my betta is in a 5 gallon tank by himself that's been running for as long as i've had him -about 2 years now

today i noticed that one of his eyes is kind of sticking out a bit and it has a white ring type thing around it


ph - 7.8
ammonia, nitrite - 0
nitrate 40 (a bit high, i know)

i'm changing some water to lower the nitrates now.

no medications or anything like that, just prime to treat new water, no other fish.


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Pop-Eye- Pop eye can affect pond and aquarium fishes. The progress of the disease depends on what is or has caused it. Bulging eyes can result from a number of causes, including fish tuberculosis, ichthyosporidium, dropsy, and bacterial infections. Symptoms: One or both eyes protrude abnormally. (remember some fish are bred to have protruding eyes ex: fancy goldfish) Treatment: Use anti-parasite and anti-bacterial treatments. This is usually effective

Hi Grain, yeah it does look like Popeye, which is usually water quality related.

First step as you know is to get those nitrAtes right down. Get the water quality pristine, that may be enough. What is the tank temp? Fluctuating temps can set it off too. As the above poster said it can run along side a parasiste or bacterial infection, so the underlying cause needs to be treated. Great water quality is the best thing you can acheive. Maybe low-dose salting if he tolerates it (with caution) 0.05-0.1% may help to relieve stress.

Are there ANY other physical or behavioural symptoms that would point to parasites or a bacterial infection? If you have any medicated food that may help in the short term or as said above you could try a parasite or antibiotic treatment - get the water as good as can be first though. Hopefully, another member can give you some more advice. Good luck with him

I treated my betta with maracyn 1 and 2. Just follow the instructions on the package. My girl had a horrible case of pop eye where it was red and swollen and the scales around her face poped up. It cleared up in 6 days with maracyn 1 and 2. Don't bother with the salt unless he shows signs of dropsy. Maracyn 1 and 2 will work just fine.

Listen to TetraLover, get the water nice and clean and then dose meds. Don't change the water until the treatment is done unless it says to on the package.

Good luck with your fish.

Hi Grain,sorry to hear that the little guy isn't feeling so well.
First off,mr,b is right,you want to get those water params on the pristene level.Dropsy is a symptom showing that something's not right,and most times,it is a water quality issue.
Is only one eye like that? Most times when it's only one eye,it's usually caused by blunt trauma to the eye.Is there anything in his tank that may have caused him an eye injury?I'm not saying that it isn't Popeye-just saying that 9 out of ten times,both eyes are affected.

Because popeye is a bacterial infection, you'll want to treat it with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Recommended medications are: Ampicilex (Aquatronics), Penicillin, Maracyn 2, and Amoxycillin. Follow directions on the medication you choose, but keep the fish's water absolutely clean during treatment
In the few times that I treated for Popeye,the Maracyns have worked well for me.

thanks to everyone for the advice!!

-Imanaged to get the nitrates down a bit. The 2nd eye was fine yesterday, but is indeed out today, so I am sure it is popeye. The only treatment that I had readily available is the fungus clear (tank buddies) by Jungle, so I started that just now.

as for additional symptoms, he is not moving much. I got him to eat some last night, but he didn't want to come up to eat today when i tried.

I feel like a terrible betta mommy I have not been doing my best at changing his water. The nitrates have never been high, so I don't change it too often...and I'm having a problem in my 55 gal. tank, so I guess I just thought he would be fine like he always is...now I know better

Sorry to here your betta was sick? how is he doing now?

he's still not moving much and not looking too good. he came up to the top briefly, but will not eat.

I am going to do a water change soon....I've added a heater to the water incase it gets too cold at night. I'm just hoping he gets better. I will keep the water in perfect condition for a few days before I add more medicine.

Is pop eye fatal? with treatment, how long does it usually take to cure?

I'm sorry he's not much better yet, you're absolutely right to focus on the water quality as it is key to healing Popeye and the stable temperature will help him too. However, if he's not improving it may be worth starting one of the anitibiotic treatments suggested by Devs as soon as possible. My understanding is that Popeye can lead onto Dropsy quite quickly which as you know is very difficult to treat successfully. Keep us updated and good luck with him

the heater sounds like a very good idea. you might want to keep it about 80 while he is healing. you could also try using melafix and salt in combination with the heat. It seems to do wonders for my bettas.

Hi Grain, I was wondering how your betta was doing now, any improvement yet?

Although I think that Melafix and salt may be good" tonic " treatments,I think that true bacterial infections really do need a stronger more focused med specifically for bacteria.


How's your Betta doing Grain?

i only have macracyn 2 that i added the first dose of today.
sadly, he is not doing good at all. he just lays on the bottom of the tank and doesn't really move. he has not eaten in days. should i take him out of there and put him in something smaller so that he might be able to get some food? probably not, but i think if he were to eat something he'd have some strength to fight this...he's just laying on the bottom of the tank on his side and he only shows signs of being alive if i wave my hand by him, he moves his little fins i really don't know what to do

I'm sorry to hear he's not improving

Definetely complete the 5 day course of Maracyn Two you've started, I'm not sure whether it's best to add in plain old Maracyn as well at the same time or run a course afterwards. Maybe somebody else can comfirm that?

Have you tried feeding any medicated food such as Medi-gold or Metro-meds, I gather they can help too.

The worst thing that can happen is that this moves on to full on dropsy, so maybe throw stuff at him now. The key is water quality, so in a 5 gallon tank the water quality will be better and be safer for dosing the meds than anything smaller, so I'm not sure if I'd personally move him at the moment - just keep the water great and the temp stable.

Hopefully, somebody else can advise you about the next step medication wise, but persevere with the full course of Maracyn Two, maybe you'll see some improvment in the next couple of days. Any other physical symptoms at the moment? Keep us updated

well, i still can't get him to eat anything, but he is moving around a bit more, so that's good. his eyes are still huge, but they look a little less cloudy, so hopefully that means the maracyn is working!

So, I thought he was improving, but when I came home today, I saw that on his one eye, he now has a big white thing at the bottom of it.
I'm half tempted to pick it off.....you can see it, the bottom of the eye in this pic:

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I am thinking it might be part of the infection. you might try to take a q-tip moisented with tank water and try gently wiping it away. If if does not gently wipe away, leave it alone . how often have you done water changes during the antibiotic treatment?

just once so far because the params. were always good.
I did the one yesterday just to be on the safe side.

Good idea~ I'm going to try the Q-tip thing now, thanks!

Hi check the betta disease post at the top of this forum it recommeds ampicillin for popeye.

Thanks. I will check that now.

Just a quick update: I couldn't get the spot yesterday, but I'm still treating with the maracyn two, and good news is that he is eating again, and moving a bit more, and the spot is gone on it's own. His eyes are still big, but less hazy than they were.

Glad to hear that your betta is doing better. Hope he continues to heal!

maybe the marycin is catching up with him.I am glad he is doing better

thank you both very much!

his eyes still are big today, but he is lunging after food again like he used to, so hopefully the maracyn will be enough to cure him!

sounds like he may be getting better. For a sick betta to eagerly go after food is a good sign. I hope he heals soon

just an update, my betta is better now! Thanks to all who helped me with this!!!!

Oh that is great news, I'm so pleased!

Great news grain. Some baterial infections are pretty bad,and require more than one treatment for them to even start looking somewhat better.As Kris mentioned.him eating,is a very good sign.I don't know where you're at with the treatment,but keep the params spot on,and finish the entire treatment.You may want to treaT HIM WITH SOME FROZEN BLOODWORMS AS THAT ALWAYS SEEMS TO MAKE MY bETTA'S GO CRAZY TO EAT.
Sorry,just got off the night shift,and I 'm tired and don't feel like retyping this.

Match temps as close as possible when changing water too as the slightest thing can throw him back off again.I'm so happy that he's showing some impreovement.

how is he doing now?