Snakeskin gourami with popeye

[RoK]

It seems my snakeskin has popeye, its right eye had some whitish stuff at the top part of the eye, I treated with melafix, it went away for about a day and now its swelled up. Should I stop using melafix? I'm doing a PWC ASAP but I need suggestions on what else could help it. I had a rather powerful air pump with large airstone running but took it out for now to see if it helps at all. I want to try whatever I can do to help her.

 

[An t-iasg]

Is only one eye affected? If so, it may be an injury. If both eyes are swollen, it's probably a bacterial infection. How often do you do water changes, and what are the water parameters? Sometimes, popeye is related to a water quality issue.

For now, I would try an antibiotic, like Maracyn 1 or Maracyn 2, or TriSulfa. How is she doing with the Melafix? Labyrinth fishes like bettas and gouramis don't do well with Melafix. It seems to adversely affect the labyrinth organ. I don't have gouramis, and I think other members are split about 50-50 on whether Melafix is harmful to gouramis. But I know for sure that Melafix is bad for bettas. If you use it on your gourami now or in the future, just watch closely for signs of stress and do a large water change if necessary. But for now, I think your best bet would be to try an antibiotic.

How is she acting also without the large airstone? Labyrinth fish need to be able to breathe at the surface of the water, and if the airstone causes too much turbulence, it may prevent that. Maybe you could see how she does without it, or use a gang valve to reduce the airflow a bit.

 

[RoK]

It started with only the right eye being affected, then the left got some of the whitish stuff. The next day it seemed the right eye was pretty much healed (I did use melafix which I think did it) but the next day the eye was kinda swollen. As of now the right eye's swelling went down a bit, the left has a little bit of the whitish stuff left, I hope she has a full recovery.
The tank hasn't really been running that long, a few months. I had to do some frequent water changes a few weeks ago due to ich. The Snakeskin was introduced to the tank after all the ich was gone, at least I think so.
I will be doing water changes probably once every 2 weeks (when Snakeskin has hopefully recovered). For now should I be doing frequent water changes or just a large water change to see if it helps?
I'm not exactly sure on the water parameters right now but I will check and post back later.
I will see if I can find TriSulfa.
The melafix seemed to help. She's eating and swimming normally but I will keep a closer eye on her. Last night (when the eye was the most swollen) I took out the airstone and in the morning the swelling went down. I did put a little bit of melafix yesterday too.

 

[An t-iasg]

Extra water changes are never bad, especially when a fish shows signs of being ill. Lots of good, clean water wil always help the healing process. Where is this gourami? In a QT tank or in the 75 gallon? Frequent, smaller changes (25-30%) are more effective IMO and less stress on the fish than one big change. I understand that frequent water changes in a tank this size can be a pain, so if the gourami is the only one affected, I would take some water from the 75 gallon and make up a QT tank for her, and then change this water every other day.

Melafix is fine to use in the main tank. It won't kill off your good bacteria and it usually doesn't need to be removed by carbon. Just watch the gourami with the labyrinth issue, but it it's helping then that's good. You could try the TriSulfa if it seems to be lingering, but I would definitely not use it in the main 75 gallon tank.

It's interesting that she got better when you took out the airstone. I don't think airstones are really necessary for water movement or aeration; your filter(s) should take care of that. (but I don't have a tank that big!)

 

[RoK]

How would I make a QT tank? Does it have to be a glass or acrylic tank? If there's a link with some info on how to set one up or anything like that, let me know.

 

[An t-iasg]

Here is an excellent article about FW QT tanks from our article section:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=35

 

[RoK]

She seems to be getting better, it looks like it's healing. It's going slowly but that's fine with me as long as it totally goes away. I will check back in the morning.

 

[RoK]

She's fully healed.