GBR with pop-eye ?

[Kromlech54]

so lets start with the facts, i have 2 gbr's one male and one female, with an assortment of other community fish in a 36 gal cycled bowfont tank. my testing shows 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, .5ppm nitrites (or however the order of those two go) and a ph of 7.6. most of the fih in the tank are south americn fish which i understand like acidic water (ph of 6.4 - 6.9) but can be kept healthy in higher ph water. now my question is, my male gbr appears to have pop-eye in just his left eye, i have read that it can be caused by either an injury or possibly a bacterial infection due to poor water quality. if it was an injury i can see this cause my gbrs are a mating pair and do tend to get agressive when they spawn like most fish do (which also happened recently), but if it were bacterial, could the higher ph be the cause of the issue?

 

[spiketooth]

not likely, ph would not affect bac like that, Melafix works really good. my betta started with pop-eye and the second i notice it i started treatment. two days later it was gone and still happy and healthy.

 

[absolutangel04]

Not a pH issue. I agree that the likely culprit is either bacteria or else an injury.
Do you have a tank that can be used as a quarantine tank?

 

[Kromlech54]

Not a pH issue. I agree that the likely culprit is either bacteria or else an injury.
Do you have a tank that can be used as a quarantine tank?

I do not have a qt as it stands right now. i would like to but 1.) i don't have any room for it and my wife would likely kill me if she found another tank in the house and 2.)i don't have any funds to go purchase a new one. so i feel like i'm kinda at a loss hoping that it was just an injury and will go away if it can while keeping the eye.

 

[absolutangel04]

It's ok. You can treat this without a qt. If possible, you can always just set up a 5g bucket or big rubbermaid with a filter and heater (if you need it) as a qt. That is what I have done in the past.
So, for treating it, my first suggestion is to use just salt, and continue to keep the water really clean so the fish can heal on it's own. You can use Melafix if you want, but it is more expensive and I have had just as good of luck healing this with just clean water as with Melafix. A small treatment if salt will help balance out the osmotic pressure in the eye, and it also it mess with the bacteria that could be causing the issue.
Plants can handle a small amount of salt generally, as can most common community fish. Just to be safe, could you list your other stock in the tank to make sure?

 

[Kromlech54]

4 Oto's, 2 GBR's, 3 Angels, 10 Neon Tetra's, 6 Black Skirt Tetra's, and 5 Cory's

 

[spiketooth]

how often do you do waterchanges? your a little overstocked

 

[Kromlech54]

i do a 30% water change 3/4 weeks out of a month and a 50% 1 out of 4 weeks a month.

i couldn't be too terribly overstocked i wouldn't think i mean according to the 1 inch per gallon rule i would definitely be over but i have also read that if you buy species of fish for each area of your tank IE: bottom top and mid that you could get away with it. as long as i did regular water changes.

 

[Kromlech54]

so i have now qt the male gbr in a 5 gallon bucket, with a heater, an air pump, and some aquarium salt. i have tried to feed him some frozen brine shrimp, not sure if he ate any though. i couldn't get a filter to fit onto the side of the bucket so as for now i'm just going to do a water change twice a day?

i have also noticed before i pulled him outta the tank, he still was showing the blue flecks of color as well as all his dark black lines like a normal gbr does, but the reddish/yellowish head and partial body is now a darker brown color now. i do hope he will be ok.

 

[spiketooth]

The angels are going to get big so i just be preparedto rehome them down the road. I asked about the water change becuase popeye can be contribute to poor water, also injurys as well. With that that stocking bio might be a little high even tho your toxins are in check. Still can be a factor. This is just a suggestion thats all. Might do small water changes just to suck up the poop