Please help having trouble with a possible disease

[mjm889]

here is the rundown, amm 0, nit 20, sal 1.019, temp 76 my yellow tang has a swollen eye, i have been treating it for pop-eye for the last 3 days, it hasnt gotten any better, i have been treating it with melafix. i dont have a hospital tank for him so i am treating my 135gallon. i have also notice that the yellow tang will scratch himself on the gravel every once in a while, he still eats like a pig and i have been putting vitamins in his food. im starting to think that he has external parsites instead of popeye, the eye is swollen, i have been doing 5 gallon water changes everyday. my blue hippo tang also scratches the bottom once in a while as well. i none of the other fish do this nor does the yellow and the blue hippo have any white spots on them. i am stuck and info will be great thanks in advance - mike

 

[meowzer]

My chalk bass got (has) pop-eye, I did small daily w/c's and that did not work.....I had to set up a hospital tank and I am treating with maracyn 2.
if your tang is not improving, you may need to look into different treatment.....set up a ht....and use maracyn 2

 

[btldreef]

I agree. If small water changes haven't helped, you need to set up a hospital tank (you can use a rubbermaid bucket if you can't afford another tank).
If you leave the fish untreated, it will loose its eye. I left a dragon goby untreated with pop-eye because I just could not catch him and he ended up loosing the eye. He's the ugliest fish in the world and I feel so guilty, but I just couldn't get him.

 

[mjm889]

thanks for the quick responses, my question is, could something else be bothering his eye besides popeye, like external parsites causing it to swell up, it is not as large as the pictures of popeye on this site. just a minor swelling eye is clear, but he is starting to itch himself on the gravel, could this be an external parsite on his body (eye) that i cant see.

 

[gemmy]

Popeye is usually caused by eye trauma or an infection.

 

[mjm889]

the eye is clearing up but he swims funny like waddle not a smooth motion, he eats a ton and is super fat so i dont know if that has anything to do with it, i been putting fresh garlic and vita chem in his food and stil have two days left of the melafix treatment. the other fish are doing good and dont seem to be bothered by all this nonsense. Do you think he has something wrong with his bladder??

 

[beth]

Can you post a digital picture of your fish? Why is your salinity so low? Tangs do not have much tolerance to tank that can not export nitrates. I would suggest doing small daily water changes...just a couple of gals.

 

[mjm889]

thanks i didnt think 20 for nitrates was that bad, that is the lowest i can get my tank, i do water changes once a week 15 gallons. and i have been doing everyday water changes since monday while i have been treating for his eye which is clearing up. i keep the sal at 1.019 for a fish only i didnt think that was bad should i raise it??? i will try to get a picture asap but my camera sucks i will see if i can borrow someones thanks - mike

 

[beth]

I would suggest rather than doing weekly changes of 15 try doing daily changes of 2 gals. Up the salinity slowly. Did the popeye occur following a water change?

 

[mjm889]

two things popeye occured after him and the blue hippo were put together, the get agressive towards food to one another, also my tangs come by my juvi emperor angel for a cleaning station and he picks at there body like a cleaner wrasse is that normal

 

[beth]

Cleaning station...no not really normal. Are you sure its not aggression? How often are you feeding your fish?

 

[mjm889]

i just talk to r creations stated thats normal for juvi queen and juvi emperor, feed my fish 3 times a day

 

[mjm889]

thanks for all the advice from everyone my tang's eye cleared up and his acting normal again. i guess the medicine along with daily water changes help, i also cleaned my bio balls which were nasty, my tank his happy and hungry thanks again