Cloudy Pop Eye - best medication

[Doug]

Hello there, long time no see and all that!

Anyway, the problem I have isn't with a Plec (although a 'Hong Kong' Plec shares the tank, tiny thing it is), but with one of my goldfish.

We have had it and the other fish in the tank for about 5 years now, but quite a long time ago now it developed cloudy eyes. We, being ignorant to what it was, just assumed it had gone blind due to one natural reason or another, and it seemed perfectly happy anyway. All the other fish (including the Plec) were perfectly fine.

Naturally we tried to fix the problem and it had a barrage of different treatments thrown at it, but to no avail. It seemed ok anyway, so after a while, we just left it.

It seemed happy enough, and still is. It just looks horrible though

Flick to last week when I did a water change and noticed that it was red round the eyes, had horrible looking veins on it and, worst of all, the eyes were really starting to bulge outwards!

I have to say that I am rather quite ashamed about the last water change as I got distracted and a LOT more water came out than I had intended. In the end, it must have been something stupid like a 90 - 95% water change. I'm not proud of it because the fish were in very little water, hence stress stress stress!!.

To clarify, the fish lives in a 100(ish) litre salt water tank with 6 other goldfish (it originally was 5, but we rescued two), the Plec, and a much dwindled number of Zebra Danios. That might seem overcrowded (7 goldfish in 100 litres = 14.28 litres per fish), but they all seem happy enough, and I intend to donate the fish to a pond when they get too big (It is vaguely approaching that now with some of them).

Anyway, I have been given (often conflicting) advice from different places, and have been given Myaxin to treat the fish with, which I am doing currently.

The water was tested by the shop that gave me the Myaxin, and was found to have a bit of ammonia in it (the disasterous water change?) although I didn't see the figures. They gave us some anti - Ammonia liquid to put in the tank.

One of the places I went to was the shop where I got the fish (and tank) originally and the guy, after depressing me with tales of pussy eyes rupturing and infecting all of the other fish in the tank, told me that he had used a treatment from the U.S. many years previously, successfully treating an Angelfish which he then was able to subsequently sell.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to remember what the medication was, but told me that it was in the form of a tablet which was dissolved in the water.

Does anyone know what this is? It was got online from the U.S. and was an anti - biotic.

He said he'll try and find out for me, but does anyone else know?? It is an antibiotic medication which he strongly advised I use.

After much waffling, what is the very best medication to use?
Cost does not matter, I only want the best for my fish!

Please, do not fob me off with the usual 'lotions and potions' that can be got at the shops but are of about much use as an ashtray on a motor bike, I want to know what the VERY BEST medications out there are and where I can get them.

What are the hardcore... the REAL medications out there?... the ones a vet would use... which will also be friendly to Plecs and Danios obviously!


Thanks.

[Ardillakilla]

It really depends on what bacteria is causing the infection and cloudy eyes are almost always the result of a bacterial infection.

Kanamycin, erythryomycin, and oxytetracycline are good for columnaris, a common culprit.

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseases/eyes.html

These guys sell a lot of antibiotics for fish that would otherwise require a prescription in the US and they are what a vet would prescribe.