treating and feeding a blind CBB (popeye)

[jthnhale]

one of my favorite fish a CBB is in serious trouble.
last year he lost his left eye, but was doing fine with just the right one.
for some reason last week he developed popeye in the one good eye.
I gave it a few days to go away on it's own, but I had to remove the poor fish and place him in a hospital tank. He got stuck on a vortec pump
I began treating him with Kanaplex, which has reduced the swelling of the eye, but the eyesight has not returned. He's been in the QT for three days with the meds, it's his 2nd application. the instructions say 3 doses are the max.
I have been trying to hand feed him in the QT which is difficult. He will eat food only if it touches the front of his mouth. He can smell the food in the water, but can not locate it, which is extremely frustrating to watch. he's in a rubbermaid container with rounded corners and is able to get a few pieces of mysis if they both line up at the right time.

my questions are how long till his eyesight comes back from the popeye, and should I soak the mysis in selecon, since he is getting so little to eat I thought that might help.

 

[kevin2000]

I don't recall reading posts where blind fish recover sight - if you don't see progress you might consider euthanasia.

 

[jthnhale]

I've thought of that.
I don't mind spending the time feeding him to give him the chance to recover.
Are there cases when popeye does not lead to loss of vision in the effected eye?
I thought it did, and the eyesight would recover in time.

 

[kevin2000]

I have no doubt that many/most eye infections result in some kind of vision impairment .. but with with eye problems fish see good enough to feed themselves .. blind is pretty extreme and as previously stated I don't recall reading any posts where aquarist have said that the std antibiotic cures for eye problems have had any impact on a bind fish.