Ok, well, I had trouble with a pleco I had a while back. His whole body was covered with a white film, including his eyes. One of my moors has this but it is only on his eyes. I do not know if it is the same thing. I believe he is not as active as the other fish because he cant see as well, but other than that he eats and swims just fine. I do not believe he got this from the pleco because he is a fairly new fish. I think we have had him about 2 weeks and my hubby picked him out (he doesnt know how to look for healthy fish) so it might have had this since we got him and may not have noticed it then. Anyone know what to do about this? Is it something my other fish could get? Please help. Here is all the info you should need. I do not havwe any more answers to the questions below (such as ammonia and filter specifics) so I hope you can help with the info I have given. If you have questions that are not listed below I will do my best to answer them in order to find out how to help my fishy. Thanks so much!






Ammonia Level- I have no test for ammonia

Nitrite Level? - .5

Nitrate level? - 20

Ph Level? - 7.2

Ph Level out of the Tap? 6.8 (our "filtered tap") and 8.4 (our regular tap). We use a combination of both to get the PH neutral.

Tank size(How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 55 gal. and running for about 1 month.

What kind of Filtration? 2 filters, on is for a 55 gal. tank and one is for a 20 gal tank. I dont know anything else about them.

How often do you change the water and how much? Once a week and about 25 percent.

What kind of Water additives or conditioners? only a chlorine remover when adding water.

Any Medications add to the tank? Not currently

How many fish in the tank and there size? A bit over-stocked...in the process of finding new homes for them..they were in a pond that had to be taken down. 2 lionheads, 1 oranda, 3 moors, 1 fantail (all these fish are very small). Also 2 koi about 5 inches long, one small shubunkin, and a few comets and commons. I monitor the water conditions and I do not intend on keeping this many fish in there long term...please know that in advance of saying anything.

Add any new fish to the tank? Just added 1 new fantail and 1 new lionhead today.

What do you feed your fish? I feed them gel food that contains a mix of veggies and protiens and flakes.

Any unusual findings on the fish? Such as
"grains of salt", bloody streaks, frayed fins, fungus? Yes. The reason I am asking for help is because of my moor. He has cloudy eyes.

Any unusual behavior? Like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? The only thing he is doing is that he is not as active as the other fish.

If you can what is the chloramines Level
from the Tap? No test for that.

Hi Gia, well - you're still cycling and as you're showing nitrites still, waterchanges need to be much bigger than 25% weekly i'm afraid.

Cloudy eye can be due to flexobacterial infection, eye trauma or indeed, caustic trauma. One of the causes of caustic trauma is high levels of ammonia or nitrites.

So as a suggestion, i'd do a 50% waterchange and add 1teaspoon of predissolved (sea/rock/aquarium - any kind that doesn't contain yps) salt, per gallon to your tank - this should hopefully see some improvement in a couple of days.

Hopefully this helps some and please post back if you have any questions

Thank you so much! I do believe he did have this before we got him though. i guess Im going to have to teach hubby how to pick a healthy fish lol.

I just noticed this about an hour ago, but this same little fish has started floating weird. I dont know if he was just resting or not, but the other moors do not float like he did. He kept floating nearly completly verticle with his head down and tail up. Not moving a whole lot, just letting his body float like that. I do not think that is a good sign. It seems as if he is getting weak. I actually added salt this morning to see what that would do. I will do a 50% water change probably tomorrow or Friday (friday is usually the water change day lol) as you have suggested. Thank you for the advice. What do you make of this new floating issue? Related? Maybe he is feeling weak?

And I have a 55 gal. tank. That seems like a lot of salt. 55 teaspoons? Lol I dont know that I have that much on hand! i think I added about 5 tablespoons this morning.

Oh and I forgot to mention I bought this product called MelaFix. It says it is an all natural antibacterial remedy to be used for fin and tail rot, open sores, body wounds, eye cloud (that why I got it), pop eye, body slime and mouth fungus. Seemed like a good thing to have on hand. I havent added it yet because I wanted to see what you all had to say first about this moors condition. So what about this melafix stuff. Would it be good to add it to my tank or should I wait and see if that salt does the trick?

No - this is not a good sign at all. Head down, tail up is a symptom of a bacterial infection. Your current water quality will make his condition deteriorate quickly i'm afraid. As a guide, people can lose fish that display symptoms of head-down and tail up within a week to ten days due to the bacterial invasion going on inside.

Now here's some tough love Unfortunately he won't wait until you can change your water or for some bacterial medication - he needs it asap. Can you not do a waterchange before Friday?

Also, are you able to get any medicated food? Or some Maracyn 1 or 2?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here but I think all this may be precipitated by some parasitical invasion.... can you give a little history on any new additions etc? I think your pleco that died may be the biggest clue we have or if he's new - perhaps he brought flukes with him?

Does he spit out his food? How do his gills look? A deep red or pale, tattery?

Please post back soon

PS - no to the Melafix - IMHO it's not good for much though I know others who find it's ok. Definitely won't do much for him now though ...

I agree with JenW here!

Melafix is not strong enough to treat a bacterial infection
however its good to use afterwards for a tonic and to aid in healing.

I Tried it on my Fred and he got worse.......

follow all advice here and leave the Melafix for healing later
just my opinion!

Hope your fisshie gets better Ill be thinking of him!

Ok Im not sure about medicated food. Should I separate him from the other fish? Would it be good to treat them all incase the rest of them could have it in their systems? I will call the pet store in town today and see if they have any.

He seems to eat ok. He is not spitting it out. I gave him gel food recently and the fish seem to like it ok. He swims around at the top a lot. He doesnt swim with the other fish like the other moors do. He isnt floating like that right now, but I guess because he doesnt swim as much he appears to me to be weak.

I cannot see inside his gills...I cant see inside ANY of my moors gills, they are too close to the body I guess, but from the outside they look ok. I did notice a little tear in his tail. Not really tattered, but it looks more like a fish nipped him. But it could be the start of something.

Ok I will do a 50% water change this minute. I am going to get another tank set up just in case you think I should remove him from the large one. I am a little worried about the other fish in my large tank now however.

I will call the pet store at 9am when they open (Im in CA, pacific time lol) to see if they have that stuff. Ill try to call walmart too but I doubt they have it.

Ok so I have a hospital tank set up now. Im waitin gon your word if I should move him or not.

I am in the process of filling my 55 gal. back up with water. I changed a little over 50%.

I will be checking back often to see if anyone has answered.

I checked the closest pet locations which are like 45 minutes away (we live in the middle of nowhere lol) and they do not have any of that food. There is a pet store called Aquaruim World that is the next closest at about an hour away and I am waiting until 10 when they open to call.

Ok my last resort pet shop does not have the food medicine...what if I up the dosage of melafix? I dont know what else to do but I cant drive all over the country for the fish.

Ok well I added the Melafix. I added 1 teaspoon for 5 gallons which is actually double the dosage....so I hope he does ok. I added salt too. 1 teaspoon. I decided to put him in the hospital tank, although I am still considering treating the other fish in the 55 gal. just incase they were contaminated.

I think I am going to make the hour drive to this pet store today. I want to at least trade in some of my fish. I have WAY too many. We had a pond and had to get rid of it and the result was not enough room in our little tank! So the 2 koi and about 9 comets/commons are going off to a new home. That will help a lot. The tank will still be a little crowded though so I am considering buying another tank when we go...if we can afford it.

We will still have 2 lionheads, 2 orandas, 1 fantail, 3 moors, 1 shubunkin, 2 sarassa comets, 1 pleco, and 1 crayfish to house!!! I think I will try to separate the fancy fish from the single tailed fish. OMG in im over my head lol. I just hope this little moor makes it through. He is too cute!

Hi Gia, you can order some medigold/maracyn online through www.golfishconnection.com (I think that's the place of choice). It only takes a day or so for them to send out and they have everything.

Prices are extremely good also.

As for the separating - yes, i would... This way you can control his environment and keeping his water perfect will be much easier.

Hopefully this helps a little and my fingers are - as ever - crossed

thanks so much

Well, I wish I could order some of that medicine, but I will just have to put it off until payday. The melafix seems to be doing the trick! His eyes are looking better now. I can actually SEE his eyes which I couldnt before becuase they were so cloudy, so hopefully he is going to recover. I thank you all so much for your help and suggestions!

my moore had the same problem with his eyes and the salt helped him. How is he today

Well actually about 10 minutes ago I moved him back into the large tank because his eyes looked better. But once I put him back in the tank i realized that it just must have been the lighting and they still look bad as ever. He was just so unhappy in the hospital tank! Maybe I was in too much of a rush to put him back in his home. I think Im going to have to put him back in the other tank and continue treating him. Is it safe to use salt with melafix?