Zebra Bar Dartfish acting weird...possibly blind?

[Hypnotoad]

Hey gang.

I have a pair of zebra bar dartfish that have been doing well for a few months.

about a week ago I did a water change and didn’t see the one of the fish for a day after.

I turned lifted the euphyllia rock They usually hide under and found it under there.

I startled it and it scooted around the bottom of the tank for a bit before going back behind/under that rock.

It used to be super active and always high in the water column durng the day, but since that first day of acting weird, it’s always hiding and only comes out when I feed.

I’ve also seen it miss peices of food when trying to eat and am beginning to suspect it can’t see. At least not very well.

I’m concerned I might have trapped it under the rock by burying the opening while siphoning the sand and deprived it of oxygen overnight, But I’m not sure about that because these guys seem pretty good at digging into/out of sand

I’ve also been fighting intestinal parasites that present themselves in the form of white stringy poop and seem to come back every time I quit feeding medicated food (even after several weeks of feeding a slurry mixture with metro and focus).
but I’m not sure if that’s related or not, because none of my other fish have seemed to have much trouble besides the aforementioned poop issues.

Any thoughts on what might be going on?

 

[Big G]

Are the eyes cloudy, swollen, etc.?

 

[Hypnotoad]

No. It’s eyes look just like the other one’s

 

[Big G]

Might be some sort of internal bacterial infection that's effecting the eyes somehow. Sometimes an internal parasite infestation creates a bacterial infection that migrates into the spinal areas of fish and spreads. Treating with erythromycin can work really well for eye infections. Something to consider if the condition continues.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Might be some sort of internal bacterial infection that's effecting the eyes somehow. Sometimes an internal parasite infestation creates a bacterial infection that migrates into the spinal areas of fish and spreads. Treating with erythromycin can work really well for eye infections. Something to consider if the condition continues.

Is there a reef safe way to treat with erythromycin?

 

[Big G]

Is there a reef safe way to treat with erythromycin?

Sorry. It's very harsh on a bio filter. Highly recommend treating in a sterile QT.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Gotcha. I’ve got enough gear lying around and biomedia in my sump that setting up a hospital tank shouldn’t be too tough, and a LFS doing curbside that has the necessary meds.

just out of curiosity, is blindness ever reversible?

and before I do all of this, I want to stress that the fish and its eyes look completely normal, but it sure doesn’t seem to be able to see.

 

[Hypnotoad]

One bump in case anyone else has thoughts...