my fish has one eye

Aces

Okay, so I've got a 46 (?) gallon fish tank, 5 decent sized fish, one of them being a grouper (?).

Before I went back to school his eye started enlarging, and we got him medicine and such. It puffed out, and just seemed to keep getting worse. I eventually went back to school, and assumed my parents could take care of him.

So I come back for winter break and he is missing an eye. Well, it kinda looks like it popped, it's just a sac. It also kind of moves, it is disgusting.

Healthwise, he's fine. Well except that he has one eye. He eats like a horse, swims without problem is overall energetic and friendly.

Aesthetically, he is... a point of conversation. My friends have made comments like "Is that fish dead?" (when he was not moving), and "oh god how is that fish alive?" His face appears a bit sunken around the left eye. He still sort of looks around with it, but it is sunken all the way in and popped.

I feel terrible for him, he's just a big loveable fish, who was already ugly to begin with. I wonder if he is in pain? That maybe I should have him put out of his misery if there is nothing I can do for him, or maybe there are some other options for him.

I talked to my dad and we noted that he might still have a little vision left in his torn eye, and that it could be throwing off his balance. I know it sounds crazy, but what do I do, get him an eyepatch?

Thansk for help with my odd... situation.

Tl:dr : my fish has one eye, what do i do for him?

Casket

So you want to kill your fish? Is that what you want?

Eye patch is the first thing I thought of. Talk to a vet.

Aces

Well I thought I could start out by pulling him out of the tank, slicing him open and frying his insides up, and then feeding them to the other fish still in the tank. Afterwards, I'd flay his carcass on my front door as a warning to prospective thieves, as well as fish who dare have their eyes pop in the future...

No, I don't want to kill him! I am prepared to, if it turns out he is in immense pain or he is going to harm the other fish or himself, but this is a last resort thing. I just want to help him, maybe getting him an eyepatch and making up a story about him escaping from new york or something.

Casket

Meh, I thought it was still questionable whether or not fish really feel "pain".

GiantRobo

Casket wrote:

Meh, I thought it was still questionable whether or not fish really feel "pain".

Nein, they proved it they do.

LondonBridge

If it starts screaming in pain then I think you should euthanize it. Otherwise the fish seems ok, don't worry about it.

Nibble

At least get it checked out by a vet. It could be a symptom of something worse that may harm your other fish, or it could cause an infection.

Feral

Check it and all the other fish for other signs of illness or infection. Bacterial infection is a common cause of bulging eye - other things to look for would be white fuzzy growths around the gills and mouth, missing or bulging 'pinecone' -like scales, red streaks on fins or bodies, open sores, cloudy eyes or translucent films over the eyes or bodies.

You want to make sure that whatever caused the original problem in the first place is now gone.

If all the fish seem healthy, then watch for a while and make sure the other fish aren't picking on the injured fish. If the other fish are nipping or nibbling at the injured one (or vice versa), seperate them.

Otherwise, the fish is probably okay. They can recover from a "popped" eyeball and live for a long time afterwards.

The last thing to do, even if all the fish are okay, is to check the chemistry of the tank. Make sure ammonia, chlorine, pH, and salt content are all optimal - you want to reduce stress on all the fish anyway, but this is doubly true when one is injured.