Duration of popeye, and treatment advice...

[ToddTT]

I have a small clarkii clown that developed popeye about 10 days ago, in one eye.

I had bought him about 2 weeks prior to that.

Since it's only one eye, I suspected some sort of trauma, or maybe a reaction to living in my tank, which I had overlooked as having a high nitrate reading.

I performed two water changes to get the nitrates down, and am currently trying out Melafix.

I am feeding OSI flake soaked in Zoe liquid vitamin, as well as two different frozen foods from San Francisco Bay.

But so far, the eye looks about the same for the last week. Clear, but very bulging.

I was going to try a QT with Maracyn Two, but the LFS said the stress of trying to capture him was probably more risky than merely watching and waiting.

Do people agree? Should I continue the Melafix? Some other suggestions?

And how long would a case of trauma-induced popeye take to heal? Or at least show some sort of progress?

[ToddTT]

Oops. Can somebody move this thread to the Marine Fish Care forum?

[ToddTT]

Here is a pic from today:



He is hanging out like that most of the time, near the top corner of the tank, but comes to life and eats normally during feeding time.

Occasionally I see him swimming around the tank, but the top corner has definitely become his favorite place.

[cagey]

I had a lyretail anthias that had popeye in one eye. I qt'ed him. 3 weeks of following the marcyn 2 instructions religeously. He survived until I picked up a rock and quickly put back down, rotated to seat on bottom. I felt bad. Good Luck.

[ToddTT]

I had a lyretail anthias that had popeye in one eye. I qt'ed him. 3 weeks of following the marcyn 2 instructions religeously. He survived until I picked up a rock and quickly put back down, rotated to seat on bottom. I felt bad. Good Luck.

Are you saying that the popeye was cured in 3 weeks? Or didn't change at all?

And then you accidentally crushed him to death? How sad.

[cagey]

He cleared up. the eye went to normal size. there was stretched flesh like sudstance around the eye from the pop-eye. He jumped causing the injury. I inquired here. Marcyn 2 worked. Quarantine a must. Check Out the disease section on the setup. Someone here knows the link.

[ToddTT]

Well, so far so good. I stuck with the vitamins and Melafix, and the swelling is going down!

The eye is now less than half the size shown in the pic above, and hopefully it will keep improving.

So I guess I'll keep waiting, and watching...

[leebca]

Please read this:
Popeye -- NOT the Sailor

All the (accurate) info you need is in that post. If you still have concerns or questions after reading that post, go ahead and continue posting to this thread.

[ToddTT]

Finally got a pic of his "bad eye".

It took about 2 weeks to clear up, during which time I did several partial water changes (25-30%), fed Kent Zoe-soaked food (frozen and flake), and administered Melafix. Not sure which had the most impact, or if it simply required time to heal.

Also not sure what the root cause was. I suspect water quality, trauma, or infection, in that order.

The eye appears normal now, and he can definitely see with it.

Here's the new improved clarkii:




Maybe I haven't seen enough cases, but I am amazed he survived this!