Single Pop-eye

[SteveCon89]

I have a clarkii with a pretty big eye. Only one.
I wanna dose with epsom salt. Do I add this directly to the tank, or will it harm the coral/rock/inverts/etc..

 

[RocknReefr]

I think that you should treat the Clarkii in a quarantine, if possible. I'm pretty sure you don't want to add the Epsom Salt directly into your tank. -In all the years i've been in the hobby, I have never heard of doing this to treat pop-eye.

There are other more safe and even reef-safe options to help combat this.

Good-Luck!

 

[flameangel88]

I used Maracyn II for pop-eye earlier in the year and it went away in about a week. Do it in QT and much cheaper. My tank is FOWLR and had no ill effect on LR and inverts.

 

[JHemdal]

Don't forget that popeye in just one eye can also have a mechanical cause. If that's the case, it will either get better or not, despite anything you can do (short of using a hyperbaric chamber).

Bilateral exopthamia when both eyes are affected (not always equally) typically is caused by either supersaturation or bacterial disease.

I've heard the epsom salt idea from time to time - but always second hand, and never from a well-known fish disease person, so I'm a bit leery of trying it myself.

Some history on the fish (and a photo would help a lot).

- did the eye suddenly develop this?

- was the fish recently moved, or in a fight with another fish?

- Is there cloudiness to the eye?

- Any redness associated with the eye tissue?

- Any clear bubbles visible?


Jay

 

[SteveCon89]

I have had the fish for almost 2 months.
The other day, I added a yellow headed jawfish and a cleaner shrimp-my diadema dottyback killed the shrimp and catching him was a mess-I took out all the rocks, the tank was gross for quite some time..I felt bad for making it that dirty actually.
So that's the only thing that I can think to blame. I see no bubbles or redness.

 

[JHemdal]

Taking the rocks out of a tank could sure cause a clownfish to dash around - if it smacked something in the cloudy water, that could sure cause mechanically induced popeye.....

J

 

[limitdown]

Although popeye is oftentimes caused by physical wounds, the popeye can still get much worse resulting in complete loss of the eye. In 2 instances, I had fish with popeye end up losing one eye each because of delayed treatement. I now take popeye very seriously. I closely monitor the fish and if symptoms improve, then I just leave him alone. However, if symptoms worsen, then I will move him into a QT and begin dosing with an antibiotic in the water and feed antibiotic food immediately.

I liken popeye to humans getting cuts on their hands. 95%+ of the times, the wounds just heal by themselves and we forget about it. However, sometimes the wound will get infected and swell like crazy. Then you would need to see the doctor and start taking oral antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory a painkiller and possibly and antibiotic shot. If you don't get treatement and allow the infection to get worse, then it can become gangrene and you will need to get the hand amputated. Obviously this doesn't happen often anymore because we would get treatment before things got worse.