Advice Needed: Yellow Tang got Eye caught in Powerhead

[neide]

Well, I should have known better. Just added two new strong powerheads to my tank, and went looking for some filter media to clip onto them today, but the store was out. Well, I turned them on anyway. You can predict the rest.

My little yellow tang got stuck in one of them. Not clear how long he was stuck to it, but it wasn't more than a few minutes. The eye that was stuck is pulled out now, and the other one is kind of pulled in. He's acting some what normally, but the blue tang who was his best friend has been picking at him (his tail, not his eye) ever since. So I put him in a little refugium to protect him. I attached the best photos I could, I'm looking for a) some sympathy and b) some advice on what to do now. I do have a QT, but there are currently two damsels in it, so I'd prefer not to move him into there if I don't have to.

It does look like its getting a little better, but its quite hard to tell.

 

[neide]

Here's another photo, you can kind of see the other eye sunk in in this one.

 

[quarryshark]

Poor little guy.
Well, I would suggest a qt tank in case the need for antibiotics comes into play if he gets infected.
If you cant do that, keep water quality high and lace his food with some selcon for added nutrition and just watch him. You could add some epson salt for inflammation.
maybe someone can add further.
Good luck!!!

 

[neide]

Is epsom salt safe for the shrimp, crabs and snails in my tank?

Will it be obvious if he does get infected?

 

[quarryshark]

No it won't hurt anyone. It has elements already contained in synthetic sea salts.
If he gets infected, other than physical evidence from the injury he may stop eating and become lethargic. Here is some reading on eye injuries.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/popeyefaqs.htm

 

[neide]

Its somewhat amazing. He pretty much looks normal now. Over about a 6 hour period last night, it slowly popped back into place. I'll keep a close eye on him over the next few days, but he looks almost normal - except for a very slight redness in the one eye.

Wow.

 

[rubysoho]

that redness is probably just some bruising (IMO) , hopefully he won't get a secondary infection and everything will be ok!

 

[neide]

The redness is almost gone as of late last night. I'm amazed. I already thought he was a great fish, but now I know he has magical healing powers as well.

 

[Terry B]

Good news that your fish is healing.

I am not convinced that using Epson salt really helps with popeye, but the first thing that I recommend is a large water change using well aged and aerated saltwater. As with your experience, fish often recover from popeye due to trauma without treatment. If the eye gets infected it will usually look cloudy or red. If the fish does not respond to the water change within a few days and the eye looks cloudy then I use Maracyn-Two at double strength as first choice. Some other choices are furanase and nitrofurazone (Furacyn).

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[neide]

Well, just wanted to drop a quick update. I've kept a close eye on Lemon (my son named him) and he's now, a week later, back to 100%. Amazing. I never did treat anything, just waited and watched a lot.

Whew. That was a scarey one.

 

[quarryshark]

Very cool!!

 

[neide]

Well, sad to report that things didn't turn out so well after all. It had been about two weeks, and Lemon was eating and acting normal, no signs of anything being wrong. Then he just turned up dead over the weekend. Still no external signs of anything being wrong, and its clear he wasn't attacked either. He must have gotten some sort of internal infection from the whole experience.

I feel pretty badly. Fortunately for some reason by son hasn't noticed his absence, so if all else looks good in the tank I'll replace him this weekend.

 

[srgetz]

Sorry to hear of your loss...

Still no external signs of anything being wrong, and its clear he wasn't attacked either. He must have gotten some sort of internal infection from the whole experience.

I agree, he looked very thin in the pic. Just an educated guess, though.

 

[revhtree]

Sorry to hear.

Make sure you qt your new one.

 

[Terry B]

In the photo that you posted it looked like the fish had a bacterial infection of the fins (frayed fins) and the fish looked very thin. You might want to do some research on how to feed and care for a tang before you get another one. Oh, and skipping quarantine is like playing Russian Roulette.

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[neide]

Um, he had frayed fins because he was getting picked on after he got his eye stuck. The picture did make him look thin, but he really wasn't. And who said I wasn't using a QT tank?

Terry, you always this friendly with people? What makes you think I didn't know how to feed and care for a tang?