Emperor Angel with cloudy eyes

[reeferkeifer]

I bought my Emperor a few weeks ago. He is eating well and gets a long with other mates from what I can tell and is not bossy. I do 25 gal water changes, scrape glass and vac gravel every 2 weeks. We just noticed that one eye is pretty cloudy and the other is starting to cloud. What's up? I read that it could be a serious disease. I will be cleaning the tank, all the same actions as above, this weekend. I do not have a quarantine.

 

[jennm]

It's quite likely flukes or trematodes. Very very common in angels.

You can treat with Prazipro, but if you want to confirm the diagnosis first, you can give the fish a 7 minute freshwater dip. Use RO/DI water, that is matched to temperature. Some people insist on matching pH but I never did (and I've dipped hundreds of fish) - if you feel more comfortable buffering to match pH, do so.

Place the fish in the freshwater dip for 7 minutes. It will take at least 2 or 3 minutes for the flukes to die and start falling off. If the fish lists sideways, that's normal, you can gently prod it to keep it moving, that helps dislodge the flukes, but don't poke it aggressively.

Before PraziPro, we would dip a fish daily in this manner, until it dipped clean for a couple of days in a row. Nowadays you can treat with PraziPro and it will take care of the problem completely.

If you don't want to do the dip, that's OK too, but treat promptly. The dip will either confirm or refute my suspected diagnosis.

The flukes look sort of like opaque sesame seeds, they could be a bit larger or a bit smaller than that but most are about the size of sesame seeds. They are a flatworm and they attach to soft tissues like eyes, mouth and gills. If the fish is badly infested, the dip container will look like a snowglobe after about about 4 minutes. It will give the fish some instant relief because if they are in the gills they will impede the fish's ability to breathe.

Jenn

 

[reeferkeifer]

Wow Jenn. :wow2: It's like you have been doing this for a while or something. Thank you so much for the details. It does not seem to be sesame seed like on the eyes. It is more of a film that covers the eye ball. I think I am going to try the medication and the dip. It sounds like the medication can be added directly to my tank. I do not have a quarantine tank. Will that harm any other fish or just treat them as well? No other mates seem to be displaying the same issue. I also do not have any corals, just a FOWLR. Thanks a mill.

 

[genesis]

Sounds like fish glaucoma. Get some medical marijuana leaves and feed it like you would nori and it should clear it up. Just be prepared that the side effects will be an increased appetite, hallucinations, anxiety, etc.


.......lol

 

[jennm]

ReeferKeifer;1034488 wrote: Wow Jenn. :wow2: It's like you have been doing this for a while or something. Thank you so much for the details. It does not seem to be sesame seed like on the eyes. It is more of a film that covers the eye ball. I think I am going to try the medication and the dip. It sounds like the medication can be added directly to my tank. I do not have a quarantine tank. Will that harm any other fish or just treat them as well? No other mates seem to be displaying the same issue. I also do not have any corals, just a FOWLR. Thanks a mill.

Heh just a few years (Like, close to 30...)

No it doesn't look like sesame seeds while it's on the eye. Just that cloudy filmy bit. There are probably several on the eye, overlapping. It's when they fall off, that you see what they look like. I've looked at them under a microscope and they have a little round set of 'teeth' with which they latch on. Creepy.

All fish *can* get them but they seem to prefer angels most, followed by tangs. If it was me, I'd dip the angel to confirm the diagnosis, then treat the whole tank with PraziPro.

Edit: Here's a link to Fenner's site. I love this site but the format is kind of hard to read but if you scroll down you'll see some pictures. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm</a> I am not the "Jenn" in the correspondence, but there are a number of dialogs that fit the same profile for flukes.

Jenn

 

[reeferkeifer]

JennM;1034507 wrote: Heh just a few years (Like, close to 30...)

No it doesn't look like sesame seeds while it's on the eye. Just that cloudy filmy bit. There are probably several on the eye, overlapping. It's when they fall off, that you see what they look like. I've looked at them under a microscope and they have a little round set of 'teeth' with which they latch on. Creepy.

All fish *can* get them but they seem to prefer angels most, followed by tangs. If it was me, I'd dip the angel to confirm the diagnosis, then treat the whole tank with PraziPro.

Edit: Here's a link to Fenner's site. I love this site but the format is kind of hard to read but if you scroll down you'll see some pictures. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm</a> I am not the "Jenn" in the correspondence, but there are a number of dialogs that fit the same profile for flukes.

Jenn[/QUOTE]


Well..... mind blown once again. Thank you. I'm on my way to get the medication now.

 

[reeferkeifer]

Genesis;1034502 wrote: Sounds like fish glaucoma. Get some medical marijuana leaves and feed it like you would nori and it should clear it up. Just be prepared that the side effects will be an increased appetite, hallucinations, anxiety, etc.


.......lol

Bhahahaha. That is the best response ever. That just made my birthday today.

 

[reeferkeifer]

JennM;1034507 wrote: Heh just a few years (Like, close to 30...)

No it doesn't look like sesame seeds while it's on the eye. Just that cloudy filmy bit. There are probably several on the eye, overlapping. It's when they fall off, that you see what they look like. I've looked at them under a microscope and they have a little round set of 'teeth' with which they latch on. Creepy.

All fish *can* get them but they seem to prefer angels most, followed by tangs. If it was me, I'd dip the angel to confirm the diagnosis, then treat the whole tank with PraziPro.

Edit: Here's a link to Fenner's site. I love this site but the format is kind of hard to read but if you scroll down you'll see some pictures. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm">http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisflukef.htm</a> I am not the "Jenn" in the correspondence, but there are a number of dialogs that fit the same profile for flukes.

Jenn[/QUOTE]

How long did you treat the tank with the PraziPro? A few days, until the issue was gone? It appears I only put it in the water once every few days and turn off the skimmer and uv while treating. I'm doing a water change tomorrow and I'll vac the sand. I'll probably do another water change next weekend and kick on the skimmers and uv.

 

[jennm]

5 days. Then if the problem returned, another 5 days. Remember to remove any carbon too - or the carbon will remove the medication also.

Jenn