Popeye?

[Thorn_haw]

Hey there,

I recently purchased a new fish, it wasn't until I got him home that I realised he has one "Popeye". I am not sure it is possible that this is the result of his breeding or if he was injured in the shop? I have also noticed he seems to have a scale missing but this was only noticeable or only occurred a few days after bringing him home!

I have no background on him and he was bought from a large pet store so am just hoping someone can help me identify the problem or if there is one as I don't want to treat him blindly and kill him!

He is eating and behaving entirely normally apart from the above.

I have attached photos, thank you for any help you can give!

 

[libertybelle]

One sided Popeye is usually injury but the same advice as always applies. First step is clean stable water. What are your parameters including ammonia/ nitrite/ nitrate and temperature. What size tank and what is your water change schedule.

Any ornaments in your tank that could be sharp? Even if he injured himself elsewhere his eyesight may be limited right now and he may injure himself again so I would take out anything you don’t want him running into. Check the edges of any fake plants for example; if it seems rough enough to damage fins you should probably remove it.

I believe Epsom salts is a common treatment but you’ll have to do some research or ask someone else about that because I’m not sure.

 

[Thorn_haw]

Hey there, sorry for the late reply and thank-you for answering me!

There are no sharp ornaments in the tank, I have actually removed the ornaments that aren't plants now in case he catches his eye. It's an 100 gallon tank so he should have room. My parameters are as follows:


Nitrate measures at 0 and 0. I don't currently have any ammonia test strips so would have to buy some.


I do a 10% change once weekly, the fish developed a white fungus on him along one side last Friday but that seems to have gone down. Popeye is no worse but no better!

 

[libertybelle]

Pristine water will often clear this kind of thing on its own. I can’t tell easily how big the fish is but it looks fairly small for 100g of water. Makes ammonia build up less likely unless it has tank mates? But really you need to know for sure. If your tank isn’t cycled the Popeye will not easily resolve.

Don’t bother with the test strips; get the liquid kits. And if you don’t have the liquid kits for nitrite and nitrate I would get them too.