potters pop eye.....

[IceMan0124]

in all my years in the hobby, I've never personally had to deal with this, about a week ago I picked up a potters angel, she looked healthy, was picking all over the rocks, I put her in the reef, she was eating that day, she's always picking on the rocks, and trys to eat anything I put in the tank, including my hand, just now I noticed her right eye is about 20% larger, and has a slight film over it, what are my options?, removal will be near impossible, tons of rock work and a good bit of coral, and I'm still recovering from spinal surgery, she's still out and about, more skittish than usual, but she's still picking on the rocks and eating, any advice is welcome, thanks

I Think she might have scratched it on a rock, she's been trying to get my yellow wrasse to clean her the last few days, it doesnt want anything to do with her, I have a pair of fire/blood shrimp on order, though they wont be here till next week, @@@!@#%#@....and everything was going so well....

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I hear ya on removal difficulty of a little angel.

I can only offer a bit of hope. I had a very nice little cherub angel that I loved dearly. After a long distance move, everyone was set up in new tanks, and I noticed my cherub had a pop eye. He seemed to be a bit extra cautious, but other than that did not seem to be in any pain or otherwise feel ill. I just waited it out, he was in my 155 full of rock!

Gradually, the pop eye went down. I don't know if they *always* heal up on their own, but I know they can. When I noticed it I did some searches and ran across others who had been in the same situation and the fish recovered.

So good luck. FWIW, I don't think if you had the shrimp they would really be able to do anything. Hopefully she is eating well?

 

[IceMan0124]

she's been flashing occasionally the last few days, and just prior to the edit before, I watched her scrape against the rock, al most eye first, she doesnt have anything visible to me on her body,but shes harassing my yellow really hard, she'll "present" then it will swim away, and she will swim backwards half sideways and pin him in a corner, its almost amusing, if I werent aware of the possible circumstance, shes still out, and still eating, I'm pretty sure she will pull through, the question is will she be a cyclops or not in the end, thanks

 

[IceMan0124]

about how long did it take to clear up? days, weeks?

 

[Anonymous]

I think it was about four to five days. This was several years ago though so it's tough to remember how long it took!

I wish I knew how often something like that killed the fish, and how often they survived it. As long as things don't look to be getting worse you can hold out hope.

I feel bad for her wanting the fish to clean her, I bet it itches!

 

[IceMan0124]

yeah, I just knew what "it" was, I cant find any spots or splotches, though she has scratched herself up pretty good, thats what I'm thinking happend to the eye, that happend alot at an lfs I used to work at, the place was a mess and things seldom got done properly, the fish usually survived, though they usually lost the eye, which I really hope doesnt happen, I'm gonna try and find a small cleaner shrimp for her, if anything it will make her feel a little better, all the other fish seem just fine

 

[saltank]

Don't know if people on this board do it but have you tried soaking food in garlic oil before feeding. If it is parasite-related (the scratching on the rocks) garlic may encourage whatever live pest that is bothering her to vacate her flesh.

One of the fellow's from Flying Fish Express used to swear by it, although I haven't seen much about it on this board.

I used to do it with my old reef tank (5-6 years ago) if I noticed any fish scraping themselves against rocks; supposedly will encourage iche to stay off the flesh

Just a though. And I never noticed any adverse affects on anything in the tank from the garlic oil....