White "areas" on Tetra's eyes

[Smudgeboss]

We have 5 goldskirted Tetras in a 10 gal tank. Just finished the cycle. One of the old timers (from the start of the cycle) has some white areas in both its eyes. one eye is worse than the other. They are not round spots and don't seem to be protruding. The fish is acting normal as far as I can see. Any suggestions?

 

[An t-iasg]

Are the eyes cloudy? I don't know about gold-skirted tetras in particular, but some tetras do not handle the fluctuating ammonia and nitrite levels of a cycling aquarium well, and stress/illness can result. I would keep the water as clean as possible. Do water changes of about 20% twice a week to see if it helps this fish. If necessary, QT him and use an antibiotic like Maracyn I or II or TriSulfa. Maracyn Plus is a new antibiotic that I've seen but I haven't used it.

Hopefully this will help. It's a possibility that the fish has parasites, but in that case I would think that all the fish would have it. Try extra water changes, and the antibiotic if needed. Use the antibiotic in a QT tank to avoid harming your newly-formed biofilter!