porcupinepuffer
Member
hello, i purchased a porcupinefish and one of the eyes is bigger and blacker than the other. here are the pictures.
porcupine puffer eye question
- Thread starter porcupinepuffer
- Start date
porcupinepuffer
Member
right eye(the black/big one)
porcupinepuffer
Member
yes, it came with it... i wasn't sure of it when i purchased the fish.. do you think i should go return it? it's not in the quarantine tank... but i have no other fish in my main tank so that's not a problem. i can start treating him but does it look too late to heal him?
Popeye is not really deadly, and it is very treatable. You need to decide if you want to return it, or if you want to go thru the trouble of treating it. How long have you had it and what type of tank is it in? Popeye is not contagious, however, if you end up having to use antibiotics, then you may want to consider returning it, or investing in a hospital/QT---which everyone should have anyway.
Give some of your tank info. What type, how old, big, what's in it. In your opinion, how big is the eye poped out? Is the eye cloudy, red, does the fish focus or see you using that eye?
Give some of your tank info. What type, how old, big, what's in it. In your opinion, how big is the eye poped out? Is the eye cloudy, red, does the fish focus or see you using that eye?
porcupinepuffer
Member
the eye is not cloudy at all, it's just that the eye itself is big and black. the tank is 75gallon fish only, it's about 2 yrs old, very stable. will invertebrates tolerate the antibiotics needed to treat popeye? i have snails and few hermits in the tank. with about 80 lbs of LR.
No, you can't put antibiotics in your setup. Inverts will not tolerate it, and, besides, why stress a well-established tank with inverts.
Try doing a large water change, offer the fish garlic soaked food, as garlic as a mild antibiotic quality to it. Optimize nutrition. Otherwise, you need to setup a hospital tank, or return the fish. Perhaps the LFS will setup a hospital for you.
Try doing a large water change, offer the fish garlic soaked food, as garlic as a mild antibiotic quality to it. Optimize nutrition. Otherwise, you need to setup a hospital tank, or return the fish. Perhaps the LFS will setup a hospital for you.
porcupinepuffer
Member
it's very healthy and eating very well. Could it be possible that it already is blind in one eye? and is too late to be treated? Popeye is not fatal to the life of a fish right?
If the puffer is already blind ... but still active, I would keep it since it is very healthy.
If the puffer is already blind ... but still active, I would keep it since it is very healthy.
Looks like you want to keep the little fella... Good for you! Check the eye out and see if the fish can see with that eye. Popeye rarely means blindness. Do as I suggested with the water change, garlic and some puffer-style prime foods and see how things develop. This could just be an injury to the eye from rough or mishandling before you received him. Optimizing the fish's living environment and nutrition will go a long way with self-healing. See if you can find some Zoe or Zoecon. Feed the puff food that is garlic soaked 2x day, and then offer a 3rd meal that has 1 of these vitimins soaking the food.
porcupinepuffer
Member
wow, sounds like he's going to be more healthier than me by the time it's done with all these vitamins and nutritions! I hope he does self-heal.
Well, the garlic and these particular vitimins I suggested are good supplements for fish. I won't say that they will cure the popeye, but if the fish has the ability to resolve his own health problem wo meds, then these other things will certainly help that process along.
Let us know how things are going every day; you may need to medicate if things don't improve or if things get worse. In the meantime, you may want to see if you can find Maracyn2 for saltwaterfish. And, if you don't have a separate hospital, you might want to think about getting one now.
Let us know how things are going every day; you may need to medicate if things don't improve or if things get worse. In the meantime, you may want to see if you can find Maracyn2 for saltwaterfish. And, if you don't have a separate hospital, you might want to think about getting one now.
porcupinepuffer
Member
don't you think it will be too late to heal the eye after i'm done setting up the hospital tank? It will take me awhile to recyle the hospital tank
I'm not suggesting that you need to put the puff in a hospital at the moment. I wanted you to try the other things suggested first. Have you? And, how is the fish today? Its been a couple of days, so hopefully you are seeing some improvement. Let me know. Have you found a source for Maracyn2 for saltwater fish?
Yes, you would not have enough time to cycle the tank, but not everyone keeps a cycled tank up and running. In an emergency when you need to treat a fish in a hospital that has not been cycled, you will need to set up and then not allow the tank to cycle at all. That means daily water changes and debris cleaning, daily monitoring of water readings, etc.
My suggestion to you was that, if you do not already have a tank, then you may want to get one for this purpose, just in case the fish will need to go into a hospital. Even if the fish will not need a hospital, having the extra tank will not go to waste. You can keep it and use it as a quarantine, which is a preferable method of acclimating fish to your main tank.
Yes, you would not have enough time to cycle the tank, but not everyone keeps a cycled tank up and running. In an emergency when you need to treat a fish in a hospital that has not been cycled, you will need to set up and then not allow the tank to cycle at all. That means daily water changes and debris cleaning, daily monitoring of water readings, etc.
My suggestion to you was that, if you do not already have a tank, then you may want to get one for this purpose, just in case the fish will need to go into a hospital. Even if the fish will not need a hospital, having the extra tank will not go to waste. You can keep it and use it as a quarantine, which is a preferable method of acclimating fish to your main tank.
porcupinepuffer
Member
The puffer is more active than ever. THe eye doesn't seem better though. It didn't get any worse so that's a relief. I will set up the hospital tank and yes, I had some Maracyn2 left over from few months ago. 
porcupinepuffer
Member
it's hanging out in the bottom of the tank now. Is that normal for puffers to do that when they are not hungry?