Flowerhorn Cloudy Eye Possible Blindness

[cruxmaster]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If yes, what is your ammonia?

0

If yes, what is your nitrite?

0-10

If yes, what is your nitrate?

0-10

If I did not test my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

21-30%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every week

If I do not change my water...

...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Hi,

Sorry cross posted this.

I have a juvenile flowerhorn who recently (within the last 2 weeks) developed one cloudy eye. He is relatively new to me as I've only had him for 2 months. He's been up and down with some stress and I've been doing my best to manage the situation.

I've been maintaining water parameters with low to 0 Ammonium, Nitrates, and Nitrites. I was trying to maintain a higher PH (7.8-8.2) but at some point, probably during weekly water changes, it dropped to 7.2ish. I'm thinking this is the main cause of my problems. I also noted lower KH and GH around 2-3 (obviously contributing to some PH bounce). I've just added about a pound of crushed oyster shells to help increase the KH and add some buffer.

I removed the charcoal and started adding Melafix every morning to his tank (75 gal hex) at about 30ml. Been doing this for 4 days now....

He is maintaining a good appetite and is always searching for food but I've noticed he has difficulty finding floating pellets and will keep swimming around and seeking them out as they get stuck in corners. He does find them and occasionally he will eat one from my fingers once in a while. I just started soaking medium pellets in Metronidazole and letting them dry. I got him to eat two yesterday. His stomach looks slightly bloated as well (I'll try to add a pic).

My questions are:
1. Am I ok dosing both Melafix and MetroPlex simultaneously
2. Should I be looking to get a pippet or syringe to aid with feeding and meds
3. He does appear to have a little vision (maybe sees shadows), any possibility he will regain some vision?

Any assistance/comments would be appreciated!

 

[Deadeye]

Welcome to the forum!
Don’t bother with the melafix - it is nothing more than tea tree oil and is just about useless as a medicine. Metro has some antibacterial uses, but is more for internal parasite issues. The tricky part is getting a high enough dose in the food that it treats for issues while also not tasting too terrible to eat.
For a cloudy eye, I’d expect the fish to have a bacterial infection. Try treating with an antibiotic like kanaplex.
As for the feeding, sometimes the pellets are too large for them - try crushing them up and seeing if it has an easier time.

 

[cruxmaster]

Really appreciate the quick reply and warm welcome Deadeye!

I had read the same about Melafix but their packaging claimed it worked for cloudy eye and I had it from an old Oscar. I'll drop it and continue feeding the MetroPlex, since I'm having some success hand feeding pellets that were soaked in it. I'll also order some Kanaplex and dose as per the instructions. I want to move him to a smaller 10gal. hospital tank, but I feel like he's showing improvement, and I'm afraid to cause any additional stress.

I also have a second juvenile FH, I just acquired from a local fish store that was converting to online sales only. He's younger and smaller but has white poop (Hexamita I'm guessing). I got him a week ago and immediately started treating a 5 gal hospital tank with API General Cure. Followed the directions and gave him two does 48 hours apart and then did a 25% water change. There was some immediate improvement but he's still not fully cured. I just started dosing his tank water with the MetroPlex as he spits out the pellets that are soaked in it. I can try the focus and garlic to make them more appealing but was reading that Clear and/or PraziPro may be better for. Any thoughts?

Water in the second tank is, 82 degrees F, PH 7.9, Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Haven't checked the GH and KH as it's only a hospital tank.

Really appreciate the help, I'm working hard to turn both these guys around!

Thanks Again!!

 

[Deadeye]

Do you know what the flowerhorn has been eating? White poop is a sign of internal parasites, but can also be seen from a diet of mysis/brine shrimp or just from not eating. That said, it’s never a bad thing to deworm a new fish. I’ll typically use levamisole or prazi for any parasite issues. Nls hex shield used to be good for parasites, but was discontinued.

As a side note, I hope you have two tanks because the flowerhorns likely won’t get along.

 

[phreeflow]

Agree with everything DeadEye said. Metro is more for parasites, while cloudy eye is likely bacterial. You don’t want to hit your fish with too many unnecessary meds since they can be hard on their kidneys and liver. Lots of water changes and/or Kanaplex should clear that up. From the pics, the eye doesn’t look too bad…at least not enough to cause blindness.

Flowerhorn are highly inbred, as are parrot fish, so it’s not uncommon to see them miss pellets. Also, those large pebbles in your first tank is likely catching a lot of food and waste so it’s a nitrate and bacteria factory. You might want to clean that out well and consider mixing in sand to fill the gaps or replacing it.

As for white poop on the 2nd flowerhorn, all my incoming fish get quarantined and dewormed with prazi and/or levamisole. General Cure will probably work but that also has metrondazinole as an ingredient so you might not want to give Metroplex with it as well

 

[cruxmaster]

Thanks for the replies All!

Unfortunately, I'm not sure of the either fish's diet before I acquired them. I do know they would give the small FH blackworms but not sure how regularly.

I've ordered some Prazi, Clear, and done partial water changes in both tanks. The Ammonia in the hospital tank got a little high as i couldn't change the water with the MetroPlex in it for a few days (per the directions). The smaller (newer) FH seems to eat well so I'm trying to keep him eating but he's particular and only likes bug bites at the moment. He was really dark and blue when I go him but recently he's gotten lighter (not in a good way) and developed more red (that may actually be good), I'll attach a pic from this morning.

The larger FH in my 75gallon hex is doing OK, he's semi active and I've been able to feed him a few pellets soaked in MetroPlex by hand. When the Kanaplex arrives I'll probably have to move him to another hospital tank (10 gal) to make medicating easier. I really don't want to stress him but as phreeflow noted I need to work on the substrate in that tank, although I may just move him to FH friendly tank (like my 57 Marineland, pic attached). Think it's OK to move him to the hospital tank or should I leave him where he is? I can't easily see his excrement, nor if he's spitting any food out, which is also a disadvantage to that substrate. I'm thinking I may just make that hex tank a discus tank but that will be another project....

I have multiple tanks, with a few more in storage.
75 Hex
57 Marineland with a divider and no fish in it. (Been using it as a water source for water changes but I'm hoping to get another FH). Pic attached.
20 gal tall
5 gal hospital
10 gal hospital

I recently bought a 125 gal and have built a sump to go with it. I'm waiting for an overflow to arrive so I can complete building that out as well. Hoping to complete that tank this week.

Thanks Again!

 

[Deadeye]

Smaller qt (without being too small) is always good, it makes monitoring much easier and reduces the dosage required. As long as you keep up on maintenance, a juvenile fh will be fine in a 10 for a few weeks.
As for the color, I wouldn’t be too worried - cichlids naturally change color as a response to surroundings. A bright tank will lead to cichlids with more washed out colors to blend in better.

 

[cruxmaster]

Thanks again Deadeye!

Yes, I agree the smaller qt tank will be much easier to work with, just hope it doesn't stress the larger FH too much!

As for color, yes, I've read there are a lot of factors including, mood, stress, etc. I've noticed they change color quickly, even as I walk up to the tank. Here's a pic of the smaller FH at the shop before I took him home.....

Just checked and the Ammonia is back to 0 and he ate 5/6 bug bites this morning I'm still treating the water with MetroPlex and watching for signs of white poo.

 

[cruxmaster]

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

Both my FH's are improved although not 100%. I've backed off on meds for both just to see how they are.

The smaller fish's excrement is looking better but I just saw a small string of pearls today. He is eating well and is very aggressive and active. Also, has good color! I stopped adding MetroPlex to his water a few days ago to give him a break. I'm thinking to start dosing him with "Clear" via direct injection through a tube down his throat. I've seen a lot of people have good success with this. Any thoughts or experience with Clear?

The larger FH, with the cloudy eye is doing well also, he is eating a couple different types of pellets and is better at seeking them out. His vision is still not 100% but does seem slightly improved (especially in his left eye, which never looked cloudy). I'm thinking to move him to a 10g hospital tank and treat with Kanaplex, as initially recommended, but wanted to take him off the pellets soaked in MetroPlex for several days first.

I'm maintaining 3 water changes a week on both tanks and all H2O stats are in check! They both look much better and I'm hesitant to mess with them too much (I fear I'll be starting over again to some degree).

I included a couple new pics (the smaller one has some gill curl but I'm not that concerned about that at the moment).

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Deadeye]

I haven’t heard of clear. Imo removing the fish and sticking a syringe down its throat sounds like more stress than it’s worth (for both you and the fish) unless it’s showing strong signs of parasites.