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One of the three female bettas in my planted 29g has a puffy protruding eye (pics attached), she isn't quite as active as normal, and she's kind of lethargic. She's the only fish in the tank that I can find anything wrong with (other than an otto that has some missing scales, but he was like that since I bought him about a month ago).

One of my friends has my ammonia and pH test kits, but they should be fine because nothing has happened that would cause them to change...

Ammonia should be at 0ppm
Nitrite should be at 0ppm
Nitrate should be under 20ppm
pH should be about 7.5-7.6
Most trace elements should be quite low (because it's so heavily planted)


Stocking list out from my profile:

Fish:
4 Peppered Cories
5 Blackfin Cories
8 Ottos
1 Neon Tetra (Giving it away to someone w/ a school)
2 Celebes Rainbows
3 Female CT Betta Splendens

Plants:
10 Anacharis
2 Dwarf Lillies
1 Pothos Vine
10 Hornwort
Some Duckweed

24" 20 watt flouro bulb w/metal reflector
8 watt flouro bulb
2X 15 watt CF w/metal reflectors

Whisper 20-40
2X Penguin 125 w/biowheel


I haven't dosed any meds yet, nor have I dosed any ferts for my plants in quite a while (I ran out and I'm too poor to buy more).

Here's some pics of her-

FlamingPancakes attached this image:

What meds (if any) do you guys think I should dose? Anything I need to do? Is it contagious?

Here's another pic-

FlamingPancakes attached this image:

I always associate pop-eye with a bacterial infection...

One or both eyes will be affected by an internal fluid buildup/pressure.

An antibiotic should be dosed such as Maracyn Plus that can be effective against pop-eye.

Without treatment the fish can lose the eye.

--garyroland.

I have treated popeye before and it can be very stubborn to treat. First I would take her out of the tank and keep her in a bowl or tub by herself as female bettas are known to pick on another weak female. I have used a combo of Maracyn and Maracyn II to treat but if after a course of treatment this doesn't work try Tetracylene. I had to go to the Tetracylene. Also I found that after popeye the fish tends to be more delicate and suscepible to secondary infections.

___________________________________________

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.

Looks like my girls... I had introduced a new girl into my betta girl community tank and she ripped through them. She was an absolute terror. My girls flung themselves into the gravel, decor... whatever they could do to get away from her. Needless to say, the b*tch was removed.

A day or so later, two of my girls wound up looking just like yours... You could see the swelling and the abrasions on their faces. Take a close look, see if there's any scrapes on her face. It could be just that she bumped up against something to cause the swelling.

I treated with tetracycline (I powdered a tablet and treated flake food with that), but you can also use already medicated food if you can get a hold of it. It cleared up pretty quickly, actually, in my case. However, you can tell by looking which of the two girls had the problem... they both have a faint white ring around their eye now.

Oh... if you're able to hand feed your betta girls (mine will take food straight from my hand) and you're able to get/make medicated food, then it's possible that you can keep the fish in the tank with the others, if it turns out the popeye is from scrapes/bruising.

Keep a close eye on your fish, make sure that your females don't chase each other around too much... if you can see bruising/scrapes on the female in question, perhaps they're fighting a bit? Also, make sure none of your decor is too sharp/abrasive.

It may not be a bacterial thing, but it could be... in other words, check for what I've mentioned, but don't ignore the advice others have given you! *chuckles* I'm just pointing out that there may be another cause. In either case, like Light_Bright said, they ARE more susceptible to other infections, so keep the water sparkling clean!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I don't think it's an injury from a fight (they all seem to get along good), and I doubt it's from an injury from a rough piece of decor (I have all natural decor (driftwood, slate, and rocks).

I'm going to go to an LFS today and pick up some of the recomended meds, and some more food (I'm running low on algae wafers).

Thanks for the help everybody, I appreciate it

I didn't have enough money for the meds, so I didn't get them. She appears to be doing much better, though. Her eye is almost back to normal (it's not puffy any more...just a little whitish)

Thanks for the help everybody