treatment for cloudy eyes?

[darkangler]

I take care of a client's fish only tank and they are all coming down with cloudy eyes. The lionfish just died. Anyways, like I said, this is a clients tank not mine. He can't seem to stop overfeeding. We have cut back the feeding a bit, done larger water changes, constantly replace the charcoal, de nitrate, and phoslock. His phosphates are at 1ppm and nitrates are over 100ppm. Since I can only come out once a month his level just keep rising. I do believe this is the cause of the cloudy eyes. My question is: is it better to just get the levels down? or to treat the tank? if treating, with what? Thanks.

 

[jnc914]

Nitrate could be the issues, however it sounds like a parasite issue. Cloudy eyes are often associated will flukes. Do the fish exhibit any other symptoms? If it is a fish only, dose the tank with Prazi-pro. I was told that Prazi is reef safe, but I have never chanced it. Other than that there is the standard FW dips, but that is a pain.

 

[kevin2000]

Cloudy eyes are normally a bacterial infection often caused by eye injury (netting, fighting etc) .. sometimes the fish's own immune system can help cure this and keeping water quality excellent and feeding nutritional foods can help. If not then QT combined with an antibiotic is the std treatment.

Parasites can cause cloudy eyes .. but if you don't see obvious signs of a parasite infection then the bacteria/antibiotic route is what I would recommend.

 

[darkangler]

It's definitely something that has spread, since all the fish have it. He has been feeding some weird foods like crab legs (apparently uncooked) and many other items such as mussels, clams, etc, from the grocery store. I have never seen this to be a problem, however he is definitely over feeding. I think I am going to do a 75% waterchange, add a phosphate reactor and use Pura NitrateLock. Oh, and one other thing, these fish have been in the tank for over a year with no new additions. So I'm pretty sure it is a result of poor water quality.

 

[wooden_reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10393879#post10393879 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by darkangler
It's definitely something that has spread, since all the fish have it. He has been feeding some weird foods like crab legs (apparently uncooked) and many other items such as mussels, clams, etc, from the grocery store. I have never seen this to be a problem, however he is definitely over feeding. I think I am going to do a 75% waterchange, add a phosphate reactor and use Pura NitrateLock. Oh, and one other thing, these fish have been in the tank for over a year with no new additions. So I'm pretty sure it is a result of poor water quality.

I think you should not be any where sure that it is poor water quality in the chemical sense. At any rate, even if it was, now the solution likely involves more than improving the water chemical quality.

Just because there has not been new addition of live stock does not mean that the population of pathogenic bacteria is always under the control of the immunity of the fish. I would agree that major external bacterial infection occurs more frequently after new addition, though.

Has the tank been under preventive UV treatment? If not, bacterial infection can spread quickly.

If it is external bacterial infection and if it has already spread to most fish, antibiotics is the answer. An antibiotics that does not depress nitritication by too much is likely the best trial. Cut ration during treatment to compensate for the depressed nitrification. I believe UV degrades antibiotics and thus cannot be used during antibiotics treatment. UV is catch-22.

 

[darkangler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10398576#post10398576 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wooden_reefer

If it is external bacterial infection and if it has already spread to most fish, antibiotics is the answer. An antibiotics that does not depress nitritication by too much is likely the best trial.

What would you recommend?

 

[wooden_reefer]

1. erythromycin

2. kanamycin

3. neomycin

Most widely available is 1, in maracyn (sp?) or maracyn II.

Shut off UV bulb but keep circulation thru the UV unit if there is one. Remove all chemical filtration like polyfilter or activated carbon etc. I generally stop the protein skimmer for fear that the drug can be removed.

All will depress nitrification but won't kill nitrification bacteria outright at the recommended dose on the package.

Typically, the label will say "will not interfere with nitrification" etc. The truth is that it would, but not completely. You may detect some nitrite. Ammonia is the real killer so test water for ammonia.

Have a bottle of Amquel by Kordon ready and use as directed if there is detectable ammonia.

Skip feeding for a day or two, and then cut ration in half for several days until cure, if the antibiotic is effective.

 

[bluerug]

Use PIMAFIX and MELAFIX. Be sure to turn off the skimmer and UV. And it should clear up right away. I have had a lot of success with this stuff and i am using the pondcare stuff right now since its the same thing, but lasts a lot longer since its more potent. Good luck.

 

[bluerug]

Oh and be sure to cut down on the feeding in the future.

 

[wooden_reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10403395#post10403395 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bluecarpet
Use PIMAFIX and MELAFIX. Be sure to turn off the skimmer and UV. And it should clear up right away. I have had a lot of success with this stuff and i am using the pondcare stuff right now since its the same thing, but lasts a lot longer since its more potent. Good luck.

What are the ingredients in them?

 

[wooden_reefer]

Be sure to remove, suck away, any obvious collections of uneaten food and fecal matters. You want to reduce sources of ammonia to min.

 

[bluerug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10406099#post10406099 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wooden_reefer
What are the ingredients in them?

The ingredients are 2.5% Pimenta racemosa for the PimaFix and 5% Melaleuca for the MelaFix.

 

[bluerug]

The stuff is top class by the way. If you ever introduce new fish or have a fish that has a scratch on him from hitting a rock or something not from scratching to get ich off but just an accident scratch, just use this stuff and it will clear right up in no time. Its like a steroid for the fish in my mind.