Flowerhorn Cloudy Eye Possible Blindness

[cruxmaster]

I'm not thrilled about the idea either but I would do whatever it takes to heal these guys See if this link works to a vid of the Clear application:

Also, here is a pic of the stringy white poo...it's not like that every time anymore and recently I've been seeing some proper excrement as well. This is a good sign and I know he's improving but I also know, if untreated HEX will kill a fish.



Thanks again Deadeye!

 

[cruxmaster]

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.

Actually this is the original vid, this guy seems to have a "little" experience with FH's, LOL!

 

[Deadeye]

In a lot of animals, parasites can be more of an annoyance than a threat (but can easily reproduce to the dangerous stage). Another round of dewormer can definitely help, but I’d mainly want to know what I’m treating with first. Watching the video makes it look less traumatic than I expected. If you can minimize stress with the clear, it could do the trick.

 

[cruxmaster]

I think I'm gonna go for it (the Clear treatment that is). He's been starting to act a little crazy and I've noticed his stomach bloat isn't really improving (pic below). He's also starting to show signs of stress and thrashing around in the corner. I'm thinking now that he's been off any meds (MetroPlex) for several days, he's starting to relapse/digress a little. I managed to grab some of the white fluff, while changing water, and I'll have a look at it under the microscope to see if I can identify any worm eggs.

I read that Levamisole is probably the best to use for internal parasites but it's also very strong with a good chance of overdosing.

Wish me luck with the Clear!

The pic on the right is some of the fluff that I vacuumed off the bottom of his tank.

 

[cruxmaster]

So the Clear treatment has been going well. It's a little tricky to get the syringe far enough into get to his stomach as this isn't a large fish. Today till be the 5th day and I've already seen improvement although, he's still showing a little white poo.

The large fish sadly took a turn for the worst! He was doing great so, I was giving him a chance before moving him to a hospital tank to treat with Kanaplex. Then suddenly, a couple days ago I woke to found him vertical in the corner with a shrunken KOK. He's stopped eating and just hangs in vertically in the corners or hovers on the bottom. He can still swim but he clearly isn't OK. I then saw a long string of white poo (although it may actually be stomach lining from not eating for a couple days) hanging from him. I immediately checked his water and did a 30% change as I found the Nitrates were a bit high (20-40), but I'm not sure that alone would cause this, all other parameters were really good and I've been changing water a minimum of twice a week (plenty of bio media in the tank to avoid breaking any cycle).

I moved him to the hospital tank last night and am trying to figure what I should treat him with. I have multiple medications but as I'm unsure what the problem is I'm not sure of the best path forward. I can treat him with the Kanaplex, as his eye looks a little hazy, or treat him with MetroPlex or Clear for Heximita.

Attached a few pics, one of the larger FH and a long string of white poo, one of the smaller fish with a little stringy poo (after 3 days of clear treatment, you can see the bright yellow excrement in the background), the last is my nitrate test (the yellow vial on the left is from a spare 60gal tank I use for water changes, note low Nitrate, the red vial on the right was from the larger FH tank when I first discovered slightly elevated Nitrate).

Thanks as always for any advice anyone can offer, I would like to make a choice on treatment today so things don't get any worse.

 

[cruxmaster]

Took a closer look at the larger FH. Looks like the popeye is back (or never went away), worse than I realized. Also looks like he got some Hexamita as suspected. I took Deadeye's previous advice an dosed him with Kanaplex, I'll keep a close eye on him.

 

[cruxmaster]

UPDATE: Today is the 6th day of Kanaplex and sadly no change in the eye cloudiness of the larger FH. He does seem to be doing well considering he went from a 75 gal tank to a 10gal hospital tank. I'll do a 40% water change, put the carbon back in, and try to feed him since he hasn't eaten in nearly a week. I've ordered some Levamisole and after several days break I'll calculate and start dosing his tank with that......

The small FH was doing well with the 'Clear' medication but after 5days I was still seeing stringy white poo, and opted to continue for a couple more days. On the 7th day he really wasn't looking good, just hanging on the bottom of the tank and not seeking food (even thought he hadn't eaten in a week). His color got pale and starting changing (not in a good way) and he starting getting stripes (a sign of stress I believe). I stopped the clear and did the usual daily water change, I'm trying to give him some pellets but he's spitting them out (at least he's trying to eat them). I'm going to start adding a half scoop of Metro Plex back into his tank water as that seemed to help him the most previously. I 'll keep up the daily water changes and continue to try and feed him. If I can get him eating again, I'll soak pellets in Metro Plex with Focus and see if I can get him to eat those (he would previously reject the med soaked food). I should also note, the smaller FH always appears to have labored breathing something else that make me think he's stressed.

As always, any thoughts are greatly appreciated for a flowerhorn newbie.

Big Fh


Small FH

 

[Deadeye]

Sometimes it can take a long time for cloudy eyes to go away - if it can still find food I wouldn’t be too worried.
As for the smaller guy, he could just be stressed due to being in so small a tank. The body condition looks good to me.