Popeye Betta

Question

popeye   My betta fish started showing signs of popeye yesterday and have found your information very helpful.  I am curious because his water tank looked quite clean, I did a bit of a vacuum of his gravel while he was in his tank.  25% water out and new conditioned water in.  I had tried to take a picture of him because he looked so cute poking his head out of his pirate ship (no flash) at that time no popeye.  He darted about and seemed stressed so I went away , later that night I noticed his popeye.  Now , it has gotten all white and it looks like blood under his skin.  Looks like he got in a fight.  I have been treating his water with melafix and just changed out some water and took out any old food. His bowl is in a warmer place than before. I am hoping he will be better with the treatment, I guess my question is... How long before I will see any improvement and I am concerned as he is not eating his food.  I sent a photo but it is blurry but you can see it is very white big and lots of red underneath.   :(

Answer
M,
He has a few things going on that I will try to explain. Water will always look clean if there is no algae in the tank. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates have no color, so you will not know they are in the water unless you test for it. I am thinking that he probably injured his eye either when he was popping his head out, or when he was darting around. Since it came on so quickly, and now looks the way it does, I would say that the water is not clean. I would do a complete water change and add some aquarium salt to his water at a ratio of 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 gallon of water. This will help the infection in his eye. I would also stop using the Melafix right away. This is not a good medication for a Betta because it can clog his gills and drowned him. He needs to come out of the bowl. A male Betta should not be in ant tank smaller than 2.5 gallons where a 5 gallon is best. He is also a tropical fish and needs a heater set at 80 degrees at all times. It will be hard to treat him until he is in the right home. I think that once he is in a bigger tank, with a heater, and the salt in his water, he should be ok. Once his eye has healed, begin removing the salt by doing 25% water changes every other day for 4 days.