What is this

[Molson Ice]

So I noticed about a week ago that my cichlid's eye looked odd and continued to get worst. Earlier this week I ran a full treatment of API fungus cure. The only thing I have not done yet is a water change as I did put in some salt and a dose of Melafix this evening. I figured I would do a water change, vacuum the gravel and treat with more melafix tomorrow afternoon. I did take out the filters when I started the treatment earlier this week. It's his left eye and it's the white-ish cone shaped thing. Any info or input would be helpful, thanks in advance.
Also he is the only fish in a 29gal tank for a few years or so. I've never had any issues other than an alge bloom ect.

 

[Molson Ice]

Here are some pics, of course he would not cooperate and turn for the perfect shot...

 

[libertybelle]

I’m not sure what cone like thing you’re talking about in the picture ...

That said, I can tell you immediately that we’re going to need to know a few basic things to help. How big the tank is, what else is in it, water parameters that kind of thing.

(There is a sticky on the subject in this forum if you’re not sure the kinds of things we usually need to get started.)

 

[libertybelle]

Also, what do you mean you took out the filters? Regardless of what it is, a drop in water quality will make it worse.

 

[Molson Ice]

If you zoom in and look at his left eye, you will see a clear/white-ish clone shaped thing sticking out over his eye. At a glance it looks like it is part of the background but I assure you it is attached to him. I have not changed his diet or feeding routine, he is in a 29 gallon tank and alone for a few years now. He is still active and has always hung out around the bottom of the tank. I have not checked the water parameters in a long time and do about 40% water change every month. I took the filters out following the directions for the fungus cure.

 

[libertybelle]

I’m sorry, maybe it’s because I’m on mobile and it won’t let me zoom in very well, but I really don’t see anything. That said if it’s not a fuzzy kind of growth then it’s probably not a fungus.

Often medications (including melafix) will ask you take the carbon out of the filter but I don’t think any medications want you to kill all filtration in the tank. As I said I don’t really know what the issue is with his eye but having no filter running is unlikely to help if there is a problem and will cause it’s own issues.

Maybe I’m still confused. When you say ‘took out the filters’ to me that means you took everything out of the filter or stopped running the filter entirely… Do you just mean you took the carbon insert out?

 

[King Fisher]

One of two things I can think of.... your fish damaged that eye on something in the tank or he's got "Popeye".....if it's Popeye I've never been able to cure it but maybe someone on here has more input.

If it's damaged from something I the tank you need to make the tank water as clean as possible. Put the filters back in then I would do another 50% water change. Then id do 25% water changes twice a week. Go buy an API master test kit to test your water. You need to be doing this a couple times a week at this point.

 

[Angellove78]

Looks like cloudy eye diease. If your ph dropped too low or high ammonia levels, so on... Could be the cause. I wouldn't combine salt and melafix though. Still run your filter but should take the media/cartridge out till your done with treatment of meds. Salt will not help or cure this. Personally I'd go with a better medication. Looks pretty bad. Keep the tank clean to help.

 

[King Fisher]

Good point Angel. I forgot about that.

You will need to find an antibiotic if possible. If not you must keep the water quality very good and as I mentioned you need a water test kit. Your pH needs to be checked to see if there's any dramatic shift and you should keep your nitrates at 15-20 ppm...no more than 20. Of course, ammonia 0 and nitrite 0. Sometimes this is all it takes for the fish to heal on it's own. I would scrap all the current meds you are using IMO. Bare minimum, I would change 33% of the water every three days. Use Seachem Prime for your dechlorinator.

 

[Molson Ice]

Thanks for all the replys everyone.
The filter is a Marineland biowheel penguin 150, it is running, I only took out the filter cartridges. I only have an ammonia test kit, and that came out in the ideal range. I'll bring in a sample of my tank water to the pet store for them to test and pick up a master kit too. I do use prime on every water change. Should I continue to use the melafix or salt or both after I do a water change today or pick something else up? What Meds do you recommend if any? Also why should I not use the salt and melafix at the same time? Liberty, on his left eye, it looks like he has a droplet of white silicon on his eye. Look at the eye on the right side of the picture, the one that's hard to see. He only lets me take his pic on his good side so those are the best pics I could get.

 

[coralbandit]

I see the triangle mass on its eye.
Tough call on what it is ?
I am not a salt or 'fix' person. You may do better praying [it is Sunday !] .
IMO that issue although not clearly discussed in eye issue links is bacterial or even viral.
Bacterial would require antibiotics ,and there is not treatment for virus besides clean water. For treatment of bacterial issue you need to figure out if the antibiotic used is gram negative or positive.
It is safe to combine some gram - &+ meds at the same time which removes the need to properly ID possibly..
How hard is your water ?

 

[Molson Ice]

He was a little cooperative this morning so here is a head on pic of him. I'm heading to pet smart shortly for the water tests and the kit. Is there anything I should pick up too? I'm not sure what meds have/are the gram -/+.

I do plan on changing out all my plants, should I do this with my next water change or wait a while on this?
Once again, thanks for all the help and info.

 

[libertybelle]

Ooooooohhh other eye. Because you were taking pictures of his right side I assumed you were saying left eye from our perspective rather than his. Thought it was odd but, *shrug*!

Since your filter is a bio wheel that’s good, that means when you took out the cartridge you didn’t take out all of the beneficial bacteria. But when medications tell you to take out the carbon, you really only need to take out the carbon. Any filters that are not activated carbon-based can stay in and should. And if your filter uses those blue cartridges, you can cut open the side and dump out the carbon and leave the material of the cartridge which is housing all the good bacteria.

If you’ve already let the filter cartridges dry out or they’ve been out of the fish tank for too long this may be a moot point, because the bacteria on those cartridges will be dead but if there’s a chance they still have good bacteria on them you should put them back in minus any carbon if you’re going to medicate again.

What’s an ideal range for ammonia, not to nitpick but if your test shows anything other than 0 it’s not ideal. What test kit are you using that gives you a range?

We are awfully nitpicky about testing water and water quality on this forum, because it’s really kind of the baseline. Regardless of what bacteria/virus/injury started the problem good water can help and badwater will absolutely make it worse.

It’s like telling someone to stay hydrated when they get sick. It’s not that that’s going to fight the actual virus but it’s going to keep you in good shape to fight the virus

 

[libertybelle]

Looks like we were typing at the same time! why are you changing out your plants? Are they live plants or artificial?

I might leave them for now because if they’re healthy they may be helping with any mini cycling that could have been caused by removing the cartridges in your filter. Even if they’re artificial they’re probably housing good bacteria on their surface which you might not want to take out while you could be experiencing a mini cycle.

 

[Molson Ice]

I was going to just cut out the carbon but wasn't sure it that was going to be enough so I thought I'd just remove the whole cartridges so the medicine would work. The plants are artificial, and they do have algae built up on them. That is why I want to change them out. I will wait on changing the plants if that is your recommendation.

 

[Angellove78]

Imo. I'd pull the plants like you said some cause ph swings. Clean the tank and water changes are important. This is most likely a injury that happened and then infection set in do to water quality. The melafix will probably work but I'd grab something alittle stronger to have on hand. It's possible the fish will not have he's site in that eye after this if it's a injury from the start. But, all you can do is hope, and do what you can to help. Good luck.

 

[libertybelle]

Imo. I'd pull the plants like you said some cause ph swings.

How would artificial plants cause pH swings?

If you get your test kit and find that you don’t have a mini cycle going on then you could probably safely take them out and clean them or replace them. But considering you just took a big chunk of beneficial bacteria out of your filter, I wouldn’t recommend pulling out hardscape too right now. The algae may not look very pretty, but that kind of cleaning isn’t the kind that will help the fish right now.

Just cutting out the carbon would have been perfectly sufficient. If you’ve kept the cartridges wet dump out the carbon and put them back in. if not it doesn’t much matter because the bacteria will be dead if they dried out.

 

[Molson Ice]

So I found a dead bambo plant in my tank that I thought I had removed when they all died, it does show signs of small white cottony blotches on it. So I'm thinking this is part of the root cause, it has been removed. The bambo was planted last spring/summer and I didn't expect them to survive, I just thought they would be fun and pleasant to look at. That is the only live plant I have ever put into the tank.

 

[libertybelle]

Yeah dead plants are contributing to ammonia. Between losing part of the filter and decaying plant life in the tank I’d be real surprised if you didn’t have at least some water quality issues contributing.

 

[Angellove78]

So I found a dead bambo plant in my tank that I thought I had removed when they all died, it does show signs of small white cottony blotches on it. So I'm thinking this is part of the root cause, it has been removed. The bambo was planted last spring/summer and I didn't expect them to survive, I just thought they would be fun and pleasant to look at. That is the only live plant I have ever put into the tank.

There's your start of the problem. I'd do a few big water changes back to back. Then start your treatment over. Vacuum the bottom real good when you change the water.