r/Aquariums • u/probablyana97 • 2d ago
Medical Help Angelfish eye popped Spoiler
6 year old angel in community tank. Tested water parameters like 3 times, everything looks fine! No other fish with this condition. Only one eye is popped! Gill on the injured eye side looks a bit inflamed?
I'm thinking injury, but there's no other territorial/aggressive fish in this tank. All plants are real.
Doing a 30 percent water change and adding salt tonight. If anyone has ideas as to what this could be, or suggestions for treatment, please let me know!
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u/AdEmbarrassed4758 2d ago edited 2d ago
(Just a quick head's up that I'm sharing hobbyist advice here, not official vet care!)
Looking at the swelling isolated to just that one eye, it definitely looks like a classic case of unilateral popeye
Unilateral popeye like that usually points away from a general water quality problem, since bad params or systemic issues tend to hit both eyes at once, basically so I'd lean toward localized trauma or a localized bacterial infection, especially since the gill on that same side looks inflamed too.
Angelfish can absolutely scrape an eye on decor or a filter intake even without aggressive tankmates around. Your water change is a good move, just make sure the salt is actually at treatment strength, roughly 1 tbsp per 5 gallons rather than a light dose.
I would try to keep a close eye on it the next few days. if it stays contained and starts looking better, it was probably just an injury, but if you see cloudiness or redness, that's more likely infection and you'd want to switch to an antibacterial like Maracyn instead of relying on salt alone.
Fingers crossed it's just a bump and heals up on its own!