# Eye bulging problem



## KG4mxv

one of my American flag fish right eye is bulging and one of my neon tetras both eyes are bulged.


















I am thinking some kind of parasite.

Thanks in advance. 
Sorry but the American flag fish is too lively and won't stay still for a good photo.


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## susankat

Actually its usually gas bubbles that form behind the eye. How are you doing your water changes? buckets or hose? If your doing buckets let the water sit for a couple of days with an airstone in it to release the high co2 content from the tap. If you are using a siphon hose from the tap, let run a little then slowly add it to the tank, and make sure you have plenty of surface movement.

This happens quite frequently during late fall and winter. The colder water has more oxygen content.


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## KG4mxv

Well I have been gone for 2 weeks and the water quality is good. 
I haven't done a water change in 2 weeks.
My wife has been in charge of feeding and I made it real simple for her.
I got little plastic sauce cups has lids from a restaurant and I dosed out a daily dose of flake food , a few pellets and a separate cup for a small chunk of frozen brine shrimp.
So over feeding is not a issue. 
The only live food I have given that a was live was a month a go and it was brine shrimp. 

I don't want to treat the whole tank if I don't have to but will if really needed. 
I can move the two fish to the 10G hospital tank.

I do water changes from a 55 Gal insulated plastic barrel with two 300W heaters set to 78 and two air stones.
the water is suppled by two GE smart water filters to get rid of any chemical and metallic contaminants.
then pumped into the tank.


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## TypeYourTextHere

There is a post that was recently made here http://www.aquariumforum.com/f14/unorthodox-ways-do-things-21396.html that has a solution to your issue. It may not be something you wish to do, but it is a solution.


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## KG4mxv

Thank you,
If I am not squeamish about using 1% lidocane and making a 4mm incision on my own hand to implant a RFID transponder and closing the incision with derma bond. 

I will have not problems using a small insulin needle to lance the "pop eye"
Now on the neon tera he is so small I don't think I have steady enough hands to do him.
I will isolate him and treat with antibiotics.
Since no other fish are showing any signs of infection.


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## TypeYourTextHere

I guess I missed the part where you said it was a neon.
Why on earth did you insert a transponder into your hand? The only possible reason I can think of for you to do this is in case you get lost the animal control officer can scan your chip and call your owners


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## KG4mxv

No it is a experimental chip I designed.
It can work on multiple frequencies.
the 125Khz portion unlocks my home , workshop , personal car.
the others have my Credicard 
it also has my name and all the meds I take.

It can only be accessed if you are within 10cm of my hand.
You should see the look at the gestations attendants face when I wave my hand over the cc reader and pay for my purchase. ;-)


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## KG4mxv

Pop eye update,
well the Neon didn't even survive acclimation to the hospital tank. *sad


However the American Flag fish was very cooperative and did really well during and after the procedure of draining the infection behind the eye with the insulin syringe. 
I chose the insulin syringe for the small needle. 
I increased the temp of the hospital tank to 80 and added a dose of melafix
and he is recovering nicely with a healthy appetite.
I fed him some frozen blood worms and he gobbled them up. *burp


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## TypeYourTextHere

AWESOME! Sorry about the Neon though. I am glad that I pointed you to that post.


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## Mikolas

I'm not quite sure why it wasn't mentioned, but I think for most bulging eye issues, a simple alleviating solution is to put some salt into the tank (or the hospital tank. If it's an infection, fluid/pus/water can fill up within the eye which causes the bulging. Thus, some salt in the external water would cause an osmotic reaction and help extract some of the fluid within the eye. Glad to hear it's recovering well though.

I think it's also safe to say that if you have a neon tetra that is sick, there is little or no chance of it recovering, especially if you stress it out by catching and acclimating it into a new tank. Thus, I think it's either better to leave it as is (if the condition isn't contagious), or only attempt to acclimate it into an already fully cycled tank.


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## TypeYourTextHere

Mikolas said:


> I'm not quite sure why it wasn't mentioned, but I think for most bulging eye issues, a simple alleviating solution is to put some salt into the tank (or the hospital tank. If it's an infection, fluid/pus/water can fill up within the eye which causes the bulging. Thus, some salt in the external water would cause an osmotic reaction and help extract some of the fluid within the eye. Glad to hear it's recovering well though.
> 
> I think it's also safe to say that if you have a neon tetra that is sick, there is little or no chance of it recovering, especially if you stress it out by catching and acclimating it into a new tank. Thus, I think it's either better to leave it as is (if the condition isn't contagious), or only attempt to acclimate it into an already fully cycled tank.


Honestly, I saw the post I mentioned above last week and when I read that KG4mxv had the eye bulge problem I was instantly curious if it actually works. I know, I am a horrible person for suggesting something that I wasn't sure worked, but I had to know. Sorry.


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## KG4mxv

No problem TYTH,
I need to make some corrections.
I have never had American flag fish before so I just did some research and found out that I have two females ;-)

I really wondered why they called them flag fish until I found a picture of a male. Because she didn't look like a american flag at all. ( The larger fish is the male.) 









With the increased temp I think this has increased her metabolism so she is ravenous. 
She has eaten all the plant material that was stuck to the intake of the power filter.


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## susankat

Flag fish prefer water near 80. I have had them breed for me. They are really good at eating hair algae, one of their favorite foods.


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## KG4mxv

That explains a lot.


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