Pop eye in Panaque

[Pete]

Hi our small L190 panaque has a enlarged eye
Its about 1/3 bigger than it should be protruding out
I havent been able to get a photo
I suspect pop eye bacterial infection
there are no water quality problems
I have started treatment with melafix at a dose of 45ml in the 400 litre tank
The instruction on the bottle are 5ml per 40 litres per day for 7 days . Is this safe for plecos ?
Pete

 

[scatz]

melafix is perfectly safe for plecs, sorry to hear your royal is having problems pete, hopefully someone will know a sure fire cure for him.
good luck

 

[Pete]

Thanks mate I'm hopeful will be OK I spotted it on time he was feeding even after I added the melafix
It says on the bottle to add it daily is that right I thought that it would build up in the water . I think that I will do a water change evey second day to be sure

here's a couple of crap pics but you can see the problem

 

[Doodles]

If its just one eye it could also be an injury, as long as the water is clean and stress is kept to a minimum, it should sort out without meds. If bacterial, Melafix may help along with good clean water, if no improvement then you might want to try primafix as well. Add extra aeration with either of those meds.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Pete sorry to hear this, hope he is all right. A thought occurs assuming this is the same tank that you have had the cloudy water in? I think that this might be an oxygen problem, and I'd add an air pump and fine bubble air stone asap (particularly whilst you are adding the melafix).

I know that will sound a bit funny, but during the day your plants will be producing large amounts of oxygen via photosynthesis
(6CO2 + 6H2O + photons → C6H12O6 + 6O2), and that oxygen will almost saturate the water column and the fully oxygenated water will enter the 3 external filters, and the whole volume of biological filter material will potentially support nitrifying bacteria.

However at night the plants will be respiring
(C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O ), but not photosynthesising and adding to the bio-load, and my suspicion will be that the much less oxygenated water entering the filter will quickly be de-oxygenated by the nitrifying bacteria (NH3 + CO2 + 1.5 O2 → NO2- + CO2 + 0.5 O2 → NO3-),
meaning that the majority of the volume of filter material in your filter won't be working, as there won't be enough oxygen reaching it.

If you've got waste from the Panaques feeding etc. the ordinary non-nitrifying "heterotrophic" bacteria will be breaking that down and using even more oxygen.

cheers Darrel

 

[FF MkII]

Ok normally if its just one eye its normally caused by slight injury followed by infection. if it's both eyes its normally a copper poisoning or bad water conditions. also If I was going to use meds (I dont like using them) I would only use half the dosage....but I would add an air pump that's for sure.

so in summary.
(E=Mc2)

simples. lol. awesome post darrel and I think you could be right, So im going to read your post a few times over until im 100%.

No its not, i have had fish with pop eye in only one eye. And using certain meds (like melafix) that are plec friendly at half doses is not brilliant advice tbh. Yes something potent like WS3 i would almost certainly recommend using at half dose, but not melafix/pimafix. Any half decent med would state to only use half doses on certain fish anyway.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Sorry it is a bit messy, I cut and pasted the bits from something else I'm writing. I've been working a lot with landfill leachate lately, and it's helped me get my head around the oxygen requirement of the nitrogen cycle a bit better (basically it removes the fish from the oxygen usage equation).

What I'm saying is that the nitrogen cycle uses a lot more oxygen than you might imagine it would, and adding more filtration and water flow is never a bad idea, but if the thing that is restricting biological filtration is the oxygen content of the water it won't make any difference until you add more oxygen to the water column.

Air stones aren't very efficient at this (but smaller bubbles are better), but if you can feed the bubbles into the filter intake this will increase their efficiency by lengthening "residence time", as well as getting the oxygen to where it is really needed (the nitrifying bacteria in the filter).

cheers Darrel

 

[Oscar300]

I under dose a little but not alot when using pima/mela combo. The fish can take it, just make sure your airiation is the best it posibly can be and the water is spot on and you should be fine, one of the safer meds out there normaly?

 

[FF MkII]

YES IT IS. IMO and from my experiences.

and the reason why i say half dosage is because I don't trust melafix or pimafix.....to be honest i've tried them both and they have done more damage than good. sorry for putting a downer on it.

another good post darrel.

No need to shout! What you are saying is wrong in that if its only one eye its normally down to an injury that gets infected. There are any number of reasons that cause it and any of those can infect ONEor both eyes.

 

[Pete]

Thanks very much for your help everyone I always panic when one of the plecs get sick , I've had a bad experience with white spot in the past
I agree it could be due to an injury as there is quite a lot of bogwood in the tank but guess its impossible to know for sure
I'm treating with melafix and arating the water and hopefully it will clear up
It's not the tank that had cloudy water and I was suprised to see it
The little panaque is still feeding and I will do an extra water change tomm to make sure that the melafix concentation does not get too high as it says to dose daily. I have been dosing at the suggested level but every other day as I was worried about the melafix concentration building up as I can smell it in the water
Pete

 

[Irene0100]

yes I have used the pimafix and melafix combination with no problems with plecs, I prefer to use natural plant extract. if I have to use chemicals etc then I do reduce dosages for plecs.
I also have has pop-eye in rams and only one eye, and used the 'fixes' but also w/c every other day before dosing. as w/c is one of the best cures for pop-eye anyway.
the other thing I use for general health is indian almond leaves.
let us know how he gets on.

 

[Doodles]

I know a lot of people rave about melafix but it gets far to much credit imo. Melafix is pretty mild and the fact that its used so much, im surprised that fish and whatever its treating haven't built up resistance to it. I would say that anything melafix could help with could also be done with good clean water and minimal stress.

Im only talking about melafix, not other meds. In the confined space of an aquarium, the fish most likely wouldn't stand a chance against things like whitespot.

Sometimes when treating with meds, I think its for the fishkeepers peace of mind rather then the fishes benefit. I even find myself chanting the melafix mantra sometimes when helping with a problem lol.

 

[FF MkII]

Melafix has no impact on whitespot. The only time i ever use it (which is what its really designed for) is open wounds on fish and for that i think its great, combined with clean water. I dont even use it for torn fins as i know from experience that they heal within a week with no problems as long as your water is tip top

 

[Pete]

One thing that I dont understand with the Melafix is that it says to dose it daily but there is still a strong smell of the meds in the water 24 hours after dosing
I'm wondering if the concentration builds up if it is dosed daily
Pete

 

[Pete]

Hi he's a lot better now :clap:
the eye is still slightly swollen but much much better
thanks very much everyone
Pete

 

[Doodles]

Thats good to hear:clap:

 

[Oscar300]

ah well done pete!