I’ve had Sebastian for about nine months-he was an abandoned frat fish that someone left in my apartment with severe ammonia burns. Have done my best to take care of him but he’s been fragile since I got him. A week ago I noticed that he’d developed severe popeye literally overnight (last image) and immediately moved him to a 1gal quarantine tank, doing 10% water changes and dosing with kanaplex, feeding bloodworms every few days (was told to fast when sick, considering trying a couple pellets soaked in kanaplex/focus as he generally tolerates those better). As of today, it’s significantly worse-almost looks like something is pushing his eye out. About a month ago I noticed a bump in his jaw below now-the infected eye and this bump went down (but never disappeared) with kanaplex. It almost looked like a pimple was coming to a head and some white matter would come out and it would shrink then rinse and repeat. I’m at a total loss as to what to do and concerned that there’s a tumor or something at the root of this. The only thing discouraging me from euthanasia is that he’s acting completely normally and doesn’t seem to be in any pain at all. I don’t know what to do and really need some advice.
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1jnum1d
Posted by Smooth_Antelope9832
4 Comments
This happened to my baby a few months ago and it was so scary and heartbreaking. Most of the stuff I read recommended kanaplex which I ordered immediately but it took a while to get delivered. I moved him to a two gallon tank with a bubbler and almond leaves and took him out for daily epsom salt baths for about a week. This definitely helped bring down swelling. Once the med came I began using it and within minutes of dosing, the other eye developed a bubble immediately. (bilateral popeye; meaning it was likely a bacterial issue rather than injury) I realized he probably couldn’t see, as he didn’t react to me walking up to the tank, was running into things, and wasn’t eating. I continued with the kanaplex for three days but didn’t see any improvement, and because he likely didn’t have any vision and hadn’t eaten for almost two weeks, I made the difficult decision to euthanize. I’ve kept bettas consistently for years but haven’t been able to get a new one since he died in December. It was traumatizing to see him like that and feel so helpless. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this and wish you the best!
Has he been eating?
https://preview.redd.it/xz2bqu97eyre1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e51c713291c602c63efdb0b1453a03afb0e7305
This was the first day before starting any treatment.
https://preview.redd.it/b8pdrwozeyre1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2272e71b3912762ea39d395767b969cb3787e7e9
Day two of salt baths and swelling went down a lot!