Help, missing eyes

[Chris]

Help, I've recently adopted a tropical fish tank and I appear to be
having a few problems!

Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear to
be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
Is this a common problem and can it be treated?

I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants, is
it something I need to worry about??

Cheers for any help,

Chris

[Dinky]

"Chris" > wrote in message
om...
| Help, I've recently adopted a tropical fish tank and I appear to be
| having a few problems!
|
| Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear
to
| be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
| Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
| way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
| between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
| Is this a common problem and can it be treated?
|
| I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants,
is
| it something I need to worry about??
|
| Cheers for any help,
|


Sounds like you have some fish attacking the other ones. Identify the
aggressors and remove them. Also, unless you have a HEAVILY filtered
tank, or a very large one (75gal plus) your tank is overstocked, this
can cause behavioral issues. It's often difficult to have this many
fish in one tank unless they are of the same species, or the same in
temperment.




--
(i smell somethin''')
billy
--
Need tech help?
news://news.winextra.com

[Flash Wilson]

On 22 Mar 2004 16:23:05 -0800, Chris > wrote:
>Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear to
>be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
>Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
>way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
>between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
>Is this a common problem and can it be treated?

Do you mean their eyes are physically gone, with a hole where
they used to be, or do you mean they are clouded over?
The latter is called "cloudy eye" (unsurprisingly!) and can
be treated by a) ensuring the tank water is clean and fresh,
and b) with a remedy you can buy (not sure which, there are lots.)
If it's that, ask at your fish store.

>I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants, is
>it something I need to worry about??

Depends how often it is, they may have some irritation in their
gills, either parasitic or perhaps the water quality isn't great
and they are irritated by it. Watch for this, and again check
the water parameters. You say you recently adopted the tank...
was it moved to get to you? If it was, was the filter media kept
wet and oxygenated when you moved? I'm wondering if the filter
bacteria colony was harmed in some way. Did you keep lots of
the old tank water to put in it again, or did you use your own
tap water - perhaps there is a difference between that and what
they are used to, which has caused them to have problems. Or if
the tank wasn't moved at all, was it looked after well before you
adopted it? Either way, I'd just test for pH, ammonia and nitrite
so you can be sure whether there are any problems caused by water
conditions, for a start. I'd also watch for the rubbing against
plants etc and see if it gets worse.

Hope that's a few pointers, please do post with what happens!

--
Flash Wilson
-=-=-=-=-=-=-"Problems do have solutions you know"-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"A lifetime of ****ing things up, fixed...
...in one determined Flash" - Trent Reznor

[Chris]

"Dinky" > wrote in message .net>...
> "Chris" > wrote in message
> om...
> | Help, I've recently adopted a tropical fish tank and I appear to be
> | having a few problems!
> |
> | Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear
> to
> | be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
> | Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
> | way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
> | between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
> | Is this a common problem and can it be treated?
> |
> | I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants,
> is
> | it something I need to worry about??
> |
> | Cheers for any help,
> |
>
>
> Sounds like you have some fish attacking the other ones. Identify the
> aggressors and remove them. Also, unless you have a HEAVILY filtered
> tank, or a very large one (75gal plus) your tank is overstocked, this
> can cause behavioral issues. It's often difficult to have this many
> fish in one tank unless they are of the same species, or the same in
> temperment.
>
>
>
>
> --
> (i smell somethin''')
> billy

From the amount of water I have to move around while cleaning the
tank, I think my tank is somewhere between 75 and 80 gallons. It has a
pair of filters, one at either end of the tank.

For the fish I have (I think)

25ish Neons
2 Silver Sharks
1 Rainbow Shark
2 Royal Blue Gouramies (One Male, One Female)
6 Tiger Barbs
2 Loaches
2 Snails
4 Siamese Algae Eaters
10 Rainbow Tetra
4 Buenos Aires tetra

Which of these is most likely to be the problem fish, and which others
would you remove to get to a reasonable number of fish for the size of
tank?

[Chris]

(Flash Wilson) wrote in message >...
> On 22 Mar 2004 16:23:05 -0800, Chris > wrote:
> >Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear to
> >be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
> >Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
> >way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
> >between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
> >Is this a common problem and can it be treated?
>
> Do you mean their eyes are physically gone, with a hole where
> they used to be, or do you mean they are clouded over?
> The latter is called "cloudy eye" (unsurprisingly!) and can
> be treated by a) ensuring the tank water is clean and fresh,
> and b) with a remedy you can buy (not sure which, there are lots.)
> If it's that, ask at your fish store.

Their eyes are physically gone/going. The Tiger Barb has no eye, but
seems to have healed well, the fish still seems happy. The Neon has
quite a scary looking hole where it's eye used to be, it doesn't look
like it's gonna recover, I'm thinking playing God will be the kindest
move. The other fish started with it's eye going red about a week ago,
the redness has now faded slightly but I think the eye has gone (it
swims around with the others fine, but that does make it difficult to
see how it's doing!)
>
> >I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants, is
> >it something I need to worry about??
>
> Depends how often it is, they may have some irritation in their
> gills, either parasitic or perhaps the water quality isn't great
> and they are irritated by it. Watch for this, and again check
> the water parameters. You say you recently adopted the tank...
> was it moved to get to you? If it was, was the filter media kept
> wet and oxygenated when you moved? I'm wondering if the filter
> bacteria colony was harmed in some way. Did you keep lots of
> the old tank water to put in it again, or did you use your own
> tap water - perhaps there is a difference between that and what
> they are used to, which has caused them to have problems. Or if
> the tank wasn't moved at all, was it looked after well before you
> adopted it? Either way, I'd just test for pH, ammonia and nitrite
> so you can be sure whether there are any problems caused by water
> conditions, for a start. I'd also watch for the rubbing against
> plants etc and see if it gets worse.
>
> Hope that's a few pointers, please do post with what happens!

[Jim Anderson]

In article >,
says...
> (Flash Wilson) wrote in message >...
> > On 22 Mar 2004 16:23:05 -0800, Chris > wrote:
> > >Some of my fish appear to be losing their eyes. It doesn't appear to
> > >be spreading very quickly through the tank but I've got one Tiger
> > >Barb, one Neon and one Rainbow Tetra (Think that's what it is any
> > >way!) all showing problems with their eyes. The tank has somewhere
> > >between 50 and 60 fish in it (plus a few snails!).
> > >Is this a common problem and can it be treated?
> >
> > Do you mean their eyes are physically gone, with a hole where
> > they used to be, or do you mean they are clouded over?
> > The latter is called "cloudy eye" (unsurprisingly!) and can
> > be treated by a) ensuring the tank water is clean and fresh,
> > and b) with a remedy you can buy (not sure which, there are lots.)
> > If it's that, ask at your fish store.
>
> Their eyes are physically gone/going. The Tiger Barb has no eye, but
> seems to have healed well, the fish still seems happy. The Neon has
> quite a scary looking hole where it's eye used to be, it doesn't look
> like it's gonna recover, I'm thinking playing God will be the kindest
> move. The other fish started with it's eye going red about a week ago,
> the redness has now faded slightly but I think the eye has gone (it
> swims around with the others fine, but that does make it difficult to
> see how it's doing!)
> >
> > >I've also noticed the fish occasionally rubing up against plants, is
> > >it something I need to worry about??
> >
> > Depends how often it is, they may have some irritation in their
> > gills, either parasitic or perhaps the water quality isn't great
> > and they are irritated by it. Watch for this, and again check
> > the water parameters. You say you recently adopted the tank...
> > was it moved to get to you? If it was, was the filter media kept
> > wet and oxygenated when you moved? I'm wondering if the filter
> > bacteria colony was harmed in some way. Did you keep lots of
> > the old tank water to put in it again, or did you use your own
> > tap water - perhaps there is a difference between that and what
> > they are used to, which has caused them to have problems. Or if
> > the tank wasn't moved at all, was it looked after well before you
> > adopted it? Either way, I'd just test for pH, ammonia and nitrite
> > so you can be sure whether there are any problems caused by water
> > conditions, for a start. I'd also watch for the rubbing against
> > plants etc and see if it gets worse.
> >
> > Hope that's a few pointers, please do post with what happens!
>

My money is on the 'rainbow tetra', read an article in an aquarium mag 5
years ago that said 'this newly imported tetra' was an eye eater.
Might be the same kind.

--
Hope this helps.
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To email me just pull my_finger

[Geezer From Freezer]

there ain't no need to put fish down cos it's blind. Just ensure it
doesn't get bullied and gets enough food.