Red Turk has injured his eye

[William Palumbo]

Most times, just like with us, wounds usually start to look worse before they start getting better...Bill

[Sea Hag]

I just took a pic- tank is dark so I used flash. I couldn't upload the pic as the file size is 186.4 KB and the max size allowed is 85 KB. I have no idea how to resize the pic. The pic is from a Canon Power Shot. Anyone know what I can do to get the pic loaded here??

[William Palumbo]

You'll have to download an image re-sizer software, or upload to a Photo Bucket type of account. There are some free software downloads in the photo section. It's a sticky...Bill

[Eddie]

if your going to treat him I suggest a qt, if for no other reason that economics (costly to treat a 100 gallon tank). When you say it looks worse describe what you see.

I agree, and most antibiotics will affect biofiltration so a QT would be best.

At this point, I'd try not to use an antibiotic. The eyes take quite a long time to heal.

As far as resizing, try to reduce the picture down to 480 x 240 and that will upload.

Eddie

[jduboscarf]

Haven't done this for a while, but if you're using Microsoft pic manager open pic, select edit pic from tool bar, side window pops up and select compress pic under change picture size and select web page and save, depending on pic should be under 85 if not less, then you can attach file. Whewww... hope that helps.

[Sea Hag]

Here are the two pics. Thank you for the help on how to resize & upload.
The first one is the eye yesterday afternoon, the second pic is from today, afternoon. Pics are approx. 24 hours apart. Not sure what my next step should be?

[Eddie]

I would put him in a QT at this point. Salt at 2tbsp per 10 gallons and use a broad spectrum antibiotic. Furan-2 is my first choice but you can use whatever you have available to you. Triple Sulfa works well, and so does Maracyn 2. With Furan -2, you need to keep the lights out. Keep the tank temp around 82F, good air and no need for any biofiltration, just an airstone.

It will take time to heal but I'd rather it doesn't get any worse or he will lose his eye.

All the best,

Eddie

[Sea Hag]

Thanks, Eddie. I'll go out tomorrow first thing and get Furan-2. I may have to drive aways to get it but if I can save his eye (heck, his life is what I'm worried about at this point) it's worth it. It's 9pm here and my discus have been put "to bed". I'll pull him tomorrow and hope like heck the net ends up on the side of him where his good eye is. I don't need to add insult to injury.
When you say salt, you mean regular salt, not Epsom? I have both Epsom and API Aquarium Salt on hand.
Which leads me to just one more question: While I'm at the LFS what meds should any responsible Discus keeper have on hand? I've only been keeping Discus for a year now and have plenty of Metro in the cabinet, but that's it.

[Sea Hag]

One last thing, how often to do a pwc on the QT tank?

[Tito]

I have had eye injuries before, and never a problem. At the most I would add a bit of salt, but not really sure if that made a difference or not, so I just keep the water clean...Bill

I dont know......

IF I had an eye injury I would go to the Doctor Bill! And I difinitely would not put salt in my eye!

[Eddie]

One last thing, how often to do a pwc on the QT tank?

No worries, regular table salt. The trick is to balance water quality with treatment duration. I'd go for every 2 days, but this depends on the tank size. You could also do them daily and just redose daily, its up to you. One thing with antibiotics, always redose prior to filling up the tank when you do water changes.

[William Palumbo]

I dont know......

IF I had an eye injury I would go to the Doctor Bill! And I difinitely would not put salt in my eye!

Well Tito, you're not a Discus! And most human eye drops/meds are saline based...Bill

[Sea Hag]

Another question: I keep my QT cycled by keeping a colony of MTS (along with floating plants) in that tank. Does the particular med I'm going to use (Furan-2) for this eye treatment negatively effect snails? Should I remove the snails and floating plants prior to treating?

[ZX10R]

Another question: I keep my QT cycled by keeping a colony of MTS (along with floating plants) in that tank. Does the particular med I'm going to use (Furan-2) for this eye treatment negatively effect snails?

I have used Furan-2 with snails in my tank before and it didn't seem to affect them at all. The plants I have no idea about those sorry.

[Sea Hag]

Great, thanks for the info on the snails. I won't worry about picking them out of the tank.