Cataract

[tobaj]

What does Cataract look like at its beginning stages?
How can I identify that it is indeed cataract instead of cloudy eye? what are the main differences in symptoms.
Any help or photos would be appreciated.

update. I did some online investigation and I found a photo that someone else posted of their fish in which they eye looks exactly like how my fishes eye looks, although the dot on mine is slightly smaller. What is this????

Thank you

 

[jlk]

What type of fish are you refering to? What size tank, tankmates, & water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph)? Can you post a pic? Some more information will help us to help you better!

True cataracts are not common in aquarium fish & are believed to be linked to possible genetic or nutritional deficiency factors. Most 'cataracts' that are seen in aquariums are actually due to poor water conditions & the eye being burned and/or scarred by poor water quality. Healthy water alone sometimes is enough to cure this depending on the severity of the situation. Bacterial infections can compound this situation & need to be addressed with antibiotics. Injury or parasites are two other possible reasons for a cloudy eyes. Heres a link with some more information:

Fish Cloudy Eyes

 

[jlk]

Hi! I didnt realize you had another thread here! Can i ask where you are right now in respect to your fish (incl water parameters) and what is happening? I see you tried treating with maracyn, correct? This will not help as its a gram-positive antibiotic & most eye infections are gram-negative. Did this start as an an overall cloudiness or a single speck?

 

[tobaj]

Hi thank you for the response.
I tested ammonia last night and it was 0ppm
NO2 - 0 ppm
NO3 - 0 ppm
PH - 7
Tank size 30gal long
I have all Bolivian Rams in the tank. 2 adult males, 1 adult female and the rest are babies which are about 6 months old. 12 in all. I am trying to sell some babies cause my tank will start to get very crowded soon but so far selling has been slow.

So far I have not treated the male. There is a faint blurry/cloudy spot on his eye (slightly in the middle top portion) Very tiny. I found a photo online of what it kind of looks like. But the spot on the photo looks a little larger than what my fish has. My female fishes eye looks more like this photo. She is totally blind at this point but her eye started off looking like the photo with a white dot in the middle.

I have had the adults for about 3 years now.
oh yeah and they laid eggs last night.

 

[jlk]

It sounds like you have your hands full with fish! Im glad your water looks good- stay on top of monitoring it & doing pwcs to make sure its as healthy as possible. I would try treating with kanamycin though you probably wont find it in most lfs. Amazon carries Seachems kanamycin (called kanaplex). If this med isnt an option, minocycline (maracyn 2) is available in most big chain stores. I am suspicious, however, of the possibility of a possible parasite/protozoa as you now have a second fish being affected.

Heres another link to read & see if any symptoms match your fish. Click on the 'disease index' on the top of the page. Scroll down to the bottom under the 'advanced fish diseases' section & click on the 'eye disorders'
FISH DISEASE DIAGNOSIS & FISH DISEASE TREATMENTS

 

[tobaj]

Well I did some research and I am thinking that it might be fish eye flukes? They said that a symptom is white dots on the eye. My fish only has 1 dot so far though.. Would kanamycin help cure eye flukes?

 

[jlk]

Kanamycin is an antibiotic & will only treat bacterial infections. The best treatment for flukes (general) is praziquantal (sold as prazipro). But, white dots can also be a protozoa issue which would require a different med(metronizadole). Without lab diagnostics, its difficult to figure what exactly you may be dealing with. Unfortunately, most of us dont have access to labs or a fish vet to help with diagnosing fish issues. I would say try the prazipro & lets see what happens & we will go from there. Keep us posted!

 

[tobaj]

Ok after staring pretty hard at the fishes eye, it looks like the cloudy dot is ontop of her eye, not on the lens of the eye. Does this confirm that it is a parasite?

 

[jlk]

Do you see something similar in both eyes of the more affected fish & on the eye on the newly affected fish? If so, then, yes, a parasite is possible.

 

[tobaj]

Do you see something similar in both eyes of the more affected fish & on the eye on the newly affected fish? If so, then, yes, a parasite is possible.

On the blind fish both of her eyes are pretty much clouded over to the point where her eyes look gray. In the middle of both her eyes (on the black part) there seems to be an elevated area that appears cloudy.

On the newly infected fish, on one eye only, right in the middle it looks like has a small whitish elevated growth on the eyeball. see photo.
I am getting so frustrated. I have to study for a huge test and this fish is distracting me and worrying me to death. Plus I live in Hawaii so the fish stores dont haven hardly any medicines.

 

[jlk]

Thanks for the great pic! Study for your exam- we dont have any immediate treatments available & my guess is you will need to order some meds if your access is limited. Have you tried dosing any aq salt? I know this is not possible with eggs & babies but i didnt recall if you had added any or not at any point.

 

[tobaj]

I have never used aq salts before.
This morning I looked up Maracyn Two up on amazon. They want to charge me $12 to ship it to where I live and it will come in 7 days (the slowest shipping possible!!)
The cost of the medicine itself is only $13

 

[jlk]

This is what i would suggest you purchase instead from amazon if you have not placed your order yet- 1 container of 'kanaplex' ($5) & 1 bottle of prazipro ($6-11). I dont know what shipping will be though!

 

[tobaj]

This is what i would suggest you purchase instead from amazon if you have not placed your order yet- 1 container of 'kanaplex' ($5) & 1 bottle of prazipro ($6-11). I dont know what shipping will be though!

Thank you for the recommendation. I did not buy the other one yet.
For Kanaplex 5gm - $7.90
Shipping $28.03 (standard 7 days)
Prazipro - $9.49
Shipping $16.75

Total $62.17.

This is what the cost came out on amazon.
I def. can't afford this.

 

[jlk]

Wow!!! They really KILL you on shipping!!! Ok, its worth calling around to your lfs stores to see what they may or may not have in stock for meds. We can try to find some alternatives!