Need help quick! Porcupine Puffer with seriously cloudy eye

krishj39

Active Member
Hi everyone,
I'm still pretty new at keeping an aggressive tank. I never would have guessed it would be more work than my reef aquariums.
I picked up a 6 inch porcupine pufferfish yesterday evening. He looked completely healthy and was active at the LFS who has had it for a few weeks. I put him in the DT and he seemed to be doing well. No, I didn't quarantine, or dip, or anything.
This morning his right eye started clouding up and by this evening, 24 hours later his eye is looking really bad. I had read that these things are fairly common, probably caused by the stress of moving, plus possibly the eye being scratched in the process. However, it's looking pretty bad. I think if he doesn't get the right treatment soon he will at least lose vision in that eye. His other eye still looks totally healthy, and I did another inspection of his body and everything looks fine, except for that right eye. He isn't eating, but that's normal considering he was just added to the tank. He is pretty lifeless, not moving around, but not actually resting on the bottom of the aquarium.
I did a 50% water change yesterday just before adding him to the aquarium. Water quality is fine. Nitrates about 20. He did sit in the bag I carried him home in for a while since I did the water change first, though not outside a normal range for a fish to be in a bag, maybe 3 hours tops. But, by the time I put him in the DT, that bag was pretty filled with poo, which could have caused it too, I guess.
What do I need to do to treat this? The only medication I have on hand is erythromycin. Thanks!
 

krishj39

Active Member
And here's a shot of his left eye. The other eye looked just as healthy as this one yesterday. The white specks on top of him are sand, not a secondary disease.
 

btldreef

Moderator
Sorry to hear about your fish. It may have gotten something in it's eye as a result of being in the bad that irritated and maybe even infected it. How did they catch the fish at the store, did they use a net?
 

krishj39

Active Member
I didn't actually observe how he got it in the bag at the store, I had my two young daughters will me at the time. However, I'm sure he used a net just like he does for everything else.
 

aquaknight

Active Member
Though it could be a result from trama from the net/fish store (it's probably a combination of both), it looks a lot like the tell-tale sign of an ammonia spike (also some redness around the eye). 3 hours in a 'poo-filled' bag definitely is long enough for ammonia to climb. Was that 3 hours total, from the time he was bagged at the LFS to the time he was in your tank, or 3 hours travel time/water change time + acclimation/etc?
How was he bagged and what type of acclimation procedures did you perform?
 
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