Gourami with white ring around eye?

Question
Hi Karen, I've been worried about my female dwarf gourami lately and was wondering if you could help :) Well, she's a real fighter... she was eggbound several times and now she has a white ring around her eye. It comes out approximately 1mm and looks like a flap of skin. She is her normal self always chasing after the male (I know strange) and nudging my mystery snail almost constantly for her entertainment. Ive noticed that this "ring" looked quite large this morning and is now a tiny bit smaller, she still eats like a pig and poops just fine (feces are brown/red/green depending on what i feed her) Is it contagious if so i will place her in my 5 gallon isolation tank i bought for my sick guppies (dropsie). If you could help it would be FANTASTIC! thanks.

Answer
Hi Tim,
When white rings develop around a fish's eye it usually means that there is a slight fluid buildup and it stretches the membranes a bit. If it gets worse then it develops it into what's called "Popeye" and there are many causes for "Popeye" and they are well-explained here in this article-

http://flippersandfins.net/pop-eye.htm

The main reason is usually water quality-related. Such as too high nitrates or other pollutants.
Sometimes the easiest way to notice that one eye is bigger than the other is by looking at the fish from above.

Often the fish recover on their own provided that environmental conditions are quickly improved. Some may need treatment if it turns out to be a bacterial infection.

I'm not confirming 100% this is what your fish has but its a possibility.  ;-)

Could be an injury like scraped skin or scales, a growth, or possibly even a fungal infection.

The fact that she is acting fine is always good. Promising definitely that it may not be anything severe. A picture would definitely help but if that's not possible (I know some fish are too wiggly to take photos of.) then perhaps try comparing your fish's appearance to pictures of fish that are developing 'popeye'

here's one example-

http://www.twoofakind.info/images/fish/health/popeye2.jpg

And another-

http://media.photobucket.com/image/white%20ring%20around%20aquarium%20fish%20eye...

I am a bit concerned with the mentioned of her being "eggbound" and I wonder if really she might have had a mild case of "dropsy". Popeye can often show up with a dropsy problem.

Just keep an eye on her and let me know if anything turns up.
Karen~ Hope this helps!