Apparent Pop-eye in Adult Lyre Tail Dalmation Molly

Question

My Black Lyre Tail Dal   Hi,

I have a beautiful (or he used to be) Black lyre tail Dalmatian Molly that I have had for about a year. His community tank is a 36 gal bow front. I have had him about a year now and have had one other occasion when he had "pop-eye". At that time I dropped some aquarium salt into the tank and I don't know if it would have cleared up on its own without it but it did clear up. However about two months ago he developed the problem again. I tried the salt. No improvement. I tried Melafix as I had been advised by one of the folks at the fish store. I removed my carbon filter before using the medication and not only did it not help but he developed it in the other eye as well. I stopped using that, I did an almost complete water change in my tank, got rid of all artificial decor and re-established it with live plants. The second eye that got infected cleared right up. The original one has gotten progressively worse and I am afraid he is likely going to lose that eye regardless of what I do at this point. I would like to save his life if possible.

So, today I researched and bought Maracyn-Two. I also bought a small 3 gallon aquarium to set up as a hospital tank. My questions. 1) Do I need to just run the filtration system without the carbon filter while I am medicating the tank so that it doesn't cause a lack of potency with the medication? 2) Obviously since I just bought this little "hospital" tank today, it has not been cycled. How will this affect the medication process? Should I do a 25% water change just before adding the medicine each day to help thin out any ammonia build up? 3) Should I use Aquarium salt in the hospital aquarium while using the medication? 4) Should I lower or raise the temperature of the water - would that help with Pop-eye treatment or not make any difference at all? My water is right at 77.  I really am praying I can save this little fish. I've become quite attached to him as he was among my first fish. (I am relative new to the hobby). Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Also before getting sick, he had man small "white spots" and pretty blue edging around his fins. Since he's been sick, he has lost his white "Dalmatian spot" appearance altogether.

Answer
Hi Mona!

Do not run the filter(s) while medicating the tank because the filter may remove the medicine in the water. If the hospital tank is not cycled, it won't really affect the process, but will probably slow it down a little. Yes, do a 25% water change to prevent high pH levels. Your temperature is right at 77 degress, so you don't need to decrease or increase the temperature. If you lower the temperature, it may slow down the healing process because if you lower it the bacteria's growth rate will lengthen. But if you increase the temperature, it may give your fish temperature stress.

What you are doing now is great! :D Also, you can try the API Stress Coat and Stress Zyme. Stress coat removes stress up to 40% (scientifically proven) and Stress Zyme has beneficial bacteria which will help eliminate high ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and will also help kill harmful bacteria. These two items are available in your local petshop (Petsmart/Petco).

If you find Maracyn II/I ineffective, you can try the Tetra LifeGuard. It is like an All-In-One medicine and is also available at Petsmart/Petco. It costs about $5-$7.

Hope this helps! xD
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PS. I'm sorry for the late reply, my internet was down for a while.