Cloudy eyes on Balas

Well, getting ready to take our vacation later this week, and notice that
all my Bala's are starting to get cloudy eyes.

The largest bala, about 6", the soft tissue around the center of the eye is
sunken in, and the eye is a dull brown/off white, his other eye is just
offwhite. The three other balas ranging from 4"-5" have a small white spot
in the middle of one eye.

So, what causes this? Tank perams are normal for me, nothing has changed in
the last 6 months. Filtration is good, water is crystal clear, no odors.

How seriuos is this and what do I do to treat them?

Info on the web is vague, mixed opinions.

Thanks

Ok, all 4 Bala's are dead this morning.


"D&M" wrote in message
...
Well, getting ready to take our vacation later this week, and notice that
all my Bala's are starting to get cloudy eyes.

The largest bala, about 6", the soft tissue around the center of the eye
is
sunken in, and the eye is a dull brown/off white, his other eye is just
offwhite. The three other balas ranging from 4"-5" have a small white spot
in the middle of one eye.

So, what causes this? Tank perams are normal for me, nothing has changed
in
the last 6 months. Filtration is good, water is crystal clear, no odors.

How seriuos is this and what do I do to treat them?

Info on the web is vague, mixed opinions.

Thanks

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 06:47:53 -0400, D&M wrote:
Ok, all 4 Bala's are dead this morning.

Ugh Sorry to hear.

What other fish are in the tank and are they ok?


--
Flash Wilson
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Still collecting Electricity Pylon photos - please send me yours!
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Kind of fast. IMO, only poisonous stuff react this fast. Were those Bala
active b4 u notice the cloudy eyes ?

I once have a Tiger bard developed one sided cloudy eye, and a couple of day
earlier a Green Tiger died of unknown reason. I did 20% water change daily
for 5 days and the cloudy eye gone, no med. no salt, nothing added.

I suspect water quality. Well, that was my tank. JMO.

kclmy

D&M wrote in message
...
Ok, all 4 Bala's are dead this morning.

"kclmymy" wrote in message
...
Kind of fast. IMO, only poisonous stuff react this fast. Were those Bala
active b4 u notice the cloudy eyes ?

It's something in the City Water supply. This happened last time I did a
water change, only last time, no one died (got close though). I noticed the
fish were very docile before we went to bed, normally they're wide awake
ripping around the tank playing, but last night, they were calm, didn't even
care if we went up to the glass.

I changed the water on Friday night, nothing visiable, everything normal
until last night. I was very careful treating the water, matching
temperature, not changing too much water, covered every step to make sure
there wouldn't be a problem, as the last water change I did scared the crap
out of me.

It looks like I lost a tiger barb and Tiger loach as well, moved them to a
safe tank to see if they recover, think it's to late... Same fish that got
hit last time, Bala's and tiger loach, serpae tetras didn't go down this
time, but a tiger did. Terrible to loose such beautiful fish, really sad
having to haul out the Balas.

Water hardness is at +416mg/l, Iron at 0.02mg/l, pH at 8.2-8.5. New
chemicals being added to local bodies of water include methoprene "Altosid",
a larvicide, for prevention of West Nile.

City reports having problems locating the source of Nitrate (3.36-7.66mg/l)
and water hardness, but are working to resolve it. End of July they are
releasing the next report, so the next couple days. Then I can compare
March's report to July's for changes, and find also out what other chemicals
they are adding to the water.

Perameter update:
City would not give me a water report, told me I'd have to wait for a year
end report. Local aquariums advised to speak to local gov't officials and
get them to get the city to give me a report, or supply a sample to the dept
of health for analysis.

Anyways, here are the results from a master test kit, the tap water
perameters are starting to variate, but shouldn't be enough of a variation
to cause this type of reaction. pH has dropped significantly, almost a whole
point. The Nitrite is really puzzling, don't know where that's coming from.
Tank has two filters that have been running for months, Emperor 400 and
Fluval 304, no idea why it's still in the tank.

90g tank:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Nitrite: 0.25
pH: 8.2
gH: 429 or 24 degrees
kH: 232 or 13 degrees
Chlorine: 0
Bromine: 0

Tap water perameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Nitrite: 0
pH: 7.5
gH: 411 or 23 degrees
kH: 196.9 or 11 degrees
Chlorine: 0.5
Bromine: 2

LFS still says to get a city report, find out exactly whats in the water,
what they're adding, and if they don't give enough information, going to
have to send a sample off to get analyzed as they figure there's some type
of contaminant, something wrong with the water.

If you see something in these perameters that can cause this type of
reaction, please feel free to fill me in, and a course of action for the
next water change. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone.


"D&M" wrote in message
...
Ok, all 4 Bala's are dead this morning.

"D&M" wrote in message
...

Perameter update:
City would not give me a water report, told me I'd have to wait for a
year
end report. Local aquariums advised to speak to local gov't officials
and
get them to get the city to give me a report, or supply a sample to
the dept
of health for analysis.

Anyways, here are the results from a master test kit, the tap water
perameters are starting to variate, but shouldn't be enough of a
variation
to cause this type of reaction. pH has dropped significantly, almost a
whole
point. The Nitrite is really puzzling, don't know where that's coming
from.
Tank has two filters that have been running for months, Emperor 400
and
Fluval 304, no idea why it's still in the tank.

90g tank:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Nitrite: 0.25
pH: 8.2
gH: 429 or 24 degrees
kH: 232 or 13 degrees
Chlorine: 0
Bromine: 0

Tap water perameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Nitrite: 0
pH: 7.5
gH: 411 or 23 degrees
kH: 196.9 or 11 degrees
Chlorine: 0.5
Bromine: 2

LFS still says to get a city report, find out exactly whats in the
water,
what they're adding, and if they don't give enough information, going
to
have to send a sample off to get analyzed as they figure there's some
type
of contaminant, something wrong with the water.

If you see something in these perameters that can cause this type of
reaction, please feel free to fill me in, and a course of action for
the
next water change. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks everyone.


"D&M" wrote in message
...
Ok, all 4 Bala's are dead this morning.



The Nitrite is a problem, if absorbed into the bloodstream of the fish
via the gills it converts their blood cell's hemoglobin to some other
crap that does not work. The fact that you see Nitrite in your tank and
not in your tap water seems to be a fair clue. Your bio-filter failed
recently and the last ramp-up is always the critters that convert
Nitrite to Nitrate.

Its not possible for me to know what whacked your bio-filter....... Its
not unheard of for the waterworks folks to increase Chlorine levels from
1 ppm to 5 ppm if they fear some unusual contamination.......these
sometimes happen during the summer season.

Chloride ions interfere with the uptake of Nitrite through a fishes
gills. When I know there will be Nitrite, I add NaCL or a conditioner
that claims it handles Nitrite (they have salt).......The most I would
ever add is 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons........Less would also be
ok......

Take note of your water conditioner (if any)...How many ppm of Chlorine
does it manage per dose.......?

The water reports are sent out yearly per federal law. There is no
Federal Law that says you get one whenever you ask, but the last one I
believe has to be posted somewhere for review. It would be unusual for
something at a toxic level to be shown on the reports....

If you are worried about your city water (who isn't) its easy to rig up
some appropriate gear to filter it.... The inline standard 10" or 20"
canisters and filter cartridges are relatively cheap these days.

Good luck.....