Sick panda cory catfish. Maybe Popeye?

[Dennos]

Hello all. This is my first post here although I have been lurking for months as a guest. I have seen that you are all very nice and know a lot about fish so I decided to ask this here.

I recently set up a 29 gallon community freshwater aquarium and it had just finished it's fish in cycle. All readings are normal; ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 20. Yesterday I bought 2 panda cory catfish from my local petsmart. (I know I should have more than 2 I'm planning to get 4 more I'm just adding slowly.) anyway one of the pandas I got has what I'm guessing is Popeye. I'm not sure if he had it when I got him or of he developed it on my tank. Anyone know if this is Popeye and if so any ideas how to cure it? Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help!

 

[icydeath]

Pristine water quality helps. Just try to keep the nitrates low. 20 should be okay. Do frequent water changes and that should be enough to help your cory recover. I think it might have been the parameters in the other tank that messed it up, not yours. Yours seem okay.

 

[Dennos]

Ok thanks I'm glad to hear that. So no special meds I need to buy?

 

[icydeath]

As of now, no.

 

[absolutangel04]

I honestly cannot tell from your picture if your fish has popeye or not, but I will assume it does and that it has an eye that is bulging out.
Popeye is more of a symptom than a disease. When it is on just one side, it is often an infection as the result of an injury to that eye though another common issue is poor water quality.
Popeye comes from a fluid build up as the result of a bacterial infection. Fish have immune systems just like we do and can fight infections in much the same way. I agree to keep the water very clean, and hopefully it dies down. I doubt it was from your tank, it probably happened before. Try and keep your nitrates as low as possible while it is healing. I would aim for under 20.
One way to treat it is just with some salt. It helps equalize the osmotic pressure and takes pressure off the eye. Also, salt can help clear up bacterial infections. That is the route I suggest if it doesn't seem to be getting better soon. Some people say cories do not do well with salt. Usually, they are fine during salt treatments IME. Every once in awhile there is an issue, but they seem to be few and far between. Also, keep in mind that bacterial infection are not good for cories either and kill a lot more cories than salt treatments do. That is up to your judgement though how you want to handle it, and depending on what else is in your tank.