# BIG Eye Problems- Ulcer?



## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

My Claire started having eye problems about a week ago, both her eyes had small white spots sitting on the cornea. The strange part was that they came and went, sometimes in one eye or the other, for a few days. She'd have a spot on her right in the morning that would be gone by afternoon, only for her left to have one by nightfall and so forth. I initially thought it was some form of parasite, since they 'moved' like that and I thought I saw a white thread-like thing hanging from her gill, so I treated with Coppersafe and AQ salt for a week. Her tankmate Viola has had absolutely no problems and seem healthy as she ever has.

Last night I was checking up on them and her right eye looked like it was leaking pus! There was a white-ish discharge that looked like it was coming from underneath her eye's cornea, and the whole eye was cloudy. It looked like the discharge was being pushed out, and for a little bit today her eye was free of the pus and was just cloudy. Now it's got pus again, and I noticed that the very tips of her left pectoral fin have small white spots- too small to tell if they're fuzzy or not. Her right eye is also swollen today, initially it wasn't. Today I put her into a 1/2g quarantine with a dose of Triple Sulfa (Accidentally double the dose because of a math goof), I've got a pinch of epsom salt in the water to help with swelling, and I've discontinued use of Coppersafe.

Some research I did suggested this might be an ulcer, though I don't know how she could have hurt her eye. Her tank only has gravel, silk plants, a mug, and her side has the heater. She and Viola have always been separated by the divider, and if they scuffled I'd assume there would be some more damage anyway. I had a theory that there were gill/eye flukes or some other parasite initially, and one damaged the eye enough to introduce bacteria, causing a corneal ulcer to develop.

I started this new thread because I wanted to have everything as up-to-date as possible, and the old one didn't have any replies anyway (Original thread here). I _did_ have a tank of danios die on me last week after being sick, but their illness looked completely different so I'm not sure it's related (Thread for the danios is here).

Housing 
*What size is your tank?* 1/2g
*What temperature is your tank?* ~81*F
*Does your tank have a filter?* No
*Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration?* No
*Is your tank heated?* Yes (Nonadjustable so it fluctuates a bit)
*What tank mates does your betta fish live with?* None (Formerly another female betta)

Food
*What type of food do you feed your betta fish?* Omega One betta flakes, frozen bloodworms as treats
*How often do you feed your betta fish?* Once per day, occasional fast days

Maintenance 
*How often do you perform a water change?* Daily
*What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change?* 25% as per medicine instructions, 100% initially
*What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change?* API water conditioner, rooibos tea (tannin source)

Water Parameters:
*Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? *Assuming zero for all since it's brand new water

Symptoms and Treatment

*How has your betta fish's appearance changed?* Initially white spots on both eyes, didn't seem like a cloudy patch/cataracts, was slightly raised off the surface when seen face-on. Now there's white pus or mucus leaking from underneath her right cornea, and the entire lens is cloudy and the eye is swollen. Her left pectoral fin has small white spots on the very tips, can't tell if they're fuzzy or not. I saw a gray patch on her side last night under flashlight, but I can't see it today so it may have been just her slime coat. 

*How has your betta fish's behavior changed?* Doesn't seem much different, might be having trouble seeing out of the affected eye. Still eats and interacts with me.

*When did you start noticing the symptoms?* Started Monday the 25th, the pus happened last night (12/1).

*Have you started treating your fish? If so, how?* 1tsp Coppersafe, 1Tbs aq salt and frequent water changes for a week, now she's getting 1/4 of 1/8tsp of Triple Sulfa daily for 4 days if not longer.

(My packet treats 10g and yielded five 1/8tsp scoops; so if 1/8tsp treats 2g each her 1/2g tank would get 1/4 of 1/8tsp)

*Does your fish have any history of being ill?* None.

*How old is your fish (approximately)?* Maybe 6 months, I've had her for just about a month now & she still has growing left to do compared to my adult girl.

These photos are from last night so they don't really show the swelling, but it is still pretty minor.


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## Traceuse24 (Dec 3, 2013)

The white specks look like Ich. I am not so sure about the eye other than ususally when a betta's eye pops out it is Popeye. I would treat for both with Mardel Maracyn 1 & 2 simutaneously for the eye. That looks more serious than the Ich. If he gets clamped fins begin to treat for Ich immediately ! You can get Mardel Maracyn from Petsmart... it is usually about $10 for the maracyn 1 and $9.50 for the 2. for 8 packs...


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

Well the Triple Sulfa would replace the need for Maracyn-2 since they're both gram-negative antibiotics; I wanted to be conservative and only treat with one at a time since TS is also fairly broad-spectrum but adding in a gram-positive might be a good idea. I have Maracyn-1 on hand already luckily, since my mother might kill me for spending any more money on my fish.

To be honest, I don't think she has ich. Other than the spots on the tip of her pectoral fin she doesn't have any white dots on her body (The spots on the photo are from the glass, notice they also show up in the background). She doesn't have any symptoms of ich either, nor does her tankmate, and since this looks nothing like the ich I've treated in the past I'm inclined to say that the specks on her fins are a symptom of her infection/a secondary infection.

Some more research I've been doing suggests that her eye problems might be a sign of a Streptococcus infection, since they often present with eye problems including cloudy eyes & a milky discharge, but it also seems to be pretty rare (The articles I found were mostly older, so who knows if that's still accurate). Her eye isn't ballooning out like most pop-eye photos I see online, and her tank has been pretty clean, so I feel like it's not 'typical' pop-eye caused by poor conditions. I don't know though, this is the first eye problem I've had to deal with.

This is all very frustrating! Well, for tonight anyway she seems to be doing well in her QT, the pus is once again gone and her eye seems slightly less cloudy & swollen.. If she seems no better in the morning I may dose with the Erythromycin I have as well and see where that takes me.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

This morning Claire's tank had heated up disgustingly high (93*F! Stupid heater) but she seemed no worse for the wear. Her eye was still cloudy and swollen but there was no discharge, and I was unable to see if the white spots on her fin were still there or not. I decided that adding in the Erythromycin wasn't going to do any harm, so I added a pinch when I dosed her with Triple Sulfa (This 10g packet only yielded 1/4tsp, so it would be futile to try to measure accurately with the equipment I have).

She ate with gusto and doesn't have any signs of swimming trouble, so I'm hoping that this is just a simple eye problem that looked nasty at first. Maybe she did somehow scrape herself, I'll doubt check all the decorations in her tank before she eventually goes back.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Poor fishie! I hope she gets better.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

Thanks, I hope so too!

This morning her eye was a lot less swollen, and a lot less cloudy. I'm thinking that the medicine is working, which is a huge relief! I'm planning on keeping her isolated for another few days more, but if the temperature keeps fluctuating I might have to shuffle the girls around so she has a stable temp.

I checked over everything on her side of the tank and I still can't find anything sharp she could have scraped herself on, so hopefully this was just a fluke. I also can't see the white dots at all now, whatever they were they seem to have responded to treatment as well.


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