Eye Parasite

[fowleri]

I'm new here in this forum. Just bought an emperor angel about 2 weeks ago. It is healthy and eating well in the QT but 2 days ago one of its eye appeared to be a bit cloudy and it's gotten worse. I freshwater dip it and I was shocked to see so many parasites (look like fish lice in fw goldfish) turning white and coming off from its body, tail and eyes. I ran 0.05ppm of copper in my QT from the start and it doesnt seem to be effective. I was told this eye parasite is almost impossilbe to cure once it is spread in the main tank and even uv could not kill it.

Any advice will be appreciated

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

Sorry to hear of the troubles. If that is an adult Emperor I hope you have a very large aquarium for it.

I don't know why you decided to give the fish a FW dip with a cloudy eye. Usually a cloudy eye is indicative of a bacterial infection. Bacterial infections are either secondary from some other problem, a water quality issue, poor nutrition, or any combo of these.

Since the FW dip seemed to remove some external parasites, that is the first thing that must be addressed. Follow this guideline for its next dip to be sure they all come off: Freshwater Dip for Marine Fishes

Although the above says to keep the fish in the bath for 30 minutes, I want you to hold the fish in that bath for 15 minutes.

Next, the bacterial infection has to be addressed. The best thing is an antibiotic for these Angels. They are very susceptible to bacterial problems. Make sure you get a Gram Negative antibiotic, like Maracyn Two for Saltwater fishes. The first dose of this particular antibiotic should be twice what is recommended on that label/instructions. If you use another antibiotic, then follow its label/instructions for dosing.

At the same time, since it is eating, make sure you de-worm the fish as soon as you can. This is where you can get more info on that: Strange Excrement from Fish -or- How to be a Super Pooper Snooper This treatment is adding the meds to the fish's foods, not in the water.

Keep us informed.

[fowleri]

Thanks for your advice Lee. Yes, I have a 500 gallon tank so it should be large enough for the fish. The reason why I FW dipped the fish is bcs the cloudy eye doesnt look like the symptom that is normally caused by bacterial infection. My friend who is more experienced confirmed it by shining a torch light at the affected eye and we could actually saw a round flat shaped parasites attached on the eye membrane.

My friend told me the FW dip only affects the more adult parasites which tend to be based from the centre of the body up to the eye area but does not seem to affect the Juv parasites which seem to live around the tail area.

I can see that the fish tail is not totally clean. Maybe I will take a pic and post it here tomorrow.

Do you by chance know the scientific name of this type of parasite? Most aquarists just called it eye-parasite. I googled it but cant seem to find it.

Thanks again Lee.

[leebca]

Your actions make better sense to me now. I don't know the parasite unless I can see it under a microscope. I may be able to get a handle on it from photos if they are up close and very clear. This is sometimes hard to do for fish.

Your tank is perfect for a 5" to about a 9" adult fish, then it should be moved to live out its life to grow up to 18".

I'll wait for the photos. I would still perform a longer bath according to the procedure I referred you to.