Tang With Pop-Eye

[TRR]

Hey guys,

It's been almost 2 months since I got this Vlamingi tang from an online purchase (not in the USA). It came in a slightly rough shape but was active and energetic. Took to eating food right away. And was pretty much normal for a fortnight.

Eventually he developed what looked like air bubbles inside his right eye. No cloudiness or anything, just looked like bubbles. The left eye was perfectly alright. Did some research and concluded that it probably injured its eyes on a rock. No signs of a bacterial infection as this should have affected the other eye as well.

Well, its been nearly a month and a half and the issue has not subsided. In fact the right eye started swelling to a really large size. The fish has shown no sign of any stress whatsoever, and has been eating food extremely normally. No signs of dullness. It does seem to be irritated by the eye though, as it sometimes bends itself in the direction of the eye. But the popeye has shown no sign of reducing, except for a brief period, post which it has regrown in size.

At this point, I'm not sure if this is merely an injury, an infection of some sort or something worse. Would really appreciate any guidance towards treating this fellow.

 

[Gareth elliott]

It very well maybe have been an injury to start.
You can dose epsom salt, or if have a 2 part w/magnesium supplement(same exact chemical) treatment in a reef tank is to raise to the upper end of the reef levels. 1400-1450 or so. Raising no more than 100ppm a day.

This will help with swelling. Now its been over a month Without a reduction. If you do not see any reduction in a day or two of epsom salt, you could try doxycycline or cephalexin in food with seachem focus. As most eye infections are caused by gram positive bacteria. cephalexin has fewer side effects, harder to locate . If qt, treat with erythromycin in the water column.

 

[hatfielj]

It's unlikely to be an infection if it's been going on this long. If it were infected, it would have gotten much worse and/or killed him by now.

 

[TRR]

Thanks for the replies! You may be right with it not being an infection since he does seem fine apart from the eye.

I will try with the magnesium cause I do not have a QT at the moment and do not want to risk anything affecting my CuC.

When I checked again in the evening, it seemed to have gotten worse. It's almost like the skin around the eye has also swollen with the eye. It does not look like a normal popeye injury from what the other pictures around the web seem to show. Would this still be attributable to the injury? Or is it a cause for concern?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Ok so i am admittedly not the best at photo id’s but the tang looks like it has ich to me.

And the eye issue is an external eye infection. Usually Mycobacterium marinum(odd bacteria, neither gram positive or negative) a secondary infection brought on by the ich.
Will tag those better at fish diseases than I.

@4FordFamily @HotRocks

 

[4FordFamily]

Yikes that’s really something. I think I see ich and or velvet as well, which may actually be more pressing. I’m tagging the expert @Humblefish

 

[TRR]

I too thought it had ich initially. But the fish shows none of the usual symptoms - normal gill movement, no scratching against rocks, no swimming against the flow. Plus the fact that it has been normal in eating for almost 2 months now was puzzling. The only slightly abnormal thing is it now spends more time near the top of the water and gets agitated if the cleaner wrasse comes around. But still extremely enthusiastic the moment food drops in.

The other fish in the tank have shown no signs of ich or velvet or any stress whatsoever, so this is still puzzling to me

I'll admit I'm not very experienced in this and would love to have a better diagnosis of this issue. Do let me know if any additional information would help diagnose this.

 

[Humblefish]

It looks more like gas bubble disease to me: https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/8/fish

 

[ca1ore]

I’ve a brevirostris unicorn tang (in the Naso genus also) with a similar eye problem. My default approach to pop eye has been to just let it resolve on its own, but my naso never got better. I then tried Epsom salts and various antibiotics .... all of which just served to stress it out and not resolve the condition. Now, it just lives with it. Sometimes it looks worse; sometimes better. Fish eats and swims normally, so ......

 

[TRR]

Well guys, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse. The eye has becoming really cloudy and is half-filled with what looks to be blood. Its gruesome to look at.

What startles me is that the fish still shows no sign of pain other than mild irritation. It's still quite enthusiastic about eating food and swims around the tank normally. I say mild irritation cause he keeps extending and retracting his top and bottom fins rather erratically.

I was trying to figure out what might be the issue the other day when I noticed the tang and my foxface getting into an altercation about a cave to hide in. The foxface kept his spines at full stretch and pointed towards the tang. Could it be possible that the tang might have been pricked in the eye by the spine initially, causing this issue?

It's getting really painful to look at and I am worried of the consequences if the eye just bursts open. I doubt its contagious but even one other anthias in my tank has gotten popeye and the eye was incredibly swollen, but eventually subsided to a mild popping out.

Would it be more humane to just euthanize the tang? Or is there anything else I can do? I tried the epsom salt, but it did not really seem to aid much in these two weeks.

 

[Humblefish]

If the foxface stuck the tang with one of his venomous spines, that would explain a lot.

I personally would QT and treat with erythromycin. Because an eye infection is inevitable. If the tang recovers, I wouldn't put him back with that foxface.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like Post injury. try an Epsom salt bath over the next three days and see if any sign of improvement.

 

[TRR]

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately I do not have a QT. Will try the epsom salt bath again.

Could this be anything contagious and possibly affect my other fish? Knowing for sure would give me some peace of mind while trying to work on healing the tang.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately I do not have a QT. Will try the epsom salt bath again.

Could this be anything contagious and possibly affect my other fish? Knowing for sure would give me some peace of mind while trying to work on healing the tang.

Non- contageous

 

[ThaGod]

Whatever happened with this? Have one right now that had the same thing. Hospital and treated and debating on re-entry to the main tank

 

[marinehead]

Curious to hear as well!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Curious to hear as well!

Here is an article on fish eye health:

Aquarium Fish: The ‘Eyes’ Have it: A Review of Eye Health in Aquarium Fishes

Aquarists need to inspect their fish closely every day, for signs of impending health problems. It is much easier to resolve a problem when it first starts, than to attempt a drastic emergency treatment when the fish is close to dying.

reefs.com

If you have a current issue, please feel free to start a thread with some pics and we’ll try to help!

Jay