Let's talk about pop eye

[hsherman1986]

What is it? what causes it? is it contageous? how can it be treated?

I have a molly with pop eye, we call her Big Bertha, as she is the largest molly at 2.5". I have her quarentined, and she is completly blacked out, I wrapped a towel around her to try to help ease her stress.

What else can I do for her? Is she in pain? what can I do to make her more comfortable? will I have to euthanize?

any help is appreciated, as I have not yet found a decent answer when I did a search for it.

 

[lmw80]

Popeye is usually a secondary condition to another disease or poor water conditions. What are your water parameters? Once a fish gets popeye, the outcome is not usually too positive.

What do you mean exactly that you wrapped a towel around her??

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I'm guessing "around her...TANK..." as part of the blackout. That confused me too. Like lmw80 said, it is usually secondary to another problem. Make sure her water is extra clean. If she is still eating, try feeding medicated fish food.

 

[An t-iasg]

In addition to the above advice, you could try some antibiotics in the QT tank. Look in the lfs for one that says it treats popeye and follow the directions on the package.

With very clean water, and some antibiotics in the food and/or water, the eye should get better. It probably isn't contagious, but if the water conditions are not good, the other fish may be susceptible to popeye also.

 

[Ky'smommy]

i am going through the same problem with my siamease fighighting fish..
and this is a site i found. and it tells you how to identify what causeed it and what you can do to fish it.
http://www.flippersandfins.net/pop-eye.htm
if you can catch it and deal with it right away then she might be ok. im hopeing . im making an visit to my petstore. to buy him new food and anything that might have caused it. good luck with your molly.

 

[hsherman1986]

the water conditions in her tank are perfect, as are the rest of my tanks. In the specific tank that she was in ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are 15. Ph has been steady at 7.6 between all of my tanks (its my tap water). No one else has shown any signs of this, it has just been her. I read somewhere that it could be caused by an injury from another fish, is this true? If so, it would not surprise me that someone bit her back. She can be a little on the territorial side sometimes, but she never nips or hurts anyone.

and yes the towel is around her tank, sorry bout that. oh, and yes, she is still eating like a pig, she was chasing everyone off of the shrimp pellets i threw in there before i noticed her eye. It was during that feeding time that I noticed her eye, and took her out and put her in QT.

 

[Menagerie]

I read somewhere that it could be caused by an injury from another fish, is this true?

That has happened. Check out Disease Diagnostic Charts and Other Helpful Sites at least one of those should have a decent description--may be the second link that has pics.

Is she eating in QT? If you suspect injury rather than disease, treat with Melafix to prevent secondary infection and treat her with TLC. If she was healthy before the injury, she may heal to the point she can go back in the main tank. In the meantime, keep a close watch on the tank she came from for any out cropping of disease.

 

[hsherman1986]

i will check that out, thanks for the link. hopefully it will help me out.

she is still eating in QT, not shy about it at all. She was very healthy before this, ate better than anyone else in there because of her being territorial, has grown larger than anyone else in there, even the males. She is the big fish in that tank.

keeping an eye on the tank she was in, no one else looks ill, but her eye has gotten worse. The liquid under her eye has filled in more making her eye stick out farther. I am about to go feed her again just to see if she is still interetsed.