Maculosus angel has cloudy eye

[IwannaClarion]

ive had a 6" Maculosus angel in QT for a few weeks now. there is also a 4" purple tang in the tank as well. about a week ago, the angel developed a cloudy membrane-like covering over its left eye. i started to treat with the only meds i had at the time which were melafix and pimafix. i added the stuff to the water for each day for about a week and slowly the cloudyness got better. just a few days ago, all seemed well. then yesterday when i got home from work, i noticed his eye was completely cloudy again. i performed a 25% water change and continued treatment with the mela/pima fix

anyone have any suggestions or reasons why the cloudy eye suddenly came back after it seemed as though i had it beat? there are no traces of this on the purple tang, or on the angels right eye. for some reason its only on his left. also, both fish occasionally scratch, but there is no sign of ich in the tank or on the fish. both fish are eating heartily as well. did some quick water tests and ph was a bit on the low side at 7.8, so i added some reef buffer. Amm and Ni were both at 0 however

thanks in advance for any input

 

[IwannaClarion]

hmm... no responses in 24 hours. ok. anyway...

read a few topics that pointed towards flukes as being a possible cause for my fishes symptoms. knowing this particular angel species is robust, i removed him from the tank and gave him a 5 - 6 min freshwater dip. i noticed at this time he also had developed some blotching on his right side. it almost looks as though his scales are being pushed out in 2 spots... one right in the center of his yellow bar, and the other just behind his side fin

after returning him back to the tank, i did a 5 gal water change, and added more mela/pima fix and some more reef buffer. ill check ph again when i get home from work

BTW- my skimmer is not running right now (because of the meds) and i have removed all carbon filtering from the tank

suggestions?

 

[TerryB]

I would treat with nitrofurazone in quarantine tank. Don't dip a fish that has an open wound. You could combine the antibiotic I suggested with hyposalinity. That should take care of the problem.

Terry B

 

[LargeAngels]

If it was flukes then you should have seen little "jelly" like things at the bottom of the container when you dipped him in FW.

 

[andrewsmart]

sounds very like an infection do what terry suggests.

trust me melafix and primafix will do nothing apart from maybe improve the smell of your tank.

 

[IwannaClarion]

i figured mela/pima fix wouldnt do much, but it was all i had at the time and figured it was better than nothing

couldnt tell if there was anything at the bottom of the bucket when i dipped the angel... he crapped right after i put him in there and it was hard to see anything since there was all this poo floating around

looked up some stuff about nitrofurazone and it seems a medicine called "Furan 2" has that in it. looks like im gonna get ahold of some of that and try it

the water has started to become cloudy in the tank now. however, the purple tang still seems unaffected by whatevers harming the angel. in fact, the tangs HLLE is starting to go away... very weird that one fish is getting sick, while the other is getting better. could it be that im using too much vitamin addative to cure the tangs HLLE and thats causing a bacteria bloom? either way, both fish are still eating good though. tomorrow ill perform another 25%+ water change and add some of that Furan 2 and hope for improvement

one more thing... is the eye cloud permanent? does this mean my angel is now blind in one eye? id hate to see this fish disfigured

thanks for all the help

 

[TerryB]

Cloudy eye can be permanent. It depends on how much damage is doen to the eye. It usually clears up. Not sure what all is in furan 2. Lots of medications contains nitrofurazone or another antibiotic from that family. I generally stay away from mixtures as they tend to not have enough of a dose for the medicine that I want to use. Some antibiotics can cause problems to so I am picky.

Terry B

 

[IwannaClarion]

looked up Furan 2 on the net, but couldnt find out what else is in it. in my "That Fish Place" catalog it lists the ingredients, but i dont have that with me. ill have to check when i go home and post back later

id get pure nitrofurazone, but after searching through the various LFS, and That Fish Place's catalog, i couldnt find a store bought fish medication that is strickly just that one ingredient. seems that its always combined with something else. where could i get my hands on some?

 

[IwannaClarion]

well, i scoured the LFS in my area and actually found some pure nitrofurazone capsules. they were a bit expensive tho... $8 bucks for 8 pills. directions said to use 1 pill per 10 gals, and each pill was 380mg

after 24 hours of the meds being in the water, the angels cloudy eye is completely gone! the sores on his sides are almost healed as well. that nitrofurazone is awesome stuff! it does discolor the water tho... looks like the fish are swimming in mountain dew!

thanks to all who helped

 

[TerryB]

That is great news but don't treat less than 3 days.

Terry B

 

[IwannaClarion]

i wont. i added the meds on Tues and plan on leaving it in the system thru the weekend. ill do a water change and turn my skimmer back on afterwards