Gourami With Popeye

The holidays got away from me and nitrates spiked really high (80+) and my Gourami came down with Popeye. My yellow spiney tail eel has grey covering one eye, but no Popeye. In each case it is the left eye.

Current Parameters - ph 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15, GH 7, Phosphate 0

This is after several 50% water changes (55g tank) and now I’m doing 33%. It’s really hard to get to 0 Nitrate as my tap water has about 5.

Yesterday I started epsom salt baths for the Gourami and eel. 3 tsp. in 5 gal container for 15 mins. It seems to clear up the whiteness surrounding the eye but today it returned.

Antibiotics (Furan-2 and Melafix) are on the way for tonight to add to a future bath, but prefer to try salt for a while.

Any other advice aside from continuing water changes, salt baths and possibly antibiotic baths?

 

It sounds like you've touched all bases. The cloudy eye & Popeye are likely bacterial in nature. Furan 2 is a highly recommended antibiotic. There is no need to pursue zero nitrates. Any point below 40 is okay, with 10-20 being prime. Good luck.

 

Updating this so that others may benefit. I didn’t notice the symptoms until after a couple of changes and this may have shocked the fish. Here is something I found with reference link:

“Nitrate shock can also occur when massive water changes have been performed on a mature tank that has high levels of nitrate. The sudden drop in nitrate can shock the fish...
...Even in cases of sudden exposure to high nitrates, it is possible to reduce the effect of the nitrates, thus giving the fish a fighting chance of survival. The key is to avoid another sudden change. Ideally, nitrate levels in a freshwater aquarium should be kept below 20 mg/l. However, any changes should occur slowly, at a rate of change that is less than 50 mg/l change per day.”

My tank went from 80+ to 20 suddenly as I was doing 50% changes.

 

Good news after a week of epsom salt and Furan 2 baths and a few days in a hospital tank with melafix, the swollen eye has just about returned to normal and I have returned the Gourami to the tank.

 

that's great! glad everything is back to normal and your little guy is well.

 

Attaching before and after pics for benefit of those addressing the same issue. There is hope if you have the right treatment plan. I really thought it was a death sentence but stayed the course and all is well now.

 

After

 

Great job. Total recovery from an internal bacterial infection is seldom seen. Hope you took notes. Lol.