[BisTheTall]

Can anyone give me some advice please?

By beloved male Betta, Yoshi, has a massive eye!

I assume it's pop eye but get very confusing results when I google it.

Please help! I want to treat him as soon as possible but don't want to cause more harm!

Thanks in advance,

Bis.

 

[MutedMonkfish]

Hi there . Sorry to here about youshi. There a brillant Lady on here called Chicadee and shes the Betta Queen of knowellge so ima sure she read your tread soon.! good luck

 

[Chickadee]

Popeye is actually a symptom rather than a disease and generally means that there is something wrong with your water quality more than anything else. The most important thing is to give the little one very clean and clear water conditions and as pure a water situation as possible for the next while to prevent the eye loss. I realize this may be inconvenient but is there any way you would consider putting him in a seperate container alone if he is not and take him and put him in even a hospital tank with maybe only about a 2 gallon capacity and put him where he will be warm and away from drafts so he will not need a heater and buy him some bottled Spring water for the next week or so to get his eye healed up and do not use tap water in the container at all. No substate or any other decorations or anything in the tank but just him to keep the possibility of infection down. You will need to change out one gallon of the Spring water a day to keep the ammonia level down since it is unfiltered and all but it will keep him from losing the eye. If you want a double whammy against the eye problem you can add a whole packet of Maracyn daily. I know that this is more than the package says to use in that much water but remember you are doing water changes daily and it is watering it down and that makes a difference.

Within a 5 day period you should stop the Maracyn and just keep him in the Spring water tank for a week longer or until his eye is completely back to normal. He should be fine.

If you do not have any other container, go to the dollar store and get a plain unused bucket in white and let him stay in it for a week. He will be fine as long as it is not something that has ever had detergents in it before and it will need a piece of craft canvas or something over it to keep him from jumping out that can be purchased from any Walmart or craft store in the craft area. Just ask for plastic mesh canvas in a 12 inch by 18 inch piece. It will give him plenty of light and enough air and yet keep him safe inside the container whatever you use. He will not need a light as his eye will need to rest.

Rose

 

[BisTheTall]

Ok, update time.

Yoshi, the Male Betta with popeye, has been moved to the quarantine/hospital tank (tank3) after a 99% water change. Couldn't do bottled water unfortunately.

The agressive female that turned out to be a male is now in my main tank. This might be a problem if it stays as aggro as it was in my other tank but looks ok so far.

I will ad a pic to my gallery now of Yoshi in his new location showing his freaky eye.

Thanks so much for the help.
Are there other problems that popeye is a symptom of as my water quality is always good? I test every few weeks.

Looking forward to your replies!

Bis

 

[BisTheTall]

Pic of Yoshi the sick boy now in my gallery.

He is exploring his new tank quite energetically!

 

[BisTheTall]

Pic of Yoshi the sick boy now in my gallery.

He is exploring his new tank quite energetically!

Another question i'm afraid...

Should I leave the light off to rest his eye?

Ta in advance,

Bis

 

[Chickadee]

Might be a good idea as he is going to have a sore eye and things are going to look funny to him. He might not be sick technically but he could run about trying to figure out what is wrong and damage the eye trying to figure it out by running into to something. He will think it is almost bedtime and rest if it is darker. So good thinking to keep it darker. Daylight in the room won't hurt but I would not put any artificial light on in the tank.

You might want to get a divider for the tank you have the aggressive betta in and see if you can keep that little spitfire seperated from the rest of the crew to keep the damage to a minimum. It is a cheap fix for a possible problem. Also it may be a good idea to eventually invest in a reptile house like this one to keep on hand for an emergency hospital tank...it is what I use now with a sponge filter that I keep bubbling away in the back of my main tank. If they have anything contagious or that I do not want to put the sponge filter back into my main tank the sponges are easily replaced and I simply bleach sterilize the main part of the filter and pop a new sponge back on it and put it back in the main tank to reseed itself after it isn't needed in the hospital tank anymore. It keeps a permanent supply of cycled filters ready for sick fish and all that you need on hand is a cheap sponge filter some tubing and a cheap airpump (I use the whisper ones as they are super quiet) and a control device to control the air flow (also the cheap kind). Since I put the airpump above the level of the water line I do not need check valves but if you are going to put it under the water line you should probably also put a check valve in the airline for safety sake.

Pla-House Cage - Rectangular - Large | Terrariums & Stands | Reptile Cages, Terrariums & Accessories | Reptile - ThatPetPlace.com

they come in a lot of sizes but this one is large enough for most single fish to be medicated in.
I have a jumbo size that is a quarantine tank for new fish that come in until they can be introduced to my main tanks. They are easily cleaned and do not take up a lot of room. The lid at the top allows for easy access and does not allow for jumping fish.. the only drawback is the cord situation. I find it difficult to deal with cords so cut out places for cords but it takes patience.

A container at the dollar store will work as well if you can find one that is clear and in the size you like but you will probably not find one with a perforated top so you will need to make the top out of craft canvas or something ventilated.

Rose

 

[Chickadee]

other causes for the popeye would include injury due to trauma, bacterial infection, and eye flukes (parasites), virus infections, vitamin deficiencies, osmotic problems in the water chemistry, systemic infections of any types.

This is why I suggested a strong treatment of Maracyn with the clean conditions. The spring water is okay to do without as long as you can treat the fish with the medication. Since we do not know that the problem is not caused by an infection or trauma that is now infected he really does need to be medicated.

Also what is he eating? It may be that he is not eating enough to keep himself nourished but he does appear to be healthy and nourished so I am really doubting that vitamin deficiency or malnourishment is the cause. I also really doubt the eye flukes being the cause unless you have other fish with the problem unless he was the only fish in the tank. They tend to spread like wildfire.

If your water testing is showing good parameters in ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and you have not had any other sick fish with this problem then you definitely need to get this fish some Maracyn as he has a bacterial or viral problem that will not be simply wished away. He also will probably need daily water changes of some small part of the water for about a week or so to help the problem disappear more quickly. Even 25% of the water changed daily for a week will help him to improve more quickly. The carbon needs to be removed from the filter for the length of time you are medicating and a new media with carbon put in after the medication has cleared the problem. He should not need more than a week for the swelling to go down completely but the cloudiness may not go away for a while after that and your little guy should not go back into his main tank until he is totally back to normal.

It is not unusual for fish who have had this happen to be oversensitive to water quality problems in the future so don't be surprised if he will be the one you will have problems with should you miss a water change or have a problem with your tap water having higher than normal nitrates or anything in the future. Just keep the Maracyn on hand. I once had a betta like him and he had popeye about one time a year when the towns water had higher nitrates than usual. I could plan on it.

Rose

Since I do not know where you are from...the chief ingredient in Maracyn is erythromycin and any medication that you can find that contains that mainly will work. Since that is the main component of this medication I like to use it as it does not have a lot of other things in it to bother the filter. But if it is a problem any other med containing that will work.

 

[BisTheTall]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive replies!

He isn't any worse or any better. He eats TetraBetta, Hikari Betta Bio-Gold, normal flake and various other wafers and freezedried foods.

I'm in the UK so will look for what I can get with that ingredient ASAP.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Chickadee]

you should be able to find something and he does look like a very happy fish otherwise so he will more than likely be fine. I have truly seen fish with much more distended eyes than his so you caught it in fine time. He will not have as great a chance of losing the eye and he will make a full recovery that way.

and yes, those foods are plenty adequate to his needs so he is not malnourished.

Thanks for caring so much.

Rose

 

[swiftless_fire]

my betta had popeye before and it was gone very fast once i went out and bought some treatment at a petstore and treated the tank water with it.

 

[BisTheTall]

Update Time!

Yoshi is on the mend. I couldn't find the medication suggested by Rose but my local fish store suggested Interpet 9 (Anti Internal Bacteria) containing Formaldehyde, Bronopol, Benzalkonium chloride and Methanol.

It seems to be working, his eye has gone down a lot and he seems in far better spirits.

I'll put a pic in my gallery.

Thanks for all the help!

Bis

 

[BisTheTall]

I've just read back through this thread and about the only question I haven't answered that I can see is water tests.

Just done a quick test (hopefully will get time to do a full test with my posh test kit over the weekend but takes hours to do ALL of them!) and all parameters are fine. Not the absolute zero I would usually expect but my Charcoal is due to be changed tomorrow.

Any other questions I have missed or you want to ask?

Bis.

(I'm about to try and create a profile of my main tank somewhere on here so people can give me more amazing advice )

 

[Chickadee]

You said the magic word. Charcoal has to be removed from the tank when you medicate fish. So if you are talking about the tank where Yoshi is in please remove the charcoal from his tank completely now and keep it out until he is not being medicated anymore. IF the filter media is not able to be seperated from the charcoal then what you do is break the chamber that holds the charcoal and get it dumped out and then replace the rest of the media in the filter. If you are not talking about the tank that Yoshi is in then disregard.

When he is not on the medication any longer the charcoal can be put back to REMOVE the meds from the tank..this is one thing it does really well. It is one of its main purposes, removing medication.

Rose

 

[BisTheTall]

You said the magic word. Charcoal has to be removed from the tank when you medicate fish. So if you are talking about the tank where Yoshi is in please remove the charcoal from his tank completely now and keep it out until he is not being medicated anymore. IF the filter media is not able to be seperated from the charcoal then what you do is break the chamber that holds the charcoal and get it dumped out and then replace the rest of the media in the filter. If you are not talking about the tank that Yoshi is in then disregard.

When he is not on the medication any longer the charcoal can be put back to REMOVE the meds from the tank..this is one thing it does really well. It is one of its main purposes, removing medication.

Rose

Don't worry. Yoshi is in the Hospital tank that only has an air driven foam filter in it.

 

[Chickadee]

I figured you knew that but I guessed wrong one time and let someone medicate for almost 2 weeks with the charcoal in place, so I nearly always mention it and could not believe I had not this time.

Good at least I did not mess up. LOL

So glad to hear he is doing better.

Rose

 

[BisTheTall]

Time for another update.

Mainly good news I think. Yoshi has 2 eyes the same size, the only evidence of pop eye is a white ring around the affected eye. He is back to his usual charming self and seems frustrated in the small tank. (He's used to 240 liters not 32)

However I have noticed a lump just behind his jaw, just in front of the eye that had pop eye. I have no idea what this is

Should I be worried?

Thanks in advance,

Bis

 

[Chickadee]

Watch it for a day or so and see if it changes and keep us informed. I do not think it is anything to be worried about, maybe just a residual part of the swelling but keep on the treatment and see if it changes. If it starts to enlarge let us know for sure. I will need a picture if you can get one.

But as I said if he is eating and doing well otherwise, I do not see that it is much of a problem if it not growing or bothering him. But it should decrease in time not grow. I would not stop treatment just yet though.

Sorry I cannot be more precise without a pic.

Rose

 

[BisTheTall]

I'll try and get a pic of the lump but I have trouble getting a pic of him at all!

If all else fails i'll post a video on youtube and post the link. Or PM it to you if I can't post it.

I already have a video of Yoshi on youtube called "Yoshi in Betta Health" but it doesn't show the lump. (The last few seconds of the video show him to about 70% of his normal beauty.)

Bis

 

[Chickadee]

I know how it goes. I haven't gotten a decent picture of any of my little ones for a while but then I have no patience with the camera. The only thing is a "lump" is sometimes one thing and sometimes another so it really does depend on just what it looks like. Sorry to be so much trouble.

Rose