I got a new hamanishiki pearlscale whom I lovingly named Hambone. I was syphoning water out of his tank and like a complete moron looked away. The next second I felt a "thunk!" on the end of my syphon and it was Hambone Oh I feel like such a terrible monster. His eye is about halfway out of the socket and there's all sorts of blood and thick things, I suppose veins and the optic nerve, peeking out. The center of his eye is swollen and blood red. I am thinking about painlessly putting him down. Would this be best? I am crying and upset and can't really decide what is best to do.

* And by peeking out, I mean hanging out. It's bad. He will for sure lose the eye if infection doesn't kill him

Oh no Susan - you poor thing

No need to put hambone down - he may lose the eye but should live to swim many happy days. The only thing you need to try and do is make sure the water stays absolutely perfect and another thing that will help with any secondary bacteria is either some melafix or even salt to 0.1%.

Hopefully he'll do ok

Don't feel too bad Susan, accidents happen

I've had two fish lose eyes and go on to live normal lives. One of my goldies right now only has one eye, she may look a little strange but she's still cute to me . I haven't had a fish partially lose one like in your case. I would think the eye will die and probably fall out but I can't be sure. I think Jen gave the best adivce about keeping the water perfectly clean.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Chrissy

i know what to do. This happaned b4 2 times to my moor. I went to petco and asked them what to do. they said keep the water at 70 degrees no higher or the fishes eye could rot if the water is too hot. Keep the water 100 percent clean do not add any new fish and take out other healthy fish then wait 1 month the fishes eye should be out or white. then you can add all the rest of the remaining fish or buy new ones to keep him company. if you do not do what i say it'll probaly die. Not to be mean or anitin.

I haven't heard of the warmer water doing that..........hmmm.

I would say as long as you keep the water perfect and make sure the others aren't picking on him, he is getting food and you are watching for any problems..........all should be ok.

How is he doing today?

Thanks guys, I hope he does okay. Unfortunately lastnight I had to leave town until the day after Christimas... I am going nuts thinking about him. I did complete his water change lastnight to make sure his water is pristine while I am gone. I have Medigold food I wil feed him exclusively. I always keep my tanks salted so that's done. I am so worried about him by himself... Thanks for the support everyone... keep your fingers crossed

also, I fed him some medigold before I left - and he swam down to the bottm and began eagerly rooting in the gravel finding it.

Very unfortunate about your baby's eye Susan.And as Jen said,no need to put him down at all.I too have a few fish that have one eye from spawning /rough play,etc.,and they have all gone about their business as if nothing has ever happened. It certainly breaks our hearts,but as long as you continue to watch over params,and any secondary infections that may pop up,this little guy should continue on with no problems at all.
Good luck and let us know how he's faring.

I just got home and immediately checked on Hambone. He seems fine... but the eye is still hanging there... I don't know what to do! Should I attempt to place it back into the socket? Should I remove it? Leave it alone? I am sure it is nonfunctional. What is one supposed to do in this situation?

Is there any way you can post a pic?

I'll try to get a pic of his eye ASAP. So far- no change. Acts okay and no sign of infection... luckily the other fish haven't started picking at it either

Poor thing..... I myself personally,would allow nature to take its course,and let the eye do what ever it ends up doing.I would also isolate it in another take too,so that noone would have the opportunity to pick at it and make things worse.One of mine was the same way,and that's what I did.I put him in a 10 gal,so I could change the water everyday,and a 0.1% salt level.The eye fell out,which was pretty gross,but because of the params,no added stress etc,he seemed to fare well ,almost like nothing ever happened.

Things still going allright Susan?

Going okay, thanks! I still need to take a photo, but tonight when I came home from work, his eye looks as if it's closer to being normal than it has since the accident. Is it possible, over time, it will grow back into the socket at a wacky angle or something? It used to be very bloodshot in the center but that's decreased as well.

Stranger things have happened and if it does pull back in then this is great news

It'll be interesting to see a pic

Place a small plastic bottle and make lots of small holes on the end of the syphon to stop fish getting injured the bottle will act as a safety guard. I use an empty fishfood tub.