Who Gives A Fish Forums

Need some advice for my blue reef chromis with popeye. Had him for 4 months now, and yesterday I saw his eye blow up pretty bad. Other tank mates are 3 perc clowns, 1 fire fish, 1 diamond goby, 1 yellow tang, and a six line wrasse. Haven't added anything new in a while (about 3 months), but did add a leather coral recently.

There are a few options you've got.

First, you could move the affected fish to a quarantine tank and treat it with something like Melafix or Maracyn. This way, you're not putting your whole tank at risk.

Another option is to just leave the fish in the main tank and treat it there. This is a bit riskier, but if you're careful, it could work.

The third option is to just make sure your water quality is top-notch and see if the issue clears up on its own.

Personally, I'd go with moving the fish to a quarantine tank and treating it with meds.

I'm with you on option 1, removing the fish to a QT and treating with Melafix or Maracyn seems like the way to go.

Freshwater baths are usually my go-to, but I'm not convinced they'd be effective on popeye - might be worth considering, though.

is there any device like a fish trap to catch the sick fish or do you have to take apart the rock work and coral to get him out?

You can find fish traps, but they're pretty useless for sick fish since they usually stop eating. Thing is, you probably won't have trouble catching a sick fish.

thanks for the replies, really appreciate it ... added a tiny bit of melafix, about 1/4 the recommended dose, and popeye's still eating like a champ, never lost his appetite, seems like it's on the mend

its been a week now and i'm quarantining and treating him with melafix, following the instructions for injured fish to the letter. he still doesn't seem to be improving though, is there still hope for him? he's eating and acting just fine, that's the weird part.

the chromis is back in the main tank now, and its gettin better, slowly but surely. things are lookin up for blue chromis, popeye. havin this condition actually gave me a good name for him, "popeye" seems to fit just right.

Hope it gets better soon, that popeye eye's gotta clear up.

"Popeye" the blue chromis is now 100% back to normal. the eye is completely back to normal now. thanks for all the suggestions...

the first week in the main tank, i added a tiny bit of melafix, just like i do with any injured fish, usually a nipped fin. didn't seem to get any better, so off to the quarantine tank he went. after a week of treating him in quarantine, it looked like he wasn't going to get much better. figured he'd had enough melafix for a lifetime, so back to the main tank he went. and to my surprise, he got better way faster, back to normal in about 5 days after being back in the main tank. go figure.