Please help with my maroon clown fish

[salt newbie01]

My clown has something wrong with his rt eye. Some days it is only a small white spot on the bottom of the eye, and other days the bottom half of his eye is swollen and sticking out. On the bad days the eye is milky looking. Could it be some type of fungus? None of the other fish seem to have anything wrong with them. I just wish I could get whatever it is to go away. I don't want it to get worse and end up killing the fish. The fish is still eating and hosting in the nem even on the bad days.
Here are some pics. the first is a good day and the other ones are from a bad day.

I will try to get some better pics - today is a bad day.
I hope someone can help me I don't want this to get worse and damage the eye or kill the fish.

Thanks,

 

[salt newbie01]

Here are a few more pics that show how bad it looks from the front. Ignore the white spot on his "forehead" It was just a small particle floating across the nem.

 

[Fishboy42]

Patrick, how long has that been going on? I haven't seen anything that looks exactly like that, but most times with eye problems (popeye or cloudy eye), good water quality/food usually solves the problem in a few weeks. Sometimes a bacterial infection around or behind the eye can cause problems, and even the fish bumping into something can cause temporary problems. I think you have less to worry about since it is only one eye though. Unless it has been going on for a long time (more than 2-3 weeks), I would just give it some time and see if she heals herself. Hope this helps--keep us updated on her health.

Matt

 

[salt newbie01]

Thanks for the response Matt.
I would say it has been going on for at least a month. But it will go down to just a small spot like in the first pic for several days then back to looking bad again. It has made this cycle several times. Is there something I could do to treat an infection? I hate to try and remove the fish stressing it and the nem.

Thanks

 

[Angela Short]

myacyn2 for saltwater is a good all round antibiotic. It has to be ordered off line, noone around here has it and the FW formula isn't the same. It has to be dosed in a QT though so you may want to make plans with some sort of bio going like a sponge filter. I agree with Matt. One eye makes you think injury instead of water quality ( but added water changes can only help) He may have injured it last month and be keeping a low grade infection which flares up from time to time. Good pics, you may want to try posting in disease forum but they will tell ya the same thing we did already, I spend a ton of time over there But someone may have some insite on the oozzy look, never seen pop eye look like that.

 

[vol_reefer]

If the problem is popeye, adding some epsom salt to the tank should help. Search on RC to find the dosage - I don't remember the exact amount. I do remember that it seemed like a lot when I tried it. One of my Clarkii clowns had some kind of minor injury to one of her eyes when I first put her in my tank and she ended up with popeye. At first I hoped it would just clear up, but it didn't. I was worried about making the injury worse by trying to net her from my display tank, so I was reluctant to try to quarrantine her. Adding the epsom salts did the trick within a few days and it never came back.

I don't think the epsom salt actually works directly on the infection; rather, it has something to do with changing the balance of fluid pressures inside the fish. But perhaps removing the irritation from the inflamation gives the fish's immune system a chance to work on the infection? Not sure. The treatment is supposed to be completely reef safe, and my experience was consistent with that - no reaction from any SPS, LPS, or softies that I could see.

All that said, your fish's eye doesn't look quite the same as my Clarkii's did with popeye. Mine just looked like an eye that was inflated and bulging out of its socket. Yours seems to have some kind of growth on the bottom edge that is outside the eye. Still, the epsom salts won't hurt anything, so it's a low risk thing to try.

Jeff
(vol_reefer)

 

[Angela Short]

Be carefull how much epson salts you add if you go this route, it will elevate your magnesium levels. Epson salts is a good FW treatment for popeye but most disease guys say it does nothing in saltwater already containing high levels of magnesium anyways. Traditional popeye from injury like Jeffs fish had will ussually clear up on its own in a few days to a week with just good water params.This clowns seems more involved than that and may need treatment to save the eye if it doesn't show improvement. I would give it about another week to heal on its own and then pull it for treatment with antibiotics. She could go blind or even loose the eye if left untreated if its bacterial. Clowns are easy to catch while sleeping with a clear container if its dark and you are slow and sneaky Hope she gets better, beautifull fish!

 

[Angela Short]

I noticed steven pro is giving advise over in disease. He is very knowledgable in fish disease and treatment and gives sound advise. He may check back in but what he other guy is telling you is also good advise and what I would do if it was my fish. JMO though