Michigan Cichlid Association
General Category => Old World => Topic started by: bmarine on November 16, 2013, 03:41:58 PM
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Yeaterday, my Aulonocara usisya was beaten up a bit and his eyes looked kinda cloudy, now today, the cloudyness is gone, but he has strange white dots on both of his eyes. I really don't want anything to happen to him cuz he 's a great, beautiful, breeding male! Anyone know whats goin on and how to fix it?
The first pic is of his cloudy eyes, and the last 3 are of the spot.
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Cloudy eye is usually a secondary infection connected with stress. Water changes and removing stress factors will help a lot, in my experience.
The dot could be a similar abrasion/scratch on the eye. If it doesn't clear up (after you've upped water changes and deal with aggression issues e.g. rearrange décor, shuffle fish, etc), then you may need to treat. I'll defer to others on what to treat with since usually for me if it gets to the stage of using meds I don't have a good track record.
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Haha okay, so far research is saying cloudy eye and sometime pop-eye too. I have him in his own 10 gallon for a bit and will do a small water change today as i put him in yesterday. Also his eyes actually are still cloudy :/
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So how long should i watch before i treat it? And then what should i treat it with? Melafix maybe?
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So how long should i watch before i treat it? And then what should i treat it with? Melafix maybe?
I don't have an African cichlid example but my pink convicts beat up on my African leaf fish when they were together in a 50 long. I moved the pink convicts to their own tank, did an extra water change, watched the other fish for a few days, and the cloudy eye was gone. I did not remove the injured fish to his own tank. Seems like this has happened before as well but it's been a while so I don't remember.
When you do add him back in to the main tank you may need to be careful because he may not have a place in the hierarchy if he's gone for too long and may get beat on again in the process of establishing dominance.
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Cloudy eye is usually related to poor water quality...or possibly in response to an injury. Best treatment is clean water. He doesn't need to be separated unless someone else is causing him stress.
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K, yeah he was being beaten pretty badly, floating near the top of the tank in the corner. So i'll reintroduce him right after i water change and redecorate, and i'll put him in at the same time as a female that has been holding and will give up fry soon.
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it he was beaten up and floating in the top corner, I wouldn't put him back in that tank.
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it he was beaten up and floating in the top corner, I wouldn't put him back in that tank.
i agree, ideally try not to put him back in the same tank, but if you dont have another tank for him there are some things you can do to ease his reintroduction back into the tank. first i'd give him a few extra days to destress and heal up so he isnt a weakling when he gets back in there, the stronger fish will immediately take advantage of that. when you get ready to put him and the other female in the tank do a water change at the same time and rearrange all your decor, you could even take all the fish out during this process and reintroduce all the fish at the same time. this will mess up all of their hierarchy and give him a way better chance to not get beat up again. good luck bud
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If you've only got a single tank, perhaps get a breeder net to hang inside the tank that will keep him separate from the others? (I'd also place it so he's not right under the brightness of the lights.)
I've had this happen a few times over the years, from abrasion on rockwork in my case. Usually they get better, but sometimes they don't. He'll still be able to get by if it doesn't heal clear.
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Yup will do. I'm keeping him in his own tank to regrow his fins a bit, then i'll put him in after a WC and redecorating and put him in the same time with a female that was holding and definitely watch for aggression. If i see anything, i'll separate the bully so this guy can have some time as the dominant.
And it does seem to be healing after the WC on his tank.
Sorry it took so long to reply, guys, just dealt with a power outage since yesterday. :/