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My 4in pigeon blood discus has popeye and a cleched right fin same side as infected eye. Ive added 8 tbs. of aquarium salt to my 55gal tank. ph 6.8 stable, 84d, hardness 10, 0 nirite, 0 amonia, should I add melafix or give the salt some time to work? he hasnt gotten better or worse over the past 24 hours.

[span class="edited"][Edited by mimo 2004-08-16 19:29][/span]

not too sure about this, I would probably add melafix. The only thing is its more for wounds. Cant you get something specifically for pop eye? I'm sure there is stuff on the market. Good luck anyway keep us posted.

melafix does say it treats popeye. My lfs said the salt was agood idea. If that didnt work try melafix. And his last advice, I am not too sure about was, he said to net him and then gently dab his eye with peroxide. I dont feel comfortable doing that or think it would be good for the fish. Here is my list of treatment so far:

day 1, 25% water change
day 2, add salt
day 3, I have added half the recomended dose of mela 13 ml

His eye has not improved but his fin has, if anyone has advice please share even if you have tried something and it didnt work so i can narrow it down.

[span class="edited"][Edited by mimo 2004-08-17 10:17][/span]

pop eye is caused by a bacterial thing .... use bacterial medicine to cure it

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

After 24 hours of melafix his eye is much worse it is swollen and has a cotton like cover. I went to a different store and purchaced Maracin. It contains 200mg of erythromycin. They say 1 tab every 24 hours for 5 days. I removed my clown pleco and two red eye tetras from my 10 gal to my community tank, cleaned it and topped it off with water from my 55 discus tank. Ive moved my fish added the Maracyn fed him (he ate lightly) and shut the light. I am new to discus so I appriciate all of your advice. I hope he pulls through his name is now Popeye.

How's it going now?

Thanks for asking Jacquie. Its good and bad. The cloudiness seems to be clearing up I can see a nice bright red ring around his pupil again. The cotton like cover is still there and his fin is the same, he uses it 50% of the time. The bad news is that he didnt approach the food (blood worms, his favorite) when I fed him today. I need to give the medicine more time before I can say for sure.

Day 4, move to hospital tank medicate w/Maracyn
Day 5, remedicate

Im writng the day by day journal in case anyone runs into the same problem they can see what did or didnt work for me. I hope it works.

Hi there,

Popeye is really hard to treat but I suggest you start using an antibiotic to treat the bacteria, If you can get hold of some Furan or Furan 2 and start treating with that.
If you cant get furan treat with amoxycillin of some kind, go to the vets and get some from them.

Keep up the w/c and hope for the best.

Trace

good news Popeye is improving. I gave him The third dose af Maracyn this morning after a 25% water change and when I got home tonight his eye looks much better. its clearing up and red again the cotton like cover is 90% gone and the swelling has gone down signifigantly. Hes not out of the woods yet but much improved. His fin seems to be showing some improvement, he eating lightly. I hope for more to come. Thank you all for your advice I am new to this site and its been nice to get some feed back.

day 6, 25% water change remedicate (improving)

Glad things are improveing!! Keep up the good work and let us know how things are going

don't worry about it not eating much..
it happens when ur using medicine in the tank..
my discus didn't eat much when i used med in the tank but when the medicine was gone it started eating more everyday
gl with the fish

Well I just gave him his last dose of Maracyn his eye and fin look 90% better overal but his condition and behavior are poor. I think he is loosing his slime coat his tail fin looks white and chalkey and I see long strands of film on the thermometer and flowing out of the pump.Hes inactive at the top of the tank head down and slow breathing. Maybe the illness wore him out. I will do another water change and clean up the tank in the morning, and wait and see. Thanks for all of your advice.

day 7,remedicate
day 8,remedicate last recomended dose

news flash. I made my last post early this afternoon. I work nights at a restarant so my timing may be odd but when I left for work my dicus was in very poor condition. I got home tonight 12 hours later and he looked to me even worse! I figured im done with the meds Ill give the tank a good clean up and BOOM 1 hour after the clean up he looks great! Im so confused? He looked near death when I got home? I always do water changes but such an impact? Should I move him back to his 55 gal or wait and see? Im truly dumbfounded. Im new to discus but in the hobby for 1 1/2 years some advice please?

i say leave him for a week before you put him back in the 55 gal

well popeye made it hes back in the 55 gal and doing very well. I figured out what the 1 hour wonder cure was, I found .25mg/L of amonia in my hospital tank when I tested the water, thats why he perked right up after the water change so I imediately took him out. I guess the Maracyn broke the cycle in the tank its my only guess because thats my oldest tank (well cycled). Thanks for all of your help and good luck to any one else who ever has to deal with this.

[span class="edited"][Edited by mimo 2004-08-23 12:06][/span]