Help my Tomato clown has "pop eye"

[suckair]

Well a little history first.

The clown is the female of a maited pair. She currently has eggs on a rock next to my anemone. The setup is a 120g system and the clown fish is about 3 years old in captavity. The fish has never showed signs of stress or gave any indication of problems of any kind.

"one" of her eyes is poped clear out of her head. The other eye looks perfectly normal. It looks like one of those gold fish with their eyes poped out. The extension of the eye past the body line is about 70% with a obvious thinning as you get close to the body.. I see little signs of tissue damage.. The color seems to be close to normal with a touch of opaque in the eye lens. The surrounding tissue seems to be normal in color and the condition is about 5 days along now.

I discoverd the eye's condition after I returned from work during my usual feeding and inspecting of the system. I also check on the system in the mornings and did not notice it that day. It must of happened while I was at work? It did happen very quickly that I know is for sure.

My questions are as follows..

1. Is this condition the result of some type of infection or rather physical damage to a scratch or other phyiscal injury?

2. Have any of you fellow reefers out there encounterd similiar situations and if you have what was the result.

3. Will the eye recover or am I going to have to purchase a small black patch for my little friend?

This is the first time I have encountered this problem. I have decided not to move the fish and attempt treatment as I don't know the cuase and that would only futher stress the fish.

I am open to suggestions as I love this little fish. I eagerly await your responses and hope to learn from your experiences with this problem.

Thanks
Suckair

 

[EmilyB]

If only one eye is affected, it is likely injury related, and should clear in a week or so with good water conditions.

 

[Jerry DeGan]

Yes, I agree with EmilyB. I had a fish do
this a while back. I do believe it was injury
related, it cleared up in a couple of weeks.
Good Luck.

 

[suckair]

well it looks like the condition is heading for worse rather than better. I have noticed more tissue damage and I now see two opaque sacks develop below the damaged eye.

I hope the fish does not lose it.

I will keep you posted

 

[davelin315]

I once bought a queen angel for $15 because it had one eye as a result of an injury. I think pop eye (from the innocent days as a freshwater guy) is usually caused by an injury versus an infection, and from what I remember, it's kind of a like a black eye, it's going to get worse and worse, and then get better. But, like I said, it might not, and you might end up with a one eyed fish, which in captivity, won't affect it too much as there aren't a whole lot of predators in the fish tank that it's got to watch out for.

 

[Giarc]

Erk, from what I recall popeye (exopthalmosis) can also be caused by an infection behind the eye. (Which may be intoduced through a small injury or not). I'd do a search through your books and the internet for treatment options. You might also take a look at this url for the basics.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa053001.htm?terms=popeye

Hope that's helpful and here's hoping for a full recovery! Good luck

Cheers,
Craig

 

[drwwalker]

My fish had the same thing treat with a bacterial medication