Hawkfish with cloudy eye/bulging?

[Amybolton2]

Noticed this guy has a really cloudy eye and its bulging, the other eye looks like it might be starting to do the same thing..
Ive contacted the shop I got him from to see but still waiting to hear back.

Any suggestions?

Thank you,

He is eating totally normally, just fed some frozen food this morning and he chowed down.
Going to do a parameter check right now and ill update.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Amybolton2 Welcome to the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Forum!

The #fishmedic team and other knowledgeable members of our community will do our best to help you resolve your questions. Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

• Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
  • How long have you had the fish with the condition?
  • Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
• Current water quality measurements
• Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

You may also feel free to provide a more detailed description of the condition if you wish to share more info than the above list.

Additionally, these links may be useful while you await a response:

• CURRENT QT PROTOCOL LINK
• HOW TO ASK FOR DISEASE DIAGNOSIS HELP LINK

 

[MnFish1]

How old is the fish? (How long have you had it) - does it affect just one eye or both. Injury can cause this, bacterial infection can cause it, and flukes can cause it. If you could give more information - that would help.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

Do a water change to remove any bacteria.

 

[Amybolton2]

How old is the fish? (How long have you had it) - does it affect just one eye or both. Injury can cause this, bacterial infection can cause it, and flukes can cause it. If you could give more information - that would help.

Ive probably had him 2 weeks, it is mainly 1 eye but I'm wondering if the second eye is also starting to get cloudy.

Paramters are
Alk - 7.5
Nitrate - 2
Phosphate - 0.03


Did a water change on Tuesday (I do them weekly on Tuesdays)

 

[Amybolton2]

He is in a 100 gallon right now, I have a smaller 20 gallon I could put him in to watch him but didn't know if I should stress him out trying to catch him and then him being in a tiny tank?

 

[MnFish1]

Ive probably had him 2 weeks, it is mainly 1 eye but I'm wondering if the second eye is also starting to get cloudy.

Paramters are
Alk - 7.5
Nitrate - 2
Phosphate - 0.03


Did a water change on Tuesday (I do them weekly on Tuesdays)

Did you quarantine the fish? (copper/prazipro?). I'm assuming the fish has no other symptoms, breathing, etc. or did you purchase the fish from a store/facility that does quarantine? You could consider treating your tank with prazipro if the other eye is getting cloudy as well. If it is really only one eye - I would watch it - if there is any change - worsening, I would suggest a hospital tank with a broad spectrum antibiotic (such as Maracyn or kanamycin)

 

[Amybolton2]

I didn't, and I know that's me playing with fire, I know he was at the shop for a month or so but beyond that I'm not sure if they did anything to their fish upon shipments.

He has no other symptoms, seems to be moving fine, eating great, breathing seems normal, just the eye issue.
I have a 20 gallon that I can use, is that too small for him or would that be fine for a hospital tank?

 

[MnFish1]

He is in a 100 gallon right now, I have a smaller 20 gallon I could put him in to watch him but didn't know if I should stress him out trying to catch him and then him being in a tiny tank?

I would have that tank 'ready' in case you need to move him. PS - even though I usually recommend against using 2 medications at the same time - you could in theory treat with both in a well oxygenated (airstone) hospital tank. There are multiple posts on R2R mentioning some of the issues that can occur when dosing Prazipro and antibiotics.

 

[MnFish1]

I didn't, and I know that's me playing with fire, I know he was at the shop for a month or so but beyond that I'm not sure if they did anything to their fish upon shipments.

He has no other symptoms, seems to be moving fine, eating great, breathing seems normal, just the eye issue.
I have a 20 gallon that I can use, is that too small for him or would that be fine for a hospital tank?

I think it's ok for a hospital tank. FWIW, the eye could just be an injury from netting, etc.

 

[Amybolton2]

Ok, I already have that tank up and running as it's carrying some of my extra corals. Should I move the corals into the display tank if I need to treat the fish?

 

[Amybolton2]

I think it's ok for a hospital tank. FWIW, the eye could just be an injury from netting, etc.

Should I do any FW dip to check for flukes or anything? I don't want to stress him out more if I don't have to. If it is flukes lets say, would this have already spread to the other fish in the tank?

 

[Amybolton2]

this shows that second eye a little better

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like an eye injury with slight retina issue and should heal well with treatment in separate setting using Maracyn, not Maracyn oxy and maintaining good water quality

 

[Amybolton2]

Looks like an eye injury with slight retina issue and should heal well with treatment in separate setting using Maracyn, not Maracyn oxy and maintaining good water quality

Thanks! Ill give it a go,
The shop got back to me and said pimafix or melafix?
What's the difference between all these and maracyn?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! Ill give it a go,
The shop got back to me and said pimafix or melafix?
What's the difference between all these and maracyn?

Neither- they are useless in saltwater and comprised of teak tree oil even ineffective in freshwater

 

[MnFish1]

Ok, I already have that tank up and running as it's carrying some of my extra corals. Should I move the corals into the display tank if I need to treat the fish?

Prazipro does not hurt many corals. However, an extensive/cycled filter may cause prazipro to degrade faster - and antibiotics may hurt your filter. I'm going to ask @Jay Hemdal to weigh in on this

 

[Amybolton2]

Neither- they are useless in saltwater and comprised of teak tree oil even ineffective in freshwater

Great thank you for all your advise, both of you guys.

Im going to run to the store in the morning as delivery on any this is going to take awhile.
Are there any other names to this medication that are the same? Just want to know what to avoid, as i'm sure the store people will point me towards any of it.
If they don't have this ill just order online and try and find something that will delivery the fastest

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Great thank you for all your advise, both of you guys.

Im going to run to the store in the morning as delivery on any this is going to take awhile.
Are there any other names to this medication that are the same? Just want to know what to avoid, as i'm sure the store people will point me towards any of it.
If they don't have this ill just order online and try and find something that will delivery the fastest

If a fish just has one cloudy eye, it is usually due to an injury. With two cloudy eyes, either the fish was REALLY unlucky and got banged up twice, or it has Neobenedenia flukes. Flame hawks are very susceptible to Neo, so that would be my best guess.

You can try Prazipro in your tank, dosed 3 times, 8 days apart, with good aeration, but Neobenedenia is tough to kill off because the eggs are resistant to drugs. I've had my best success by running all of the fish at half salinity (1.012) for 30 days. Of course, you can't do that with invertebrates in the tank,

 

[Amybolton2]

is there a good chance this would have already passed to the other fish? or if I get him out now I could potentially stop the spread?

If a fish just has one cloudy eye, it is usually due to an injury. With two cloudy eyes, either the fish was REALLY unlucky and got banged up twice, or it has Neobenedenia flukes. Flame hawks are very susceptible to Neo, so that would be my best guess.

You can try Prazipro in your tank, dosed 3 times, 8 days apart, with good aeration, but Neobenedenia is tough to kill off because the eggs are resistant to drugs. I've had my best success by running all of the fish at half salinity (1.012) for 30 days. Of course, you can't do that with invertebrates in the tank,