16 replies to this topic

[anno1685]

i've just discovered that one of my fish has an enlarged right eye. My initial thought was pop eye, but i've read online that one enlarged eye usually means trauma. I do realise that he has become somewhat reclusive recently too. What should i do?





Also, help me ID it as well. I suspect I have a hybrid, though it was bought off the forums.

[Mr_docfish]

What fish is it on, and what other fish are in the same tank?
Is the eye red, white or normal (look around the edge and in the centre).
Post a pic if you can, close as possible.

[Cawdor]

Hard to tell without a pic. Some of mine have had one enlarged eye before, but that was usually due to arguments with other fish. In those cases there was some swelling around the eye and in some cases the eye was covered in a slightly whitish film. All those cases have cleared in about a week without any medication.
Some fish were a bit more timid during that time but back to normal once it cleared up.

[anno1685]

What fish is it on, and what other fish are in the same tank?
Is the eye red, white or normal (look around the edge and in the centre).
Post a pic if you can, close as possible.

Other fish in the tank are all mbunas. Do you want me to list them?

[anno1685]

Hard to tell without a pic. Some of mine have had one enlarged eye before, but that was usually due to arguments with other fish. In those cases there was some swelling around the eye and in some cases the eye was covered in a slightly whitish film. All those cases have cleared in about a week without any medication.
Some fish were a bit more timid during that time but back to normal once it cleared up.

I hope that's the case. I bought these fish off someone on the forums, and they have been problematic ever since. One died of bloat the other day. None of my fish have ever got bloat before.

[Mr_docfish]

anno,
The first pic is a good one, the fish is trying to look forward and down (see the left eye) but the other is not able to move.
I doubt it is a bacterial infection related to the bloat in the other fish (both eyes would be affected), it can be a tumor or other swelling on or near the eye so I'd say it is not contagious, but either way, there would be nothing that you can do at this time other than observe and compare this pic with the same fish in 7 days and see if there is any improvement.

I am not able to identify the fish with certainty from these pics, let me know what you bought it as, and I can let you know if it could be in the ball park. Also are here any differences in male and female at present?
My guess at this point in time is a cobalt zebra showing stress bars.

[Mintox]

Looks like what happened to one of my fishes ages ago, it went back to normal a few days later. Hopefully the same happens here.

[anno1685]

anno,
The first pic is a good one, the fish is trying to look forward and down (see the left eye) but the other is not able to move.
I doubt it is a bacterial infection related to the bloat in the other fish (both eyes would be affected), it can be a tumor or other swelling on or near the eye so I'd say it is not contagious, but either way, there would be nothing that you can do at this time other than observe and compare this pic with the same fish in 7 days and see if there is any improvement.

I am not able to identify the fish with certainty from these pics, let me know what you bought it as, and I can let you know if it could be in the ball park. Also are here any differences in male and female at present?
My guess at this point in time is a cobalt zebra showing stress bars.

I will wait a week and if there is any change, I'll try and post it up. In any case, here are more images of the other fish I got that are purportedly the same species, namely lombardoi. When I got the fish, the owner simply explained that they've not coloured-up because they were all stressed as he removed his rocks. They have barely any colour now really.

[Fish Antics]

I can say with certainty that they are not Lombardoi. In Lombardoi the Males are yellow and the females are Blue with wider dark blue bands. Unfortunitly from the Pics I cant tell you for sure what it is, possibly Cobalt with stress bars as Oliver has said.
I hope the eye clears up for you.

Tony

[anno1685]

I can say with certainty that they are not Lombardoi. In Lombardoi the Males are yellow and the females are Blue with wider dark blue bands. Unfortunitly from the Pics I cant tell you for sure what it is, possibly Cobalt with stress bars as Oliver has said.
I hope the eye clears up for you.

Tony

What is the latin name for cobalts? I peeked at them at night and saw them colour to a fluorescent blue, but it's hard to tell at night. They are mostly colourless in the day. Thanks.

[Cawdor]

The Cobalt Blue or Cobalt Zebra are Metriaclima callainos.

http://www.cichlid-f...cies.php?id=787
http://www.cichlid-f...m_callainos.php

Yours don't really look like them though, but that could be due to age. The shape of the head and mouth are different.

[anno1685]

The Cobalt Blue or Cobalt Zebra are Metriaclima callainos.

http://www.cichlid-f...cies.php?id=787
http://www.cichlid-f...m_callainos.php

Yours don't really look like them though, but that could be due to age. The shape of the head and mouth are different.

Nope definitely not. I've got some of those in my tank and they are always blue and fluorescent. Very nice fish.

The smallest one has a blue-ish tinge to it that brightens up when it gets stressed. The other 2 have a red-ish tinge to them, with slight yellow-ish fins. At first I thought they might be in "transition", but considering they are quite large, that shouldn''t be the case.

[Mr_docfish]

Can you post a pic of the other two you have mentioned with the red-ish tinges. I can now see in the last pics that the fish has a small amount of black on the top of the dorsal fin in front, and there is some yellow showing in the rear. I can now say it is not a cobalt (and like Tony said, not a lombardoi, too many bars).

[anno1685]

Can you post a pic of the other two you have mentioned with the red-ish tinges. I can now see in the last pics that the fish has a small amount of black on the top of the dorsal fin in front, and there is some yellow showing in the rear. I can now say it is not a cobalt (and like Tony said, not a lombardoi, too many bars).

Here are better pictures of them:

The biggest one. This is the one with the eye problem. Swelling seems to have decreased.


The mid-size one.


The smallest one. I managed to find it coloured up a bit, but I've not managed to catch the other two yet. Have only seem them colour up at night.



Thanks

[Mr_docfish]

I found a good site with an almost converted male, female and juvi pics on one page:
http://www.malawimay...show.php?id=399

the lombardoi has about 6 bars, whereas yours show about 8+. The characteristic I see as similar is the bars travel into the dorsal

There are other Mbuna that also have the charateristic, but they still don't match yours.
I cannot put my finger on it but to say that they are not lombardoi.

I am glad the eye is getting better.

Maybe someone else can recognise this fish?

[SynoAngel]

A possible ID would be Maylandia estherae "Blue/Red"
http://www.malawimay...show.php?id=548
The problem I am finding is that the slope of top of the head to the jaw looks to be different amongst each specimen. They also dont look clean as they appears to have some black markings on pic 2 (head) and pic 3 (top fin). They could be a hybrid, but without having first hand experience on what they actually are I cant be sure.

HTH

Daniel

[Fish Antics]

Trying to ID these fish from Photo's is going to be a very hard. My suggestion is to seek advice from the person you purchased them from, or if possible the person/shop they purchased them from.

Tony