White fuzzy junk over both eyes??

[John 5]

Got an orange african cichlid that has white cotton looking fuzzy crap over both eyes. He is the only fish with the problem. I do regular water changes. Checked levels and everything looks good. Do I need to pull him out of the tank an quarantine? I read somewhere that he may need some copper something??

[Darbex]

Yeah I would pull it out immediately into a QT and my preference would be hit it with Formalin or Furan-2

[Mzungu]

How big is the tank, and how many other Africans are in there?

Could be that he was fighting and his eyes got beat up, and fungus has taken over the wound sites. If that's the case, you might just want to keep up with water changes and maybe add some Pimafix and/or Melafix. If you have a quarantine tank available, it's never a bad idea to pull a fish when they're ailing and let them recover without any interference.

What kind of African is he?

[John 5]

55 gallon, 15 other fish in there. Don't look like he was in a fight. Both eyes look the same. He just sits in the corner with his eyes covered with white gunk.

[Mzungu]

Aww, poor thing.

Yeah, if you have a QT ready then I'd move him if I were you. Especially if he's just sitting in the corner. He'd probably get picked on if he wasn't in the corner, and it might be stressing him out to have to stay there.

[Zulaab]

I have had a fish that because they are spooked easily sometime they will all ram into the glass and I am thinking this is how one of my cyps got one eye.
He has had it for a while now and It will not go away and it will not get any better.. He has been this way for at least 3 months. He is aggressive, territorial etc like the others.. he has no problem seeing out of the eye so injuries can take a long time to heal.

[imagirlgeek]

Did the fuzz appear quickly, or have you noticed it gradually getting worse? If it's been getting worse gradually, how long has it been coming on?

I can't tell from the picture...is the white fuzz like wispy, thready strands? Or is it dense and compact?

[John 5]

It came on very quick. I watch/feed them in the morning before work and then in the evening and watch them close. It was like over night he had this crud over his eyes. This evening, I moved him to a 20gallon tank with some gold fish. I'd rahter lose the goldfish than lose my cichlids...A buddy of mine has some of the Furan-2 that Darbex recommended. I will try that tomorrow. He is not new to the tank, been in the about 2 months, so I don't know what caused it. I bought 2 of them together, same size etc, the other is fine. The only thing I can think of, is I had 2 demonsi's and 1 was very aggressiive. He hate the tail off the other and the other lost color in in his tail and died. Maybe some kind of fungus came off the tail?? This happened about 2 weeks ago. I got rid of the aggressive fish because he would nip at everything in the tank. Mean little bast@$d!! Thanks for the help.

[John 5]

Bug eye will get the 4th dose of Furan-2 tonight. So far, it has not gotten any worse, but has not gotten any better either. How long can he go without eating?

[imagirlgeek]

Fish can go a long time without eating. I've never used Furan-2, so I can't offer any advice on how things usually respond to that med. I'm a erythromycin and tetracycline girl. But if I had to guess, I'd say the Furan-2 isn't working if it isn't getting any better. Have you been able to figure out what it is? I'll tell you this much...a true fungus is rare. Most fungus are secondary to a bacterial infection underneath. If you fight the fungus and not the infection, you're likely not going to get anywhere. Fungus is going to be like whispy, thready, cotton-ish strands...is this what it looks like?

[myjohnson]

Might just want to flush it.

[John 5]

Fish can go a long time without eating. I've never used Furan-2, so I can't offer any advice on how things usually respond to that med. I'm a erythromycin and tetracycline girl. But if I had to guess, I'd say the Furan-2 isn't working if it isn't getting any better. Have you been able to figure out what it is? I'll tell you this much...a true fungus is rare. Most fungus are secondary to a bacterial infection underneath. If you fight the fungus and not the infection, you're likely not going to get anywhere. Fungus is going to be like whispy, thready, cotton-ish strands...is this what it looks like?

Yes, it looks like cotton strands over his eyes. I will try and pick up some erythromycin or tetracycline from Petsmart if they have it. I'll change 25% of the water today and try the other meds Sunday or Monday. Thanks! I'll keep updating.

[John 5]

Might just want to flush it.

that may be plan C...

[gmod]

Dont buy your fish from Fish R Us anymore...

[imagirlgeek]

I wish I could recommend one or the other, but sometimes you just have to switch around until something works (when you don't know what you're working against). I've had a lot of success with both eyrthromycin and tetracycline, and had a lot of fish come back from far worse. Here's one example.... http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...and-after-pics