protruding from the head about 1/4 of an inch. He's eating well and otherwise seems healthy.

We will be upgrading to a new 210 in the next week or so. Should we remove the fish at that time? Is there any chance it will heal?

The other fish have no signs of problem and other than the eye, the Anthias seems healthy.

The water quality is good:

SG - 1.024
PH 8.179
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

Thank You!

 

[leebca]

If you've diagnosed it properly as Popeye: There is a chance it will heal. There is a chance it will kill. But I personally don't count on that and would prefer to take action to help the fish return to health. Here's some threads on that:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=792631
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=561991

Also, make sure you're providing supplements and the proper diet:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228

I'd move the fish to a hospital tank for treatment. I would choose to use Maracyn Two for Saltwater fishes and start the treatment at twice the recommended initial dosage, then following that with two more days of twice the recommended dosages, leaving the last two days at the recommended dosage.

:rollface:

 

[blenny90]

Lee - Thank you for the great information. We do feed a variety of foods but had not thought of supplementing with Selcon or Zoe. I have both that I use to feed our seahorse fry. I'll start adding it as you've recommended.

Do you have suggestions as to how to remove this fish from the tank? We are in the process of setting up a new 210 and will probably transfer our 90 over to it next weekend. We can certainly remove him at that time and quarantine him and treat with antibiotics as you suggest.

Thank you again - those were very informative threads.

 

[leebca]

There are some threads here on RC that deal with getting fish out of tanks. My fav is removing 2/3 of the water. Here's one thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=586506

 

[blenny90]

Our Anthias still has pop eye but it seems to be slightly better. We tried to remove him when we upgraded from our 90 gallon to our new 210. He was in a rock and we didn't realize it and he got transferred the new aquarium.

Except for the eye, he seems healthy. He looks good and eats well. It's been about a month since we first noticed this. Since we can't catch him, we only have to hope that he will eventually recover.