Pop eye disease – Exophthalmia
Name: Pop eye – Exophthalmia
Type of disease: see bellow
Cause: bacterial or fungal disease, and/or gas
Symptoms: the whole eye is popped out from its socket, as if under pressure (not just swollen).
Medication:
Maracyn Plus, Trisulfa, foods mixed with a broad spectrum antibiotic such as tetracycline, chloramphenicol or kanamycin are suggested.
Popeye is more a condition than it is a disease. It is actually caused by a disease. It’s also often miss-diagnosed. When the eyes look swollen in parts or areas around the eyes, this is not a case of Popeye. This kind of abnormal enlargement could show up after a trauma caused by an eye injury. Usually the fish has this condition when only one eye is affected. In most cases where trauma occur, the unsightly looking eye does not seem to affect the fish’s overall good health. When trauma is involved, it is suggested to not remove the fish from the aquarium because moving it could cause further irritation, as well as additional trauma. In most cases the injury will heal in time. Simply keep water quality high and provide your fish with high quality food and vitamin to improve its health condition.
Now lets talk about the real Popeye disease. In that case, the whole eye is popped out from its socket, as if under pressure (not just swollen). There is 3 main causes of Popeye disease: bacterial, fungal and gas.
Gas Problem:
This one is quite rare. It happen when there is too much gas in the water compared to the atmosphere around the tank. In that case, gas bubbles can form inside fish tissue. To avoid this, just make sure there is enough movement at the surface to allow fast gas exchange. When caused by a gas problem, the only way to cure it is to push a sterile thin syringe needle behind the eye. This is not something most of us want or can do so the better thing is to simply avoid it. To know if a gas problem is in cause, simply look at the water movement. If the surface is moving, the problem might not be from gas.
Bacterial and Fungal:
A disease (bacterial or fungal) has infected the fish. One of the side effect of that disease is an infection of the ocular nerve whish make the eye look like under pressure. This is the most common cause of Popeye disease and because it can be difficult to know if a bacterial or fungal problem is in cause, you might want to treat for both.
Since it comes from an internal problem, Popeye doesn’t spread to the other fish. However, it is wise to move the fish to a quarantine tank before to use any medication. Medication often have side effects to ours systems and it would be expensive to treat the entire system anyway.
Maracyn Tow for saltwater fish, at twice the recommended dosage, is a good way to address a bacterial problem. If you can’t find Maracyn Two at you local fish store, try to find some Mardel Trisulfa Powder. If no improvement after 4 to 5 days, stop the treatment and switch to an anti-fungal treatment using any medication containing Nifurpirinol.
Wait a few more days (4 or 5) and monitor your fish. Popeye should go after those two treatments but if it not, repeat both treatments again.
Do you have experience with Pop eye?
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Article written by www.aquariumslife.com
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