VERY PERSISTENT cloudy eyes

[Sam1331]

1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?

Cloudy eyes. The whiteness appears internal. It started on one eye about 2 months ago as a small white circle. The circle started to widen and the centre turned red, while the edges are still white. The other eye started forming a white "x" after about a month ago from when the problem started on the first eye, and it eventually coalesced into a small white circle that now appears red. It's not as bad as the first eye.


2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).

Fish eats well is very active. Poop is normal. Eyes don't look like they're popping.

Fish seems half blind though, having trouble finding the food and catching it with its mouth. The worsening of the eyes has been accompanied by a loss of colour.

3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.

Placed it in a separate hospital tank about 3 weeks ago, kept a constant temperature of 94F and one tbsp of aquarium salt per gallon. Started with a daily 75% water change, but was advised against it. Been doing 75% water changes every 2 days. Also been dosing with 1 tablet of this medication every 2 days after each water change:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3286...zemzXvLGHxluFo

Tank/Water

4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.

Main tank is 120 gal, 3 months old, 10 discus and 4 places, planted, with substrate and a thick layer of white sand over it. Discus fish sizes range from 3" to 5".


5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).

50% every weekend before plecos. Now that I have plecos I do an additional 25% water change in the middle of the week to vacuum their poop.


6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?

3 months, substrate covered with sand. 1" substrate and 2.5" sand.

7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.

Don't age the water

8. Parameters and water source;
Note: Water Parameters are important in diagnosing problems within a tank. If you don't own test kits for the following information, you can purchase them, test your parameters and post this info as soon as possible.


- temp: main tank 89f, hospital 94f

- ph Between 7.6 and 8, can't tell from the tests, but its the same as the store's

- ammonia reading: 0

- nitrite reading: 0

- nitrate reading: I did a water change yesterday and it's now around 10 mg/L. Don't think it ever goes beyond 25 mg/L

What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

- well water: none

- municipal water: 100%

- RO water none
9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
None


10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
Bloodworms 3 times a day, around 1g per fish. They eat it in around 2 minutes. I've recently decided to cut down on the feeding to 2x a day.


11. Include any pictures or videos you have which shows the symptoms. If you can't add them to this post, please provide a link to them

[Sam1331]

bump. Isn't anyone going to help me? Cloudiness hasn't changed.

[bluelagoon]

This can be caused by various conditions. I do see that your nitrates can get high; they should always be below 10, some say 5, but you get the idea. How do you deep clean your substrate? That needs to be done in a discus tank. Seems you need to do larger WC's. Plants will take-up a lot of nitrates which gives a false reading on all the other crap in the tank. With most water sources that come in under pressure will need to be aged if doing more than a 30% WC. Whether it has a PH swing or not. So I see at least two issues. For my 120 gal. no plants and only one inch of sand substrate, I do 80-90% every 4-5 days with aged water, the fish seem not to notice this big WC.

[famtsberg]

I had that happen once when I cleaned a foam filter and replaced it in the tank. I did water changes 25% daily and used pimafix believe it or not' Cleared up in about a week. I no longer clean and replace them. I just replace them.

[Willie]

I used to see this problem when feeding live tubifex worms, so I've stayed away from it since. Once their eyes get cloudy, the coloration often goes gray. I've never been able to cure such a fish.

[Sam1331]

Here's the thing, the sick fish has been in a dedicated 15 gallon hospital tank for months now, with 75% water changes every 2 days, and its eyes are still exactly the same. It has also lost almost all its colour and looks like a ghost. Should I just euthanize it at this point? Because I can't put it back with the others, it's almost completely blind and won't be able to eat.

[Willie]

Here's the thing, the sick fish has been in a dedicated 15 gallon hospital tank for months now, with 75% water changes every 2 days, and its eyes are still exactly the same. It has also lost almost all its colour and looks like a ghost. Should I just euthanize it at this point? Because I can't put it back with the others, it's almost completely blind and won't be able to eat.

That's what I would do.