Mbuna - cloudy right eye

Hey guys, so I noticed today that my male Williamsi cichlid's right eye is cloudy and possibly swollen? I attached photos so please take a look at those. You can see the difference between his two eyes. He also has a few marks around his eye/face.

Tank Background: The tank has been established for a few years. It's a 75 gallon. Yes, I know about the nitrogen cycle. No ammonia, no nitrites, 10-30 nitrates. I change around 25-45% of the water once a week. I have two Marineland 350GPH HOB filters and a Fluval canister underneath. No new fish or fish that have died in over 1+ years now. I use the API master test kit. I have been in the hobby for a while. I just have been lucky to not have had the common issues like ich, flukes, popeye, bloat etc. So, I know its not a water problem or anything I am doing or adding to the tank that's different.

My opinion: I think its partly due to him thinking he can fit between rocks that he doesn't. (it happened often, I had to remove him from two spots he got stuck in.) Also, he is the largest, BUT not the most aggressive mbuna in this tank. I do believe the marks are self-inflicted. He usually doesn't bother anyone and no one really messes with him. I noticed he had a few marks around his eye/face over the last week, but they're mbuna and usually heal very quickly, but today I noticed the eye and that he had more scapes on him than before.

If anyone has had this problem before or has a theory based on some knowledge and can provide an explanation I would greatly appreciate it. As of right now I am just going to do more water changes and use melafix and hope for the best. I am not willing to set up another hospital tank at this time (wife will kill me)

 

I believe your injury diagnosis is the most likely. Another possibility is a
"Cataract". Yes, fish are susceptible to those too.
Unfortunately in either scenario the sight in the noted eye will either be diminished or lost.
I agree with your treatment plan. Hope he heals up.

 

A201 thanks, brother. Hoping it's not a cataract, and he recovers nicely. I am going to look into it more because I never considered it.

 

A201 Hey, so I have been treating with melafix and doing the water changes. Luckily the cloudiness has gotten better in my opinion. But the holes look worse. I think we misdiagnosed and the pits weren't from him cutting himself up. The way they are formed looks like HITH. Not really sure what I am going to do, because I cant set up another tank.

I was thinking of getting a large breeder box, catching him every day, and feeding him medicated food. What are your thoughts?

I'm really shocked its potentially HITH. The water parameters have been the same for a while, haven't added any new fish, not doing anything different for a few years now with this tank. I wonder if it's diet-related. I feed Hikari, but he does get to the catfish's food before they can. I heard it could be due to a faulty heater, but I think thats pretty unlikely.

 

Looks like HITH.

The fish just needs better nutrition, water conditions and some real food.

1) Make sure you have enough GH in your water. He needs the salts. Make you sure you have Lake Malawi type levels.
2) Add vitamins to his food for a while. Feed live food. Worms, bugs, flies, and quality vegetable/algae based food too. Omega One is a much better brand for quality food.
3) Regular water changes at a higher rate than you have been doing.
4) Raise tank temp to 80-82 F until it clears.
5) No carbon filters.

 

The white blotches certainly could be ooze secreting from pits caused by HITH.
Frank the Fish guy provided very good information regarding a natural remedy.
Feeding Metroplex wouldn't hurt either.
I've never seen an African Cichlid with Hexamita before.

 

Looks like HITH.

The fish just needs better nutrition, water conditions and some real food.

1) Make sure you have enough GH in your water. He needs the salts. Make you sure you have Lake Malawi type levels.
2) Add vitamins to his food for a while. Feed live food. Worms, bugs, flies, and quality vegetable/algae based food too. Omega One is a much better brand for quality food.
3) Regular water changes at a higher rate than you have been doing.
4) Raise tank temp to 80-82 F until it clears.
5) No carbon filters.

1) I am going to check the GH right now. Not something I test that often tbh. I will get back to you on that.
2) I think I am going to switch to newlife spectrum entirely. The fish seem to like it, my store doesn't stock Omega that often surprisingly. I use seachem cichlid lake salt every few water changes.
3) I usually do 25-50% every few days to a week. I am going to jump to 25-50% a day or at least every other day.
4) The temperature is usually 78. Unfortunately, 80-82 degrees is pushing it a little for the catfish. I might move the catfish just so I can raise the temp, good thinking.
5) I have two marineland filters with carbon on the back. What would you recommend doing about that for the short term?

thanks for reaching out Frank the Fish guy I really appreciate the advice.

The white blotches certainly could be ooze secreting from pits caused by HITH.
Frank the Fish guy provided very good information regarding a natural remedy.
Feeding Metroplex wouldn't hurt either.
I've never seen an African Cichlid with Hexamita before.

If I dose the food with metro, I am nervous about medicating the other fish who do not need it. Do you think this will be a problem?

 

A lot of forum members have reported feeding medicated food to fish in their display tanks. I don't remember reading any toxicity towards tankmates.
If you don't feel comfortable, definitely don't do it.

 

Frank the Fish guy Update: I don't have any more tests for GH. So I will get on that tomorrow. I just did ammonia which was 0. Nitrite was 0. Nitrate was pretty red and reading around 20-40. PH was reading 8 - 8.2. No surprises there, I have been on vacation the past week.

A201 Could you provide me with a link of people talking about this here? I would definitely like to see that.

 

I can't remember a specific link to send.
HITH has been a very common topic here, usually affecting Oscars.

 

Here is an updated photo of today compared to June 17th when I made the post. It has significantly gotten worse. Dont mind the cloudy water, I was doing a water change and moved everything out of the tank to get a picture of this guy. A201 Frank the Fish guy

 

That sure looks like Hexamita. Considering all the other tankmates are apparently healthy & the disease is centered solely on the Blue Lips, maybe the Blue lips has an underlying health issue leaving it open to infection.
The eye likely won't heal, and his overall health is declining. Maybe time to consider euthanasia.

 

Everyone else looks healthy. His attitude is a bit more timid than usual. Not sure if he is eating like I said I was on vacation this week and had my neighbor feeding the fish. Tomorrow when I feed I will see if he eats. I am going to try metro and daily water changes for a week or two starting tomorrow. If no results, I will have to consider that...

It's very weird, I never really had any of the typical fish diseases/infections. I thought it would be largely due to poor water conditions, but the one thing I do know is that the levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH are where they should be.

 

Fish doctor shows what he finds when examining HITH.

So you need to treat the opportunistic parasites and bacteria that attack the ulcers, while giving the fish high protein diet (live black worms, live brine shrimp) to help him recover.

Make sure your GH a(nd KH) are at lake levels. Slowly raise if not.

His immune system has weakend and the opportunistic bacteria and parasites take advantage of the ulcers and grow. You need to stop that process first then concentrate on his healthy diet.

Take out the carbon filters in your tank and replace with bags of bio-media. To save the BB in your filters, cut into the filter media to remove the carbon, but keep the filter fiber.

 

A201 Frank the Fish guy

Hey guys, so I wanted to give an update: I have been soaking his food in metro, changing about 35-50% of the water every other day, and adding a bit of melafix. At first, he wasn't eating much, but now his appetite has grown back to almost normal. He is still a bit skittish and his eye looks the same, but the pits on his head are dramatically in better shape than two weeks ago. Here is a photo for reference. I am not out of the woods yet, but I am very happy with the progress. I still can't explain the one cloudy eye.

 

That eye should heal. Keep doing the treatments. May take 2-3 weeks to clear. The holes on the outside are only what you can see, he has other wounds internally you can't see. Live food!