Lindsay

Hi everyone,

There's a few people that know me already on this forum but for those of you who don't, I have a panaque fish that had some sort of bacterial infection (was pooping a lot) but I thought he had gotten over it. He was swimming around a lot more, eating more and generally looking much healthier. Anyway, I went away for Christmas for a couple of weeks quite worried how he was going to be, but when I came back he seemed fine! Then a couple days later, I changed 50% of his water and he ended up getting something that looks like pop-eye. :-( It's really worrying me because I don't know how to treat it or whether I should just wait it out (some say it could clear up on his own). He generally stays in the same spot, but does sometimes move to the driftwood to eat it. I guess he's had this pop-eye for about 2 days now and there's no sign of it getting better. I think on average, I try and change 50% of his water twice a week. I've had him in this new tank since the first week of December. I didn't end up getting the pH testing kit because I didn't feel there was a need to, as I was seeing signs of improvement and I left for my holidays as well. He lives in the tank by himself. I wanted to get him some fellow friends but now that he is looking sick again I will wait longer. In terms of food, I feed him zucchini, carrots, algae tablets and he has driftwood in his tank daily. When he was sick before, I was feeding him something called Bakto Tabs to treat the infection.

He is relatively young - only maybe 2 years old. The tank is about 55cm in length. The temperature in the tank is 80 degrees F.

I think that this is all the information that I can give you at this time. Should I wait longer until I give him medication? Please help!

Thanks,
Lindsay

midnightwolf

if he has pop eye one or both of his eyes will be protruding out of his sockets. to treat pop eye give him the best water possible you could also raise the quality of food you are feeding to him and make sure he gets lots of vitamin enriched foods. you could also get medication for him.

hope this helps

Lindsay

Which medication would you advise? I'm living in Europe so it might be rather difficult to find something the same as America would have.

Thanks.

midnightwolf

you could try tetracycline and if you cant get thet just keep the water as clean as possible and make suer your fish gets lots of vitamins.

keep me updated on your fishes health.

how many gallons is your tank?

Lindsay

Hi again,

Stupid answer but how would I check how many gallons are in the tank? Also, when I came home today I noticed that he was a bit more active than yesterday which is a good sign. But I did notice that one of his eyes is a bit more cloudy than yesterday. The other eye seems fine but they both seem to be bulging and quite large still. Also, how often should I be feeding him? I do know that algae tablets have lots of vitamins in them. Should I feed them to him every day or should I give him something else?

I will look for this medicine when I go this weekend.

Thanks for your help.

Lindsay

Lindsay

Oh and how often should I be changing the water and how much? It seems like his eyes have gone down slightly in size but I'd still like to take precautions. Thanks.

pinkfloydpuffer

At the bottom of the page there is an aquarium size calculator.

Ampicillin is supposed to be the best med. for popeye. I know GelTek makes it in liquid form, and there's probably others.

EDIT: If it looks like his eyes are going down in size, I'd concentrate on keeping his water clean, as popeye is often caused by poor water conditions.

Lindsay

Ok, it's 25cm in width, 52cm in length, and 26cm in height. In terms of litres and gallons, I think it's 146 US gallons? Does this sound about right? Let me know what you think! Thanks!

pinkfloydpuffer

25cm x 52cm x 26cm?
That's about 10"x20"x10"
Making it only about 8 US gallons.

Lindsay

Ah ok. Well I'm not used to doing these kinds of conversions. Anyway he's looking better than previous days. But again, how often should I be changing the water and how much of it? Also what should I be feeding him? I've just read food with vitamins is good. Let me know, thanks.

Lindsay

pinkfloydpuffer

If the cleaner water seems to be helping, then I'd do a 25% change either daily or every other day.
Algae wafers are good, I'm sure some of them are full of vitamins. And veggies like cucumber, zucchini, spinach, etc. And of course his driftwood is good too
If you can find VitaChem, that stuff is packed with vitamins and really great for your fish.

Lindsay

And should I be feeding him this food every day? :-)

pinkfloydpuffer

Yes, that would be good. Just be sure to remove the uneaten foods each morning (they usually like to feed at night)

Lindsay

Great, thanks so much. He seems like he has a favourite spot in the tank as well - right by the heater. Lets hope he eats his food! Thanks so much for your help.

pinkfloydpuffer

Good luck!