Tang with extended eyeballs

robn

robn

Member
I had a heater malfunction in my 125 yesterday (I assume it was my heater)....lost 3 cleaner shrimp, the peppermints were just fine though......I have 3 fish in there, a Watchman Goby, small Gold-Banded Maroon Clownfish, and a 4"-5" Naso Tang.....2 starfish, a RBTA, a Xenia, and Frogspawn, lots of snails, and 3 clams. The RBTA withdrew at the temperature problem but came back out.....the Naso is the one I'm worried about....she has been the most active/best eater in the tank.....even during yesterdays meltdown she was still eating, but her color is a little darker than usual and her eyes are swollen. I checked in on her this morning.....she's still alive but she was behind some of the LR and didn't come out so I couldn't see whether her eyes are better today.
The tank temp is now back to 80.5 .........it was 91.5 when I got home yesterday.....I am going to put the heater on a timer to try to avoid this in the future....it's a 350W Won Brothers titanium heater.
Are swollen eyes a permanent condition? Any ideas on whether she will make it or not? She was eating late last night so that's a good sign.
 
T

thomas712

Guest

Originally posted by robn
Are swollen eyes a permanent condition? Any ideas on whether she will make it or not?
No it is not necessarily a perminant condition. It just means that you may have a problem with your water quality or you may have a bacterial infection depending on what it was that gave your fish the condition in the first place.
Are the eyes cloudy at all?
I would recommend a 30% water change for your first step to help remove DOC's in the water colum. This may be all you need to do and your fish may return to normal.
If you wind up going to meds then you will need to QT.
Thomas
 
robn

robn

Member
Well, I believe what gave the fish the condition in the first place was the excessive heat......she was fine before the heat problem and had bloated eyes after the heat problem....
 
T

thomas712

Guest
The heat would have lowered your oxygen, sped up any decay which could have contributed to a downward shift in water quality. Again the water change is the first route to go.
 
robn

robn

Member
I did a small water change then tested:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 15
Calcium = 430 (a little low, I added some kalk afterwards)
pH = 8.35
dKH = 8
Phoshates = .30 (I have been trying to get this number down without much success....don't know why it's high....using RO/DI water)
O2 = 90%
The Naso is getting worse instead of better.....it looks like she has scraped up her sides....there is no loose skin as in hanging off, but it is not silky smooth like it was before the accident.
She is still eating though......
 
robn

robn

Member
Well, she died yesterday....
Today my sailfin died.
Wednesday my purple tang died.....
Monday my maroon clownfish died.... and its anemone died.
My Potter's Angel also died.....
The only fish I have left in the tank is a Watchman Goby who is doing just great......
It's days like these that make you want to give up on this hobby...
:nope:
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Wow, I'm truly sorry to hear that, I see that on the 28th your water was testing fine.
Sounds like perhaps you had more than just a case of popeye.
Were you removing the dead as soon as possible?
Did the tank spike ammonia, nitrites?
Did there appear to be anything wrong with the other fish, red gills, rapid breathing, lethargy, etc...anything?
Anything else that you can think of that might have caused this crash?
So sorry robn

Thomas
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Did you replace that heater or check for stray voltage?
 
robn

robn

Member
Well, I was trying to remove them as soon as possible, but it took a day or two to find the Potters Angel, and I never found the RBTA...... I did tear down the left side of my reef because that's the last location of the bubble tip.......
I tested for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.....I did have an ammonia spike to about .05 .......no nitrites, and nitrates are fairly high at 40 ......
I tested again yesterday.....ammonia and nitrites are at 0, nitrates are still around 30-40.....
I had been having some high phosphate readings, around .5, but I tested yesterday and have 0 now......
I installed a larger overflow and larger return pump this weekend, so I am moving a whole lot more water thru the sump/skimmer. Hopefully it will help things.....
The purple and sailfin tang were both in QT when the heater malfunction occurred. I think the purple was just too far gone with ich.....I really don't know what happened with the sailfin.
The Potters Angel had ich, and so did the clown.
The Naso was I think a victim of the heater malfunction......
I now have the heater on a timer.
I bought a grounding probe this weekend and I'm going to install it today.....
Thanks for your help!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top