Gourami with clouded eyes

Question
Followup To
Question -

Hi Again Chris,

You said to find a product at the pet store that treats fungus and contains Malachite Green.  I have a bottle of Cure-Ick which says it contains Malachite Green and treats other parasites besides Ick.  Would this be ok to use on my Gourami?

Kellie
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Hi Chris!

I have a Cinnamon Gourami who has recently developed clouded eyes.  Both are dark grey in colour.   He has been confining himself to the top corner of the tank and I believe it's because he can't see where he's going.  He's still active but I think he's lost weight because he has a hard time finding the food at feeding time.  He just skims the surface of the water until he finds it and when he does find food its seems to startle him a bit that he's bumped into something.  The water stats are normal and none of the other fish have been picking on him to be causing him stress. It's a 30 gal tank so there is a fair bit of room for all of them to feel comfortable.  I also haven't changed anything in the tank in the past month and a half.  None of the other fish are showing signs of illness.  I've only had him for about 8 months but he could have been a couple years old when I bought him.

Do you know what might be wrong and if there is there anything I can do to help him?
Answer -
Hi Kellie;

It sounds like a fungus has attacked him for some reason.  Find a product at your local fish store that treats fungus and has Malachite Green in it. Isolate the sick fish to another tank or bowl for treatment. The medicine will stain your decorations, plastic filter parts and aquarium sealant a greenish color. Use the product according to the instructions on the label. Change 50% of the "hospital tank" water right before each daily dose of medicine.

Keep the main tank clean by changing 25% of the water every week while vacuuming the gravel. The fish will have a better immune system and be stronger in general with a good maintenance routine like this. It also lowers the population of naturally occurring pathogens like the saprolegnia fungus that attacked your sick fish's eyes. They exist in our tanks all the time, but only attack the fish when the fish are weakened by stress like fighting, overcrowding, overfeeding, injury, infrequent water changes, etc.

Hope he gets better soon.....

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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Answer
Hi Kellie;

You can try it, but the malachite green in it might not be concentrated enough to treat the fungus. Cure-Ick also contains formalin which cannot be used in very large doses (poisonous stuff). Otherwise, I would recommend a larger dose of it to cure the fungus. If the sick fish doesn't look better in a couple of days, get a fungus remedy with malachite green as the main ingredient.

Chris