black saddleback with popeye

dbmtrman

Member
I have had a large black saddleback clown for the last 3 years. About a week and a half ago, I noticed that its right eye had popped out, over the period of about 2 days. I removed it from the DT and put it in a 10 gallon QT. Initially it was only the right eye, and it had bulged out further than any popeye I had ever seen before. I didn't have any Maracyn at the time and tried to treat it with Melafix ("antibacterial fish remedy") for 3 days. Following the manufacturers dosage instructions. It had no apparent effect. On the 3rd day the right eye wasn't bulged out quite as much as it had been, however the left eye now had popped out. I did a 50% water change on the qt and treated with Maracyn 2. I am on the 4th day of Maracyn 2 treatment and it appears that the popeye has definately improved, but still pretty bad.

Today I noticed that there is a very thin membrane around the outside of the right eye, that is apparently holding in some form of gas. Question is should I attempt to pop the membrane to relieve the pressure, or just leave it alone? I'll try and post a picture.
 
I would NOT attempt to pop it. Popeye seems to be fairly common with saddlebacks (( A. polymnus )). IME with it, it is usually from some sort of trauma and/or a drop in water quality. All I have even done for it was to step up my water changes and leave it be -- has always cleared up on its own.
 
Thanks for the advise Todd. Will just continue on the same course for a few days. Hopefully it will continue to improve.
 
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