Royal gramma with optical edema

[Anonymous]

I yanked a big coral and attached rock from an aquarium at work to bring home a couple of days ago. A few hours later I noticed our royal gramma had its eyes buldging out. The one on the right is worse. Since we haven't introduced any new fish in over a year, I am assuming I injured or somehow damaged this fish, although I can't be certain it wasn't like that before. Yesterday it was laying on its side and I debated whether to end its suffering or leave it alone. I decided to leave it alone. Today it is upright, though not swimming. Its eyes still look about the same.

Has anyone seen a fish recover from this sort of thing before? Is there anything I can do or just leave it alone? Since it seems to be recovering, I think leaving it alone is the best bet.

 

[bleedingthought]

How's the gramma?

 

[IceMan0124]

My potters angel came down with it a few weeks ago, it got bad, the eye was huge and completely white, she's just fine and dandy now, is it still eating? if it is I would just wait it out, it worked out well in my case

 

[Len]

Sorry for missing the post. It might have been a bacterial infection from the rocks, or perhaps pH suddenly changed. Fish can recover from these sort of things. How did your gramma fare?

 

[Anonymous]

My tang had this once and recovered in a week.

 

[Anonymous]

As of today it still has popeye but is alive, so I am hoping it will go away.

 

[Len]

If you have a quarantine tank, antibiotics may help. But handling fish with eye protrusions is risky in and of itself.

 

[Anonymous]

It's also a bit delicate because I pretty much gave the tank and its contents to a guy who works in our lab, and this happened under my watch while he was away, so there is a guilt aspect. I'm opting for the least intervention approach.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought it was gone, but yesterday I saw it and it is almost fully recovered (somone nipped a fin). But its eyes now look normal.

 

[Len]

Awesome! My angel disappeared two days ago, but yesterday, it was back (with nipped rear fin). Today, it's eating again, so it might live. Maybe there is a conspiracy brewing.