very bad situation with my yellow watchman goby

[mmm55645]

My yellow watchman goby had a growth on his eye(I posted on it in the past), so I treated him with a medication, put him in a quarantine and thought all would be well.

All is not well. I gave him the praprizo (I think that is spelled right) for about one and a half months as it was instructed. His eyes were bulging outwards to an extreme degree and slowly then returned to normal size, although now they look like they are damaged. So much so, that I do not think the fish can see. He does swim around and is active(that took a while - he was lethargic for about a month) but his eyes just look awful. They just look like they were scraped away.

I don't know if there is anything that I can do it make him better. I am thinking perhaps that it is time to euthanize the fish. I don't want to do it, but if he is going to be blind and suffer the rest of his life in the quarantine tank, it just doesn't seem right.

I don't know if maybe I didn't treat him quickly enough and the parasites destroyed his eyes before the medication could get them, or if it was some other problem that just seemed to change as I gave him the medicine. There was another fish in the same tank originally, but the other fish never has developed any problems. If the medicine cured him but now he is blind, I don't know if it will be right to put him back in the main tank. I don't have the resources to keep him in the quarantine indefinitely(at least not with great equipment). Also, I don't know for sure if he could make my other fish sick.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what to do.

 

[Ruskin]

Any pictures? Im sure someone more versed in disease then I could tell you if you have something to worry about re: your other fish. My guess though, is no if its gone on him and you have had him in qt then w/e bacterial infection it was is gone.

You say he was being treated for over 1.5 months? Was and is he still eating? If he can eat he can see, and if that's the case you dont "need" to euthanize him.

Sorry you've had to go through this but it sounds like you've done what you can for the little guy thus far.

 

[mmm55645]

He is still eating but he eats in a different way that what he used to.
When I first had him, he would swim up and bite his food out of the water.
Now he bites it off of the bottom, and does not bite it while it is moving in the water. Maybe he can still see or not as well, or perhaps he is eating differently because he is in a different place.
I need to get my camera working before I can get a pic up.
Can anyone give me advice without a picture? I will be very appreciative.

 

[mmm55645]

Can anyone please offer me some advice on whether or not I should add this fish back to the original tank?

His eyes do look messed up, but he still eats and seems relatively healthy.


Please offer some advice I have been waiting for a long time for some.

Thanks

 

[RBU1]

If the fish is eating and is parasite free there is no reason to euthanize him. Put him back in the tank. He will be fine.

 

[sedor]

I agree I would probably try him back in the tank. He may snap back to his old self once he gets back to familiar surrounded with hiding places.

 

[mmm55645]

thanks for the replies

I think I'll put him in the original tank, but just one more question -

Do you think that he could still give whatever he had before to other fish in the original tank?

His eyes were originally swelled up - now they are not, but they look damaged, like they are scratched away. The appearance of his eyes are what has made me hesitant to add him back in the original tank. I guess that even though his eyes were permanently damaged, he should no longer have anything to give to other tank residents. Is my reasoning correct?

Thanks again for the responses.

 

[RBU1]

thanks for the replies

I think I'll put him in the original tank, but just one more question -

Do you think that he could still give whatever he had before to other fish in the original tank?

His eyes were originally swelled up - now they are not, but they look damaged, like they are scratched away. The appearance of his eyes are what has made me hesitant to add him back in the original tank. I guess that even though his eyes were permanently damaged, he should no longer have anything to give to other tank residents. Is my reasoning correct?

Thanks again for the responses.

You treated him with stuff right? Usually popeye is caused by an infection or parasite. Did you treat him for those things? If you only treated with Prazipro I would probably consider treating with a broad spectrum antibiotic to be safe. Unless you think there is a chance for a parasite then I would treat with cupramine.

 

[mmm55645]

I did treat him with prazipro, I don't know if it could be a parasite or not, I do not know what symptoms indicate a parasite. His eyes were swelled up, but after treating with prazipro, his eyes are no longer swelled, but look damaged like they were scraped away. Do you think that this could be an indication of a parasite?
I posted a picture of his eyes before he was treated in another thread. I'll post again with a link to it. Unfortunately, I do not have a functional digital camera to capture a picture of his eyes at this time.

Also, can you suggest a broad spectrum antibiotic for me?

Hopefully after looking at the picture of his eyes before treatment(which will be in the following post), someone will be able to determine what course of action I should take.

Thank you for your help.

 

[mmm55645]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1648537

This is what the eye looked like at the beginning of this incident. It quickly(within a few weeks before treatment) swelled up tremendously, then after being quarantined and treated with prazipro, the eyes went from bulging to looking like they are scraped away. I hesitated way too long because I could not decide what to do.

Currently, there are still dark spots or pupils in the eyes(I am presuming they are called pupils in fish), however, the pupils are not the proper shape.

 

[grizwalt333]

Popeye

Popeye

Looks like Popeye to me. When I first started my tank I had two fish come down with this. My gobie did not, he had his own problems. I would try maracyn and maracyn 2 run them independently in your QT one treatment then the other after a few days and a stiff Water Change in between.

 

[mmm55645]

the pic was of the fish at the beginning. He no longer has this with his eye.


Now his eyes look like they were partially scraped away.

If it was popeye all along, maybe he survived it on his own, b/c the only thing I have treated him with(the only thing I knew to treat him with) was the prazipro.

It has been about four months in total since that pic.

Is the fish still contagious in his current condition? I don't have a functional digital camera at the moment. His eyes look like they were partially scraped away.

I just want to be sure before I put him back into his tank so he does not infect other fishes.

 

[mmm55645]

can anyone advise me if the fish is safe to put in the tank in his current condition?


I have heard both that I should put him back in the tank, and also that I should treat him with more medicine.



Currently, his eyes look damaged, but other than that he is acting fine. I don't know if his current shape is in indication of a parasitic infection or if it is a result of a condition that he no longer has.

Any advice will be helpful.

 

[RBU1]

Hard to tell you what to do....But if it were me I would treat him in Cupramine for 4 weeks just to be safe. But your call