popeye? gourami

[heidik]

I have a 30 gallon tank.
pretty new owner so not a lot of fish.
had four gourami (pearl, i think) and two cory catfish.
All was fine for months and now suddenly all of them are on a rapid decline!

I noticed cloudy eyes in one gourami and so I ordered melafix. The next day one gourami was gone and I have a catfish that has been fighting to live for four days.

Their eyes have begun buldging, have small red spots etc. All symptoms listed on Melafix.

Is there anything I should be doing other than the Melafix treatments?

Is there anyway to protect the fish that do not have such extreme symptoms?

[coheedrules]

How often do you change the water? That is usually the source of most problems along with overfeeding. To better help you we need the tank water parameters - Particularly ammonia, nitrite, and Nitrate if your water changes aren't weekly. Also - pearl gouramis can get way too big for your 30 gallon and cory cats are a shoaling species who should be in groups of 6 or more. All this put together can create alot of problems.

[Louise163]

I agree need water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
How many fish and which type.
Popeye is where the eye bulges out due to fluid build up, closely related to dropsy because of the build up of fluids.

Cloudy eye is a symtom of a desease not a desease in its own right.
Causes.
Old age.
Stress.
Poor diet.
Bad water quality.
Parasites.
Bacterial infection.

Small red spots can be septicemia, red pin pricks spots is viral septicemia.

[heidik]

thank you both for your speedy response.
the water may have have had poorer stats before, I may have been overfeeding them? I am not sure.

stats are:
ammonia - 0
ph- 7
nitrite - 0
I don't believe I own a nitrate test? did not come with the kit ??
My main concern is the popeye.
I have been using the Melafix for 4 days ( 7 day treatment cycle ) and do not see any improvment on their eyes. They are definitely protruding.

I do not believe the size of my fish are an issue, I would like to get more catfish when the tank is stable enough to do so.

I have been instructed to do a 25 percent water change on the 7th day of treatment.

Is there anything else I can do to assist their healing?

[Louise163]

Melafix is not good on a internal bacteria infection.
Melafix is a external med not internal.
Melafix is only good on cuts and wounds.
If in the uk you need anti internal bacteria med by interpet.
Your fish have septicemia which is very hard to cure once it advanced.

Septicemia is caused by dirty tank water, or bad water quality, or it enters the fish blood stream through cuts and wounds.

[heidik]

thanks for the help.

I am not in the UK.

So, perhaps I will try Mardel Freshwater Maracyn-Two, a product I found that is to treat the disease you mentioned.

thanks again.

[Louise163]

Yes Maracyn in the united states.
Good luck.

[heidik]

Just wanted to say thanks - I used this product and it saved the "healthier" of the fish in my tank. I appreciate your help!

[welchrock]

Glad to hear you've had some luck with treating your tank.

In my experience - whenever you've noticed a fish is sick, it is likely too late. This is a pain in the butt to hear but for me it was even more of frustrating pain to learn. Think about other animals and even humans - if you can visibly see that they are sick - they are pretty darn ill!

My suggestion for future problems down the road would be to treat conservatively with the goal of saving those fish that are not yet affected - this is a lot more realistic than trying to work a miracle and over-treating the rest of the tank.