my black moor

Question
QUESTION: hi rachel. i just noticed today that my black moor has one eye that is significantly larger then the other and the smaller one wiggles around when she swims. it looks almost like its going to fall off. is it going to fall off? will she survive? is there any medicine i can give her if it does fall off? she is in a 25 gallon tank with 3 other fish. she is swiming around normally without clamped fins. we have a few fake plants in the tank. the tank has been set up since january of this year and she is not a new fish. please answer this question ASAP! thanks so much your answer will be appreciated!
corinna

ANSWER: With black moors, they have big eyes and they look as if they are moving or loose. If you look close, it is attached on all sides? If so I would not worry about it. Also, they can have one bigger than the other. Has the eyes always been this way? If not, perhaps it has torn it on something, is there hard or rough objects in the tank? Rocks, hard plants, other hard decor? If so, he could have hurt it on something. If it is cloudy or has a red spot or white spot on it than it is a disease and needs treatment. If she is swimming normally, acting normally, eating, able to balance and not rubbing on anything or jolting or shaking I would not worry about it but I would keep a close eye on it is it has not always been that way. If it has always been that way, do worry it is probably a birth defect, as most goldfish have a deformity. Also keep a close eye on the rest of the fish if the black moor has not always been like that, as it could be a disease. Just monitor it and its behavior as well as the rest. Let me know any more concerns or questions you have. I hope it is just a defect and the fish is doing well.
                                       Rachel A.

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QUESTION: thank you so much for your advice! we have a feeling she may have torn her eye when she bumped into the plastic coral that we have in the tank. she doesn't have any white or red spots on her eye and it isn't cloudy. i believe one of her eyes has always been bigger but not by much and now there is a big difference. when i explained this situation to other experts they said it could be pop eye. we have her in a 10 gallon hospital tank with maracyn TC. do u think it is pop eye and if so is maracyn TC the best treatment we can giver her?
corinna
ANSWER: Hello again, it could be pop eye but in my experience if it is it should have a sickly look to it, being cloudy or white or just looking odd. I am not familiar with the Maracyn TC, I usually use Mardel products but if it says it covers parasites and/or bacterial issues it should be fine. However, I have never used it so I do not honestly know how it will treat. Hopefully things are better now. Oh, great thing you are able to put her in another tank, this will keep the rest of your fish healthy if it was a parasite or infection. But just in case it is an infection or parasite be sure to still keep a close eye on the bigger tanks inhabitants and their behavior and appearance. Better safe than sorry. I hope by now everything is still looking good and even better. If she is still eating great and acting normal, it probably is indeed a tear and she just needs to heal. Let me know how everything works out.
                                            Rachel A.

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QUESTION: everything is going great! she has no problem eating or swimming and her eye doesn't look sickly it looks normal. the other fish are acting as they usually do. how long do you think we should keep her in the hospital tank? she has been in there since Wednesday evening.
thanks for your advice
corinna

ANSWER: Its wonderful to hear everything is going so good. Assuming the tank is not stressing her out I would keep her in there for about 7-10 days. This is to make sure she does not present signs of a disease and also to give her time to heal, if it is a wound. I assume the tank is big enough for her? If it is big enough and she is still acting normal and happy, while it is tempting to put her back in the big tank, in the long run it would be much better to wait a few extra days. I would advice more in terms of 10 days. So if she has been in there since last wednesday, keep her in there till friday the 6th. This will give her time to rest and, since it is probably a wound or tear, it will give her time to heal. Also, when it is time to move her back, do not just net her and dump her back in the big tank. Get a tall skinny plastic container, preferably see through and it must be big enough for her, and put the water from the hospital tank in it to just give enough water for her and not too much. Than suspend it in the big tank for two mins or so, than put a shot glass size of water from the big tank into her container. Repeat this seven times. This will acclimate her to the big tanks water and temp. Do this slowly, every minute you should add the next shot glass of water. I hope I explained that well, if not feel free to ask for more direction. It is important to not stress her and make sure she is happy. While she is acting normal and great now, if stressed the wound may become infected and that would be something to avoid. Just let her claim the hospital tank for now until friday as her own home and than slowly and gently move her back following the acclimation directions. Any more questions or new developments, feel free to let me know. Hope I have helped ya.
                                           Rachel A.

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QUESTION: u have helped a great deal! now i have one last thing that is on my mind. she is happy and swimming around normal and is eating regularly but it appears that her smaller eye has shrunken to where it look like it is too small for something that is one the inside of her eye almost like something is about to poke out of it! this was the best way i could explain it. have you heard of this before? but other than that she appears normal.
thanks for your help!
corinna
ANSWER: Hmmm, glad to hear I have helped this far but I am stumped by the new symptom. The only conditions I know of is pop-eye a fungus, bubble eye, or common eye conditions which all look pretty similar. The only thing is, when a fish has these problems it almost always has stress issues, in other words it is weak and usually doesnt eat. The only other thing I would consider is fish worms, but that would also be a parasite and should be taken care of by products but again would result in stress and visible distress. Is she still in the hospital tank? If so, keep her there alittle longer. Just to make sure nothing else develops. If she develops stress or stops eating or swims slower treat her for parasites. If not, I honestly dont know. She may simply have deformities. Goldfish, today, are mostly from deformities any who. Perhaps you may not have noticed that spot when you first got her and are just noticing it now cause of the other eye? If not and it is completely new, watch her closely and her behavior. Better to keep her seperated, if the tank is big enough, than to risk having the rest of your fish get something if indeed it is a parasite or disease. I am sorry I do not know what it is, is sounds crazy but goldfish tend to be crazy. In fact, I dont know if you knew it but the fantail goldfish are actually deformed. A long time ago when goldfish were being bred for the home tank they discovered the deformity of the fantail and bred only the ones with the fantail in order to have the different looks. Crazy, huh! Well, hopefully she is still doing great and enjoying her vacation from the big tank. Keep me updated if anything changes.
                                       Rachel A.

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QUESTION: i think it has always been there because i have noticed it before but it doesn't seem to bother her and never has.hopefully this will be my last question. will her smaller eye grow bigger or stay the same size it is now? either way i will love her just the same. she hasn't had any changes in any of her behavoir and her fins are not clamped. she doesn't have a problem eating or anything. she is still in the hospital tank and we plan to keep her there till july 6. it seems like she is enjoying her nice vacation away from the other fish. speaking of vacation my family is going on a vacation to rocky point mexico in 8 days! we are only going to be gone for 4 days and we are hopefully going to have someone come over everyday to look after the dogs and the fish. is there any type of food or pellett i could give them so that way the the person wont have to feed them? if not then i can just seperate the normal portions they eat.
thanks so much for your help
corinna
ANSWER: Great to hear she is doing so well. I would guess it is a deformity and will prob stay one bigger than the other, however it may even out alittle to look more normal. But it sounds like you have a close bond to her so the deformity only makes her that much more special. It was good you seperated her even though it wasnt a disease, better to be safe than sorry. Also, yes there are vacation feeders which will feed the fish without anyone having to give them anything. I am sure you have seen them, they often look like white sea shells but they are made of microscopic food particles that the fish absorb while you are on vacation, too bad they dont have something like that for dogs, right. Well, they are usually just a couple of dollars and I would recommend using them because too much food may be given on accident. Make sure you buy one which is big enough to feed the amount of fish you have for the 4 days you will be gone, and make sure to tell the person who is coming over to not feed them because you will have the feeder in it. Its no problem at all to answer your questions, I appeciate the fact that I can help in any way I can. Dont feel bad if you have a bunch of questions, I still even have things I need to learn and feel frustrated when I cant find the answers, so I understand how calming it can be to be able to get answers. Hope you have a great vacation!
                                            Rachel A.

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QUESTION: my whole family has grown close to her but i like her the most! she puts a smile on my face every time i walk in the room. can i pick up the vacation feeders at a local petsmart? when i first started talking to you every answer i got back i felt better and i got this feeling that she will be alright. thanks so much for your help!
corinna
ANSWER: Yes ma'am, you sure can get the feeders at the local petsmart. Just make sure they are the righ size for your fish. I hope your fav black moor heals up and has a long life. Glad to help!
                                          Rachel A.

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QUESTION: Great! We put here in the big tank today. We used the method u explained. She is doing great! It took her a minute to get used to the tank but after that she started swimming around like normal without clamped fins! I can't thank you enough for your help! And I'm sure if she could my fish would thank you too!
corinna
p.s. Her name is Ash.
ANSWER: Wonderful to hear. I hope Ash is still recovering from her vacation, hehe. Now she has to share her domain but than again now she also has friends. I hope she continues to do well. I am happy I could help you.
                                        Rachel A.

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QUESTION: Hi again. Just when we thought everything was going great we were wrong. My mom noticed this morning that Ash had blood in her smaller eye! We took out all the hard things in the tank before we put her back into the big tank so she couldn't have bumbed it a second time. She is still swimming around without clamped fins! My mom put her in the hospital tank yet again. Her eye has blood at the bottom but on the inside where her pupil is. it's not cloudy and my mom said is looks better from this morning. i have been away for a few days at my grandma's house but when i came back today her smaller eye looked a little bigger. do u have any idea what is going on? is she just healing? will she live? Please help me solve this medical fish anomoly!
corinna
ANSWER: Well, it really sounds like some kind of eye parasite or diesease. I doubt the eye would have been injured the same as before, if it was injured. I would advice getting a all-in-one parasite/disease treatment. It seems odd to just be an injury so maybe you should treat it. However, the treatment can be stressful for her so maybe you should wait alittle more and see how she does. She could get better on her own. One thing you dont want to do is let her get bad enough to be too stressed for treatment. In other words, when goldfish get a disease or parasite which requires treatment and they are advanced in the disease/parasite they tend to not do very well. She could have pop eye or an eye fluke but it is incresingly hard to tell if she has anything. The fact that she is acting good leads me to believe she does not have a disease/parasite but the fact that it has not gone away nor gotten better leads me to think she does have a disease/parasite. Now, you dont think that one of the fish in the big tank could be picking on her do you? If not, than we come back to figuring out what is wrong with her. Keep me posted as to her progress as often as you wish. I will make sure and check the messages often to answer back quickly. It is up to you whether she merits treatment yet or not. I would advice caution with the treatment, as it can be very stressful to goldfish. Let me know any new developments and I will continue to brainstorm possible issues she may have. I hope she makes it through everthing. Keep her in the hospital tank for now.
                                    Rachel A.

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QUESTION: my mom said her eye has less blood and looks a lot better then this morning. i think we are just going to leave her in the hospital tank because it seems she is healing on her own. we do have a bully fish named goldie. but he never seemed to bother her. it looks like she still uses her smaller eye! she has been throught so much!
corinna
ANSWER: She sure has been through alot. In my experience most goldfish would have been too stressed to survive by now. She must be super strong. Whether it is a disease/parasite or injury, she must be strong to survive how she has. It is a good idea to wait with the treatment, it can sometimes be too stressful for goldfish so it should only be used as a last resort. I think its a good choice to leave her in the hospital tank. I would say to leave her in there for a long time, enough where her symptoms are completely gone, no remaining signs at all. It's hard to say how long that will be but it is best for her. Possibly the bully goldie may have picked on her when you were not watching? Do any other fish have big eyes like the black moor (forgot if you told me her name ?)? Maybe she is the only one with the big eyes and the bully goldie does not like her for some reason, I dont know, trying to brainstorm. It could also be an injury which was just agrivated somehow when she was put back in the big tank. Or of course it could be a disease/parasite. Time will tell, hopefully a simple injury instead of a diesease/parasite. Keep me posted!
                                               Rachel A.

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QUESTION: its definatley possible goldie picked on her. we have another black moor named starbuckz but she is very young and her eyez aren't all that big.
corinna
ANSWER: It is not a normal thing for goldfish to pick on each other but it does happen. It may or may not be that but it was something that crossed my mind. Does the bully pick on th other black moor any more than he does the others? How is the vacation girl doing?


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QUESTION: hmmmmmm goldie picks on starbuckz every now and then. i have only seen him do it once.he picks on one of my other fish more and his/her name in raine. but raine chases him back sometimes! We just came back from vacation and her eye has more blood in it but oddly it looks healthier! my moms thinks it looks bigger and she is still swimming around doing the usual.
ANSWER: It conserns me that it has not gone away by now. I think you might want to treat her for a parasite/disease. She may have a mild case of pop-eye, or an eye parasite and just can't overcome it but it isnt really bringing her immune system down enough to affect her actions. While treating her may be risky, if she does have a parasite or disease and it is not treated, she will likely die. I dont want to worry you nor tell you to treat her, it is completely up to you as you only know how she acts and looks. If you think it is just not going away and it looks worse, treat her. If not, closely continue to watch her daily, as if it is a disease or parasite it can advance rapidly. Keep in mind, however, if it is a disease or parasite she is stressed so the treatment may or may not work, it is a big gamble. One thing that makes goldfish super difficult is the sensitivity to the treatment. Sometimes it works wonders and other times it fails. You be the judge. I am not there to see it myself so I am only speculating. Again, go with you gut. One good thing is that you dont have to risk the other fish because she is in the hospital tank, so treatment would only be a risk to her. She could have an injury, or is could be pop-eye, an eye parasite, a fungus, or any other eye issue. Perhaps you can get a picture of it? If so, e-mail me at undrcvrangel1285@hotmail.com if you can't attach it to these messages so I can have a better idea of what it looks like. If you cant get a pic, do what you think is best. You can usually tell if the fish just isnt right or isnt healing. Keep me posted. I hope all works out, even if it takes a while.


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QUESTION: i'll just e-mail a picture of her to you. what type of medication do u suggest would be best to give her if we do decide to treat her?
corinna
ANSWER: If you could find an all-in-one treatment that would be best considering we dont know for sure what it is. But it should focus on eye conditions. If you cant get an all-in-one get somethat that covers the most eye conditions.

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QUESTION: alright thanks for your help i'm just kinda freaked out right now because of the mystery on our hands and because i wish i could go back on vacation. i kinda feel home sick even though the vacation wasn't my home. i'll send you that picture in a few minutes
corinna
ANSWER: I got your e-mail and I hope it is working out. How is she acting? Keep me posted.


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QUESTION: She has been doing quite well! Her eye is getting better as time goes on. The treatment stressed her out at first but now she is happy as ever.
corinna

Answer
Awesome! I hope she continues to get better. Continue to follow the directions, if you are still treating her according to the directions. Just baby her and hopefully she will get better and be stronger than ever. I bet she is enjoying her extended, really extended vacation, huh? Too bad we all couldn't go on an extended vacation, hehe. Keep me posted, let me know if you have more questions.