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hi there, a couple of weeks ago i had a large angel fish with quite prominant eyes, after a few days he stopped eating and while watching him i came to the conclusion thae he had went blind. he has now gone to the big tank in the sky. now i have my biggest and best blue gourami who has enormous eyes bulging out the side of his head and it seems like he has gone blind as well. can anyone tell me what is going on in my tank and what i have to do next. thank you

it's called pop-eye, and it is a sign of poor water quality in your tank. Would it be possible for you to test your water parameters of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrAte and post them here (exact numbers) ? We will know better how to proceed with a little more information. What size is your tank, and what are the current fish in it? For now I would recommend a partial water change of about 20% with dechlorinated water of the same temp until you can get back to us with some numbers.

hi guppylove, i did a 50% water change a little over a week ago when i lost my angel fish, all readings at that time where normal. i will do another set of readings in the morning and post them here for you to look at, many thanks for your responce so far.

Like Dropsy, Popeye is nothing more than a fluid buildup in the body of the fish and I would claim the two share the same results.

There have been mild cases where the disease slowly reversed and the eye swelling slowly went down but that result cannot be counted on.

It's believed that Dropsy is contageous. Consequently I would bet that serious swollen eyes, a similar malady, may be contageous as well.

Since kidney failure seems to be the problem in both diseases, it may be best to destroy the infected fish before it spreads further.

--garyroland.

hi guppylove and garyroland, ok my tank is set up thus,size four foot and capacity 198 ltrs / 52 us gal (without gravel). 3-4 inch gravel base and planted out not to densly with live plants and selection of rocks and driftwood. stock consists of 1 large clown loach, i large silver shark, i medium silver shark, 2 bronze corydoras, i albino corydoras, 2 medium bristle mouth catfish, 1 large blue gourami, 1 large pearl lace gourami, 2 large pink kissing gourami, 2 platy, 1 sword tail, 1 neon tetra, 2 cardinal tetra. this mornings tests where,PH 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 which is what they usually are, sometimes i let PH fall to 7.2. i have bought a product from petstore called pimafix which the guy say's will treat the problem, i'm not so sure that he is sure!
anyway is this problem treatable while sick fish is in the main tank or should i isolate him. should i treat the main tank anyway to kill any "bugs" that may be there.
ps, looking at blue gourami today, he does not seem to be getting any worst, if anything i think the swelling has gone down a bit, maybe thats just me hoping.
so whats your opinion now?

My opinion, better yet, my suggestion, is to stop playing around with the pH and let it find its own level.

I have a feeling those hobbyists who insist on dosing chemicals to jiggle pH are affecting kidney function in their tropicals.

It seems like I'm getting more and more requests for the treatment of bulging eyes, bulging stomachs and swollen heads.

Take my advice and take a vacation from dosing all chems. Right now there has not been a med developed that promises a cure from Dropsy or Popeye. Usually once kidney failure (renal) begins there's no way it can be reversed.

Some may try large water changes, perhaps 50% twice a week for two weeks, to dilute what chems are in the tank water and offer some kidney relief from toxins.

Worth a try.

--garyroland.