# Swollen and cloudy eye - won't go away



## Slam (Aug 7, 2012)

Hello everyone,
I have a female betta in a 20 gallon tank with 6 black skirt tetras. The tank was fishlessly cycled 3 years ago and has housed the betta ever since. The black skirts were added a few months ago and there has been no problems; no aggression at all. 

Temp: 27 Celsius
pH: 6.6
Ammonia/nitrites/nitrates: all zero
Filter: Aquaclear 50
Water change: about 30% every week 

My problem is about a month ago, my betta's right eye became swollen and cloudy. Just the one eye. I thought it was the result of an injury (she likes to plow through the gravel looking for food) and treated with salt water baths and also slowly raised the salt level in the main tank (as to not stress out the black skirts). I also stated doing 20% water changes everyday. The cloudiness cleared up and the swelling went down a bit but I could never get it to go away completely. 

Today the eye swelled up again and the cloudiness is back. She is acting normally and the black skirts are fine. Right now she is in a separate container floating in the main tank with Doxycycline . I'm hoping that will help but I don't really know what to do...

Has anyone ever dealt with this? What should I do?
I can't get a picture, but this is one I found online that is very similar http://bettafish-care.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/betta-fish-popeye.jpg


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Over a month is weird. Generally, eyes swell from bacterial infections, but low grade chronic infections lasting a month are rare.
My next guess would be, since it expanded, shrank and quicky expanded again, a cyst.
Option three is a tumour, but it isn't acting like one.


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## Slam (Aug 7, 2012)

navigator black said:


> My next guess would be, since it expanded, shrank and quicky expanded again, a cyst.


That's a good idea, I didn't consider a cyst. 
But looking at it, I don't really think that's what it is. The clear lens over the eye is swollen like a balloon and cloudy and the actual eye underneath is only slightly swollen. Sorry, I have no way of getting a picture but I found this online and it's very similar to what my betta's eye looks like http://bettafish-care.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/betta-fish-popeye.jpg


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Popeye as pictured is a standard infection behind the eye. It seems odd that it would flare up and go down, but the tank may be a very good environment that gave the fish a fighting chance, which it eventually began to lose. 

It's impossible to say if it a gram positive or negative bacteria attacking, or to say which antibiotic is suggested.

I live in an an area where aquarium antibiotics are illegal, and treat the rare cases of popeye I see with heavy water changing and a good diet. That will sometimes work, but the infection often spreads through the fish. Here (I have many tanks) I generally see it with older fish - it's one of those end of the line illnesses. It can also come from clogged filtration or an irregular water changing regimen.


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