Flame angel with cloudy eye. Please help ID!

[Hefner413]

I've had my flame angel in my 55g QT for about 6 wks. I hadn't taken a good look at him over the past week or so because it was doing so well. But I noted a cloudy right eye today and a scale that looked to be hanging on it's side. The scale just fell off, but you can see the cloudiness in the eye. Do you think bacterial or fluke? Would a fluke take this long to show up? Should I start with a FW dip or just go straight to antibiotic or do both? I was just about to put it in the DT too... darn.

And just to compare... the good side:

 

[Dealseer]

Looks like physical damage to the eye

 

[Hefner413]

Looks like physical damage to the eye

I thought of that possibility also. Maybe stressed with the QT? I've thought about introducing to the DT (180g) to maybe provide more space / places to hide... but then again, if it were bacterial or flukes, I'd hate to introduce that into the DT. Thoughts?

 

[Dealseer]

I'm not saying that i'm right, but I can tell you I'd be dosing Kanaplex while I keep a close watch on him in the QT.

 

[Dealseer]

Forgot to say, I'd be watching for any other signs of flukes.

 

[Mishri]

I wouldn't move it to your DT.

Kanaplex + Prazipro people say will be okay together(they have used together without issue).. not too certain though.. prazipro generally causes loss of appetite and has several medications it can't be used with... but i'd give it a shot as other's haven't reported issues.

and Dealseer is right, looks likely to be physical damage(it doesn't have the cloudy look of an infection that i'm used to, usually it's more opaque).. but those 2 medications should knock out an bacterial/fungal/fluke possibilities... and I don't believe it will harm it, so better safe than sorry.

 

[Hefner413]

Well, I dosed KanaPlex and Prazipro a couple weeks ago. The eye got pretty huge and ugly looking. Meds didn't seem to make much of a change. A week ago, the swollen cloudy outer layer of the eye sloughed away, and now there's a clear cornea with a distinct clear air bubble inside the eye. The angel doesn't seem to be bothered by it and is eating great and acting normal. I've read the same things as advised before - maybe a scratch vs bacterial infection vs flukes vs combo. But either way, it's doing a ton better but this air bubble persists. I'm hoping and assuming it will gradually resolve...

 

[Mishri]

yep, good plan.. most people who have observed that say it takes 1-4 weeks for it to go away.

 

[lagatbezan]

I had something similar happen to my emperor angel a while back. I believe it was due to a scrape on a rock or bumping into something. It took about a week or two and it was back to normal. I remember it started to look like the outside layer of the eye was swollen and then in about a week or so it looked like it was peeling and then everything was back to normal. was weird lol.
Just keep water quality in check and observe.

 

[Hefner413]

OK. It's getting kind of weird now. It was looking better, and then worse at times. One day it looked really swollen, full of air... but then the next morning, it was completely gone. A couple days later, it was swollen again. Today, the air pocket was quite large. I watch for a while and it seemed as though the angel was quite irritated by the eye during feeding. It was in its hiding area and jerking back-and-forth some and suddenly I saw an air bubble rise to the surface. The angel came out, and the eye was deflated. And now she looks comfortable again. So this thing just seems to keep filling up, then is released, then fills up again.

I'm still just going to keep an eye on it. But overall, it's quite odd.