Vallisneria Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 My female red empress seems to have poked her eyeball. She has had this before where her eye looked normal except it was cloudy, it cleared up in about a week or 2. This time she has really poked it. It looks punctured, doesn't have the smooth surface a normal eyeball has(it was even smooth when it was cloudy the other times). It looks like it has been torn. What can i do for her? RIght now she is still eating and swimming around like normal(not hiding). Should i treat her or just leave it heal by itself? I have melafix i could add if needed. Salt maybe? I woudl prefer to not have to take her and put her in a Q tank as tearing the tank apart trying to catch her woudl likely stress her out more. I"ll try to get a pic of the eye tonight if needed. It looks really gross(and painful :boxed: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahim101 Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 I think you should treat her in an attempt to prevent it from getting worse. Pull the carbon insert out of your filter and add salt as well as the melafix. 3-4 days and she should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jods2518 Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Melafix is a great solution, I know your tank is big and it could be costly but you can add it to the big tank and not disturb her life! I would also make sure the water is very clean to prevent infection. Good luck! She's a cool fish! Jods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Ok thanks, I was planning on adding some melafix and salt to the tank jus twanted to see if maybe i needed to add something a bit stronger. How much salt would you recommend? Here are the best pics i could get of her. She kept swimming with her bad eye to the back of the tank. red empress eyeball red empress eyeball 2 red empress 3 red empress 4 red empress 5 red empress 6 See how it looks torn and not just cloudy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Ouch, that's nasty. I'd skip the salt, keep the nitrates as low as possible, and use a Pimafix/Melafix cocktail for the next 4 days, then just Melafix for another 5-7 days. By then hopefully it will be well on its way to healing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Well i have the melafix but i dont' have enough pimafix to treat this tank. I"ll try to get some soon though. I know, it looks like it really would hurt. She must have poked it on a rock or something. Poor girl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlidkid Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 drain half the tank or as low as your filters will go that is what I always do yowzer that is a nasty one. you think is was self inflicted or did another fish open up a can of whoopiezy :guns: yea malifax is great when I have a problem in my big tank I drain half and put extensions on my power filters and run those draining = less volume of water = less melafax = less money spent o yes I am so cunning :smokey: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 yeah i'm not really concerned with how much money it will cost to treat the whole tank. I have some Melafix that i made so its not as costly as the bought stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 draining = less volume of water = less melafax = less money spent Yes, and it also means less water available to the fish which = less territory = more stress. Not a very good idea IMO. It also means more water changes (in order to keep the nitrate level as low as possible), so your savings will be next to nothing. Melafix is pretty cheap, especially if you buy the Pond mix. (just make sure to note that it is a stronger solution, so you need to use less) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Val. Melafix will not correct the situatiom. or relieve the problem. The fish needs time to recoperate. Not in an environment that is threating.!! You have a physical problem. Attack by another. Sorry, but the world is real. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 LOL Or it could be that Val simply needs to remove some of the rocks that have sharp edges. Red Emps aren't the most graceful fish, and when they get excited they are known to slam into things. I had a male red emp that was as dumb as a sack of rocks, and when fleeing from another fish would ram his head straight on into the end of the tank. The rest of the fish in my tank never seemed to have this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlidkid Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 oh your right I just saw the pic of her tank. pretty stocked up compared to my 90 gal sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Val has a pic of her 90 gallon in this thread: http://s6.invisionfree.com/AlbertaAquatica...?showtopic=1174 and it appears there are definitely some rocks with sharp edges. No problem for mbuna, but a bit tricky to negotiate for some of the larger haps, such as red emps. Val - seeing as this has happened in the past, I would seriously consider replacing any rocks with sharp edges, with smooth rocks. They don't stack quite as easily as flat rocks, but smooth rocks will prevent this type of injury from occurring again in the future. I suspect as those red emps get bigger, that male is going to be doing some serious chasing of that female, and this may very well happen again. Haps have that BIG open water mentality, and when they put on a big spurt they aren't always paying attention to where they are going. zoom-zoom-zoom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 I"ll see if i can switch up the rocks. NOt sure where i will find smooth rocks not that its winter though. I"m not sure if she poked it on a rock or if some fish attacked her. I haven't seen her being chased(by the male or any of the other fish) during the day, god knows what goes on at night though. I"ll see how she is doing tomorrow. Its been a couple of days since this happened. If she gets worse(stops eating, eye looks worse) i'll move her to a Q tank. Thanks guys and I'll keep you posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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