Knight1987

I have a blue ram cichlid who is just an inch long so he's a juvenile Last night I discovered one of his eyes is kind of milky/cloudy but the other eye is fine. He doesn't have any aggressive tank mates so I don't know what it is. My water is perfect, 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates. What can I do to help him? I just got him and the nearest store that sells him is over an hour away so it was quite a trip to get him. What should I do? My tank cycled a month ago so im afraid to hurt the bacterial colony. I have aquarium salt. Should I add that?? PLEASE HELP he's my favorite! Below is a picture of his grey eye


Edit: I added the appropriate amount of aquarium salt for my tank size because I read that helps cure many diseases. I also added API fungus cure because my fish matched the symptoms on the box. Will this work?

David C

I wish I had answers for you, but sadly I have never had any actual disease in my tanks *knock on wood*, but this little bump will hopefully get some help from someone who does have some experience.

Dave

TedsTank

Hi and Welcome to our Forum!!!!

Please do not add aquarium salt. It's possible of course that you bought him that way and If possible return him. I know an hour is a long drive. Contact your LFS now and inform them of the problem....you have only had him for a day. Keep the tank ultra clean and keep up your water changes. 78 degrees is ok. Watch him closely and wait and see.
Please fill in all your aquarium info too....it really helps us when/if you encounter problems

Knight1987

Um I've had him for two weeks, actually.... Aquarium salt is supposed to help kill the infection... Are you trying to tell me that adding the aquarium salt will not work? My aquarium info is all filled in btw. Did u not see it?

TedsTank

Aquarium salt is not good for, very effective on the South American Dwarf cichlids. Clean water and your aquarium parameters will do more for him to heal. Can you tell at all if he might have damaged his eye somewhere in the tank...or is it just cloudy, not swollen?

Knight1987

It's both cloudy AND swollen. Was Fungus Cure not a good treatment choice? I could do a 50% water change and put in some activated carbon to get the medication out if needed... or should i just keep the medication in there for now until the first treatment (wednesday) is done. I can just not do the 2nd treatment but i want to be aggressive in helping him cuz my gourami is like in love with him and the two are inseparable lol. It's the cutest thing. Oh and he is extremely active, eating plenty, and not showing any signs of being ill. I had to net him the other night to make sure i didn't hit him while I was moving decorations around. He got scared and he might have bumped up hard against the glass. Do you think that would cause his eye to get cloudy tho?

TedsTank

It could be damaged...if you have added fungus medicine go ahead and leave it. ...but I do not recommend the salt. It should heal if the fish is healthy.
Only ever do one type of treatment at a time. ....do what is recommended for the fungus and see how he does. Watch that he is eating, etc. Be sure he gets rest...maybe even turn the light out on your tank earlier than normal.

Knight1987

I hope he heals well. I did a 100% water change to try and get most of the fungus medicine out so as not to stress him. The salt is now officially out. I just hope I didn't mess up the biological filter when I did the water changes. I made sure to keep the filter media wet so there shouldn't be a problem. I don't think he's sick because he is behaving like normal and is in fact even more energetic than normal. I'll go get some melafix and add half the dose to the tank to help him heal. Do I need to take the activated charcoal out for when I add the melafix? I'm hoping the charcoal will make the ugly discoloration from the medicine go away.

TedsTank

100% Wow...you do use a chlorine conditioner Check your water parameters regularly!!! Some meds can interfere with the bacteria in the filter. If he seems a bit more active....leave thank alone....too many worries and adjustments on your part can add a lot of stress to the fish....watch him and let him heal....it won't be overnight.

Charcoal will filter out some of the meds. I don't use it ever, but some folks do. Don't worry about the water color yet....it's the fish you want to save.

Now, you have added salt and removed it, Fungus meds and removed it and now melafix.

Please relax and stop throwing fix things into your water...lol
No meds will heal him instantly. All these chemicals are not always the best thing!!..You are up to 3 now, and a 100% water change!!! ...please slow down and try not to panic.

Trust me, Ive been there before as most of us on the Forum have...healthy fish can heal...stressed fish will not.

Knight1987

Lol i knowwww but im really worried about him. Do you think the 100% water change will hurt the biological filter at all? I didn't add the Melafix or anything so I'm keeping that as a backup. So, will the water disoloration go away on its own after some weekly water changes or what? I'm just so scared of losing this guy he's my favorite and if he dies my gourami will be so sad!!! :-p Seriously these two should have a wedding or something because they pretty much almost school together. I shall stop with the medications. What else do I need to do besides let him rest? I hope my bio filter isn't totally effed!

Knight1987

Ok, so the eye is REALLY swelling up right now and he's being very lethargic. I'm starting to suspect popeye... what should I do?

aquarist48

Good morning Knight,

For pop eye disease the best treatment I can recommend is pristine water conditions. A 100% water change should not harm your cycle as the good bacteria needed to cycle your tank is not free swimming but attached to all surface areas of your tank. Be sure to keep your filter media and substrate wet at all times.

However, make sure to match the temperature and pH as close as you can between the current tank water and the new water. Sudden changes in either can be very harmful to your fish.

Best wishes!
Ken

Knight1987

I moved the blue ram to a 5 gallon hospital tank. I don't understand, he's new to the tank so maybe he came with the disease. I will now quarantine ALL new arrivals in the 5 gallon I can throw together anytime with Nutrafin Cycle to do a quick dose of nitrifying bacteria that I'll add til I'm done with the quarantine. I've got just a tiny PINCH of aquarium salt in the 5 gallon with the proper dose of Melafix to see if that helps the little guy. He's just a baby ram too... Let's hope he makes it through the night. I did half old tank water with a handful of substrate and some new substraten as well as the other half brand new water with aquasafe. Say a prayer and hope he makes it. Thanks for your help