Pop Eye/white Skin/scabs on oscars eyes......HELP

[feinhorn]

I don't know if my fish have pop eye or something else. It looks like white scabs on both of thier eyes. Today I bought a 75 gal tank and transfered my fish from a 30 gal. They were in a bucket for a couple hours with a bubbles. About an hour after I but the fish in the tank one looked like it had scabs on it eyes and the other one looks like it starting to get the same thing. The only other fish I have in the tank is a pleco that seems fine. Medicate? Leave it alone? Help. I really don't want to loose these fish.

Also a rotten egg smell coming from the tank.

 

[Allivymar]

Ack! A rotten egg smell?? That means hydrogen sulfide; VERY deadly and a result of anaerobic bacteria at work. Get ALL the fish out of the tank, and do an almost complete water change. Prior to that, do a major gravel vac as the anaerobic pocket may be in there. After the water change, change the filter completely: thats the other place it may be occurring. Anaerobic bacteria shows up in areas where O2 can't reach; deep sand beds that O2 can't get into, uncleaned/changed filters that have become completely clogged, areas where the gravel is covered by decor and keeping the O2 from reaching it, or decorations with places where water can't circulate. Do check for any of those things, and make changes if needed. Your tank may recycle; keep an eye on your water parameters and water change (maybe 20-30%) anytime ammonia or nitrites show up. In your case, you don't want ANY in your tank as you don't want to stress your fish at all.

To be honest, I'm not sure if the hydrogen sulfide is the cause of the popeye, scabs, etc tho; it may be the stress from living with the hydrogen sulfide that has reduced the oscar's immune systems and made them susceptible to disease.

Start with the major water changes and get the poisons out of the tank. That MAY be enough to kick start some healing. In the mean time, can you give us a better description of the scabs or get a pic? Any changes in behavior? Heavy breathing noted? I don't want to recommend meds in case its (for example) a parasite and I recommend antibiotics which wouldn't help.

 

[feinhorn]

I don't know how this would have happened it is a brand new tank, brand new canister filter, brand new gravel. The only thing from the old tank is water and filter media (lava rock) put into the filter.

I have also never smelled this smell before. As for their eyes it looks like caterax of the eyes but it is physically on the outer lense of the eye. It is like a white contact lense on the outer eye, not covering the whole eye but atlease half.

 

[Allivymar]

Ahhh ok. Its making some sense then.

I have no idea why you'd have hydrogen sulfide in the tank; maybe its the old filter media? How long has the tank been up and running? And what are the current water parameters?

As for your poor oscars, what they have is cloudy eye. Its sometimes caused by a pathogen, but most often is caused by stress, malnutrition, old age and overproduction of the slime coat caused by irritation, poor water quality or poisoning. Its generally not a disease in and of itself, but a sign of problems. I'm betting the hydrogen sulfide it at the root of the issue. Don't medicate yet; get them in clean fresh treated water. That may be enough to clear things up. If things don't look better in a week or so, then try a broad spectrum antibiotic. If you want to read a little more about it, click here and scroll down to cloudy eye: http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html

 

[feinhorn]

I think we are getting some where, the only issues I have is the picture on the website shows cloudy eye to be internal to the eye, my oscars problem is external to the eye and actually raised for the lense outward. The tank has only been up and running for 24 hours. All the water perameters are prefect as of right now. No ammonia, no Nitrites. I really don't want to medicate this new tank but don't want to lose the oscars either.

 

[Terry]

There are a few things i can think of to make the eyes cloudy.

1. water quality problems e.g. expososure to CHLORINE and excessive Nitrogenus waste.

2. Bacteria infection. Possibly linked with STRESS and poor water conditions.

3. Abrasions, caused by poor handling ie. nets etc..

4. Vitamin defiiciency. unlikely if given a good diet.

5. Poisoning ie. Ammonia, Nitrite.

6. Acidosis, Alkalosis ie. sudden change in ph or incorrect ph.

7. Cloudy eyes can also be caused if the fish is constantly sitting in bubbles, i know you said they were in a bucket for a couple of hours with bubbles. This could be the cause. You also said you had a egg smell, i think your filter has died. Clean it out and start a fresh.
i can't think of anymore at the moment maybe someone else can.


HTH

 

[feinhorn]

Now this fish have what looks like a spider web on their skin. I know they are dying. Its like small white spots or something and cotton coming from the gills. I am taking the day off and goting to my LFS

 

[feinhorn]

The LFS gave me Paragon II to use for five days, hope it helps!!

 

[feinhorn]

some pictures of the illness

 

[feinhorn]

Notice all the skin coming off the eyes and the white all over his body......

 

[feinhorn]

An hour after putting the medication in the tank all of it seemed to be gone. The last time I medicated fish it was in another tank and the water turned yellow for hours. I had a power filter in that tank. In this i am using a canister filter and it seems to work so well that it removed the medication, are my fish still being medicated even though the water is clear?

 

[feinhorn]

On top of it all my pleco just died All I wanted to do was give my fish a better home..............

 

[feinhorn]

Sadly both of my oscars have died.......thanks for the help.

 

[Allivymar]

Aw jeez I'm sorry feinhorn that sucks.

I know you feel horrible, but do remember you DID try to give them a good home, and did what you could to save them else you wouldn't have come here. Losing fish is never easy, but its even worse when the cause isn't obvious. Don't let this make you give up tho!

If you decide to give it another go, I suggest sterilising the tank. Use a 1/10 solution of bleach/water and make sure you clean everything, including the tank, gravel, decor, tubes and filter (can the filter media). Rinse it until you think all the bleach is gone, then rinse a couple times more with water with a double dose of dechlor. Perchance the cause was viral/bacterial and not hydrogen sulfide, you'll want to be sure to eradicate it before adding anyone else to the tank.