POP-EYE: THE SWELLING OF DISCUS EYES

1. Identify, symptom and the reason to cause of bulging eyes

Pop-eye is not a specific discus disease itself but describes a condition and can be a symptom of an illness or infection in fish. In medical term, it also known as exophthalmia. This is a condition where the eye of the fish is swollen and protrudes abnormally from its socket due to various underlying diseases. This issue affect on single eye or both eyes. This illness cause by a bacteria named Steptococcus.

Note: The picture above was used with permission from " Handbook of Fish Diseases" by TFH Publications, Inc.

It also may be caused by a variety of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, and parasites. If the fish suffers from both pop-eye and dropsy (edema of the belly), the prognosis is bleak. Internal problems, such as kidney failure or a metabolic issue can result in fluid build-up, making it extremely hard to treat your fish. Poor water conditions can also contribute to pop-eye and fish that are sensitive like discus will be affected faster than other hardy fish.

In late stages the spine can curve. Often times they stay at the back of the tank. 

2. How to treat Pop-eye on discus fish. 

Please look for any sign, symptom to identify the problem before treatment. This step is very important as it will give you more chance to success treating the illness fish. Treatment for pop-eye will depend upon the underlying cause.

The treatment step bellow is base on our experience and apply for fish from Texas Aquatic only. We are not guaranty or using this statement to replace for any doctor advises. You make your own decision on how you want to treat but these step worked perfectly for us after many years in keeping and breeding fish specially with discus fish.

a. If pop-eye caused by poor water quality, you must do a heavy water change. This sometime will fix the problem.

b. If the pop-eye caused by bacteria then please follow these steps:

- Lower temperature and keep between 80 to 82 degrees F.

- Use Epsom salt, 1 to 2 tablespoons for every 10 gallons aquarium water.

- Use antibiotic with an internal affect such as Neomycin, Kanamycin, and Erythromycin. 500mg/10 gallons aquarium water. These are some example of medication that work well for this issue. You can use as directed, if improvement is noted, please continue through a second course of treatments.

- Do not change water until day 5 in the treatment, before the third does of antibiotic. New water helps the bacteria more than it helps the fish. If water is too dirty, just change 10-20% then reapply second and keep continue the treatment. After day 4, change 50-70% of water.

- Lowering PH will inhibit bacteria(6.0 range), this also prevent any ammonia becoming toxic if the bio filter is affected, which means less stress for fish.

- If the fish start eating, a medication such as Discomed may be added to the food.