Blind Porc Puffer

[casperut1]

Hi. My porky "Slick" recently began not eating. I noticed he started bumping into the rocks and things in the tank. He was an aggressive eater too at first and now eats nothing. I've tried hand feeding and even force feeding him. We put him under anesthic and trimmed his teeth thinking at first that may be why he was not eating. BTW this was a very overwhelming experience it took several minutes for him to "come to" and I was terrified thinking he was never going to wake up. His eyes used to be blue with the beautiful sparkles in them now they are just black. They are not cloudy or whitish at all. I have removed him from my show tank and he is now in a 5 gallon QT tank. I have been treating with Melafix and Pimafix daily for 5 days. Any ideas as to what may have caused this? How to treat? Is it even treatable? Will he survive?

 

[capecoral]

I hope he does ok.

 

[casperut1]

:inlove::inlove:Thank you so much I luv this little guy

 

[Sk8r]

If it is a bacterial infection and a film, the Melafix may help him; and after you finish that course, change the water thoroughly and consider Maracyn II, in hospital tank, to be sure. If he is truly blind, you can feed him by sticking food on the end of a bamboo bbq skewer, sort of like a very long toothpick. If so, he won't thrive, likely, but you can extend his life and give him a pleasurable existence: fish have many senses besides sight.

 

[casperut1]

I have tried feeding him with a skewer he refuses to eat. He will nibble at it but most likely he is irritated with it because it keeps following him around. I have even pureed shrimp and mixed with vitamins and used a dropper but he just spits it back at me. Kind of like a baby learning to eat for the first time. I will definitely try the Maracyn I have read lots of positive results about it. It's time to change the med schedule anyway as we have been treating for just about a week. It is weird because he doesn't look any skinnier, no obvious signs of disease or sports or sores of any kind. Just that he can't see and won't eat. I am devastated.

 

[Sk8r]

I'm so sorry: they're like koi---once they learn to eat from your hand and have names, they really become a member of the family. Hope it can do some good for him.

 

[casperut1]

Exactly right - he's just like my kid LOL

 

[syrinx]

Did this happen after be anethszed? It sounds almost like his eyes are dialated from the medication- which if true- he should be kept in dim light. What might heal on its own in dim light, might actually get worse in brighter light. If the pupil is wide he could be snowblind. I would put him into a very dimly lit tank offer food- and leave him alone other than keeping a eye out for parasites or illness. I think trying to make him eat and chasing him around- as well as the teeth trimming are likely to do more harm than good.

 

[casperut1]

No he stopped eating before this - that is why we tried the teeth trimming. I think you may be right about leaving him alone for awhile and watch him closely - although how long can he go without food? It has been over a week............

 

[syrinx]

sometimes eye problms are caused by diet- what has his diet been when he was eating well?

 

[casperut1]

I was feeding him frozen shrimp and krill and sometimes mysis shrimp. I just started feeding shell on shrimp but he does not seem at all interested. We bought some garlic to soak the food in hoping that would entice him but it has not. I also bought Maracyn and dosed the QT tank with that about an hour agon and he seems a little bit calmer now - almost at ease. Seems almost as though he can see a tiny bit but i'm not sure. I tested the water in the show tank and the ph was 8.3. ammonia 0, nitrite 0 but the nitrate was very high above 160. Besides water changes what is the best way to lower this? Could this be part of the problem? He does look as though he has some gray or brown splotchy skin - I'm thinking maybe fungus?

 

[Sk8r]

Nitrate is not good, even if tolerated and that's too high: it will affect him.
The skin could be a chemical burn from some combo, or by the meds killing off some skin condition: don't panic. But clear the water of one med before adding another. If too many meds mix, it can be a problem. To reduce nitrate---that's hard, with meds involved. Maybe at your lfs in the morning, even a feed store, or any pond place, because some are either marine or freshwater, a Seachem or a Kent denitrating sponge/filter medium. That would be the fastest way short of water change. Water changes would, short of a total water change and new qt, bollix up the meds. Though a new qt with new water and a complete new med dose into clean water would be a possibility if you start seeing water condition going down: do not run carbon---that sops up the meds. Up the oxygenation for him if you can: that may help him feel better. Do not feed him more than he can eat in 5 minutes: lost food is bad re nitrates.

 

[syrinx]

What are the parameters in the 5 gallon you said he was in? Vitamin A deficiency is the most common cause of vision loss that is non illness related. I would suggest a more varied diet. We used to see this in porcupines that were fed exclusivly on feeder goldfish- and sometimes in Pomocanthus angels that were fed diets high in shrimp and krill. We had several diffrent methods for getting the vitamin A to them- but cod liver oil was particualry effective- i don`t know if its because it is marine based it assimilates better or what- I thought chemically vit a was vit-a. I would say water quality and vitamin rich food is your best bet at this point. Obviously we cant see inside him to tell whats wrong. The only way to properly diagnos fish is- scrapings and microscopy,fecal floats,blood work and necropsies. Other than obvious parasites and bacterial infections,we have to just strive for conditions.

 

[casperut1]

The water parameters I posted were for the show tank not the QT tank. They are all good. I was thinking about doing a total water change in the show tank because of the fear that whatever is affecting him is in there. Nitrates are definately a problem in there. When I bought this tank it was from an aquarium guy that takes care of aquariums professionally. It has the under gravel filter but its like a box thing that covers almost the entire floor of the aquarium and crushed coral as the substrate. There is no oxygen or air going into this box. I also have a hang on the back power filter. Is this enough filtration for a 125 gallon tank? Is there a better method? Slick is really getting bored in the qt he is swimming up and down along the side of the tank. I think he even sees me a little bit. I am obsessed almost with recovering him and being with him I have been down here all day. Is that bad? LOL I am going to add some pics of him

 

[casperut1]

The vitamin A thing is very interesting first time I have heard of that . Is that something I can just buy at the market or perhaps a drugstore? How much to give? Is it added to the water or to the food?

 

[syrinx]

You have enough filtration to keep fish- as evidenced by your parameters. But you have no way to process the nitrate other than water changes at this point. There are many other filter systems you could add, or change to that might be better or more efficient- but this is not the problem at hand- so lets not cloud the issue with it. I never have seen anyone claim blindness issues from nitrates- and although 160 is high- fish were kept at twice that for years before the advent of modern systems-needs to be lowered with water changes, nitrate sponges etc-but not the issue at hand. As far as vitamin A goes- I am not aware of dosage- when I would use it in chemical form I had my vet do the dosage. When I did it on my own with cod liver oil, I used tiny amounts- as it can cause serious water quality problems. With fish that would eat- I made a mix of squid and clams garlic and dosed that with the oil then froze. I would be afraid to dose it by the drop into the mouth, as I would be concerned with coating the gills or overdosing. Do you have a univerity close to you that might have vets for consult? Otherwise I would start doing some research of fish blindness and vitamin A- I am sure there is dosing information out there.