My beta has a wierd eye growth... help!?

Question

At first, his eye was red and very puffy and he was diagnosed with popeye... then it started to look better after we gave him medicine for the popeye, now we realised that his eye is turning white and is still very puffy, and it looks like it starting to grow on the other eye too... does anyone know what this could be, and if he will be okay? HELP!

Answer 1

Could be a paracite or a fungus. See if you can't give links to photos of your fish. If it's a paracite, a salt bath "putting your betta into salt water for a few minutes" would help kill it. If it's a fungus you'd have to buy anti-fungus medication.

Answer 2

Pop-eye is often compared to Septicemia, they're not the "same" but very, very, very similar. Its generally caused by poor water conditions, whats happening is gases are being trapped between the membrane covering the eye, and the eyeball itself. It is an extremely painful condition for a fish to endure, and the sad part is that if this disease is identified through their eyes, its usually too late.

Don't give up by any means, but be prepared... Pop-Eye is a serious killer of aquarium fish, and it can successfully be treated, however once your fish has suffered it once, it will most likely suffer it again... and again... and again... until the day it dies.

The disease causes digestive bacteria in the digestive tract to grow out of control, and can lead to a condition we know as "dropsy" which is when protein devouring bacteria grow into massive numbers, the fish doesn't injest appropriate amounts of protein for these germs to be satisfied, and begin to devour the intestinal walls of the fish, and enter into the abdominal cavity of the animal. It is important to be aware of dropsy after your fish has had or still does have pop-eye, as most fish do not become dropsy without being pop-eyed first.

Antibacterial medication will aleviate most of the problem, and hopefully cure it. Maracyn, or Maracyn-2 by mardel will manage this illness with fairly good success, but you should not overdose the fish with this, despite how severe the condition is. Treatment MUST be carried ALL the way out as directed on the package, else you risk enabling the bacteria to develop resilience towards the medication. You should treat the fish in a small capacity aquarium, 1 or 2 gallons. This will reduce how much antibiotics you need to administer, and it will reduce the cost of the medication... As we treat water, not the fish, in a larger tank, more meds are required... Enough medicine to treat 10 gallons will cost 30 dollars. I loathe the day somebody treats a 100 gallon monster cichlid tank with this stuff...it would cost 300 bucks for a one week treatment....  I'm sure you're getting my drift by now.

Now that we have base knowledge of the condition down, lets look at YOUR problem specifically. The eye is turning cloudy, white is a bad word to use. The cloudiness is the above mentioned gases trapped between the eye and its membrane. If you are highly dexterous, you can aleviate the pain and pressure, often helping a great deal by using an injection needle and puncturing the membrane to release the gas. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SAID TO YOURSELF "Pffft easy stuff, I work with needles daily!" If you stab the fish in the eye, you'll kill it, flat out kill it. There is no margin for error, your fish will have to be placed into a tray with enough water for your fish to respirate, while not flip flopping around... Its a highly difficult task, but some people can accomplish it. This is how a marine biologist treats the disease.

But we're not marine biologists... So proceed down that road at your own risk.

Cleaning out the tank (without detergents or cleaning products) is the first step to recovery, Maracyn / Maracyn 2 is the medical treatment for the situation, I believe maracyn 2 is more potent of an antibiotic, and therefore you will recieve more success from this product. Ask your LPS employee.

To avoid this happening in the future, mind your fish while it eats. A leading cause of popeye and dropsy is from over-feeding. The food decays in the small body of water (bettas have small tanks and so its worse), and causes toxicity syndrome, facilitates growth of dangerous bacteria, produces NH3/NH4+... all around BAAAaaaahhhhd idea!

Fish have a belly smaller than their eye, and should be fed accordingly, you want its belly 3/4 full, not full to the top. Beyond this, it is a great misconception that fish aught be fed daily. Juveniles, should be fed several times a day in extremely small amounts to promote maturity and growth, however once your fish are fully developped and into their adult lives, once every 2 days is more appropriate. Your fish should eat somewhat viciously... It should be VERY! interested in your food when its time to eat.

Controlling the cleanliness of your water, and minding its eating habbits will help you conquor this foul demon. Small amounts of aquarium salt will help, 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of water in your tank/container, it will aleviate swelling and pain for the fish.

I do hope truly your fish recovers, however pop-eye in 2 eyes is VERY VERY serious. If your fish does recover and develops dropsy, heed my warnings and consider culling the animal. A new betta costs a few dollars, watching a betta suffer for years costs you your mortal soul.

Dropsy is identified by unnatural swelling of the abdomen and body of the fish, causing its scales to protrude outwards, making it appear "Pine Comb Shaped" I will attach a link to an image depicting that which I speak of.  Be also aware that Betta's are probably the most frequent species to suffer Dropsy.

Dropsy is questionably even treatable, so it is imperative that you keep a keen eye out for soft tissue swelling.  Also, before you dive right into "believing" what I say, since these diseases are very controversial please visit my attached links to gather a more full understanding of what we are managing here. I don't want to break your heart and hurt your feelings with this bad news, but its not a good prognosis at all....

Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.

Regards.