What To Do About Betta Popeye?

[BlueTurtle25]

Hi! I started noticing very slight Popeye symptoms in my Betta's left eye on Sunday, when I was feeding him. I ordered some Fritz Maracyn antibiotic powder from Aquarium Co Op and was just going to let things be until it arrived. Unfortunately, my package was not expected to show up until Friday and by Tuesday his symptoms had gotten way worse. I panicked and immediately found many posts online about people treating their Betta's Popeye with SeaChem's Kanaplex. I did a 75% water change and drove an hour to a fish store that had Kanaplex in stock. The employee was very helpful and told me to increase my aquarium's temperature from 78 to 79 and that kanaplex usually does the trick for Popeye. I have been following SeaChem's directions. Dosing every other day, his eye isn't as swollen, but it has gotten cloudier. His last dose of Kanaplex is tomorrow and I have only seen minimal improvement. I'm very worried about irreversible damage to his eye. I have attached some photos. How should I proceed? Thanks!

• pH: 8.0
• Nitrates: 20ppm
• Hardness: 120gh
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Ammonia: 0ppm
• KH/Buffer: 240KH
• Water Temperature: 79 Degrees F
• Aquarium Capacity: 10 Gallons
• Other Inhabitants: Nerite Snails x2

(I got these number using both the API Master Test Kit and 5 in 1 Strips)

Attached Pictures Below.

[Colu]

With Popeye if it's only affecting one eye it's more than likely caused by an injury what I would do is add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons at that level it shouldn't harm your plants and it will help reduce some of the fluid buildup in the eye for week and monitor it can take a couple of weeks with an eye injury before you Will see significant improvement sometimes the damage is permanent @BlueTurtle25

[BlueTurtle25]

On 8/5/2023 at 3:18 AM, Colu said:

With Popeye if it's only affecting one eye it's more than likely caused by an injury what I would do is add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons at that level it shouldn't harm your plants and it will help reduce some of the fluid buildup in the eye for week and monitor it can take a couple of weeks with an eye injury before you Will see significant improvement sometimes the damage is permanent @BlueTurtle25

I bought some Fritz Aquarium Salt today and i will start dosing it alongside kanaplex.

[BlueTurtle25]

On 8/5/2023 at 3:18 AM, Colu said:

With Popeye if it's only affecting one eye it's more than likely caused by an injury what I would do is add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons at that level it shouldn't harm your plants and it will help reduce some of the fluid buildup in the eye for week and monitor it can take a couple of weeks with an eye injury before you Will see significant improvement sometimes the damage is permanent @BlueTurtle25

I'm wondering if I should do a water change and trying dosing Fritz Maracyn instead of Kanaplex? Kanaplex is obviously not doing very much considering his eye is still swollen. Should I try salt baths as well? I really appreciate your help! I hope I can get this solved it's been almost a week now with minimal improvement.

[Colu]

 I wouldn't do another course of antibiotics if your going to do salt baths I would do 1 table spoon for 1 gallon for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days and keep a low dose of salt in the tank for a week give an update in week  if your seeing no improvement @BlueTurtle25

[BlueTurtle25]

On 8/6/2023 at 6:30 PM, Colu said:

 I wouldn't do another course of antibiotics if your going to do salt baths I would do 1 table spoon for 1 gallon for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days and keep a low dose of salt in the tank for a week give an update in week  if your seeing no improvement @BlueTurtle25

I added 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of Fritz aquarium salt to my betta's 10 gallon tank yesterday, like you suggested. Nothing really seems bothered by the salt thankfully! Is there a minimum amount of water I should use for the salt baths? I plan on using a 2-4 gallon plastic container and just filling it up with the same water that I use for water changes. And water temperature should be identical to his main aquarium? I started the low dose of salt in his 10 gallon yesterday, so a week will be Saturday (the 12th) and I will start the salt baths tomorrow everyday until Friday! Thanks again for your help! It means a lot to me! I'll give you an update Saturday!

[Colu]

On 8/7/2023 at 7:01 AM, BlueTurtle25 said:

I added 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of Fritz aquarium salt to my betta's 10 gallon tank yesterday, like you suggested. Nothing really seems bothered by the salt thankfully! Is there a minimum amount of water I should use for the salt baths? I plan on using a 2-4 gallon plastic container and just filling it up with the same water that I use for water changes. And water temperature should be identical to his main aquarium? I started the low dose of salt in his 10 gallon yesterday, so a week will be Saturday (the 12th) and I will start the salt baths tomorrow everyday until Friday! Thanks again for your help! It means a lot to me! I'll give you an update Saturday!

I usually just use 1 gallon of water for salt baths 

[BlueTurtle25]

On 8/7/2023 at 3:33 AM, Colu said:

I usually just use 1 gallon of water for salt baths 

I gave my betta a salt bath today and he seemed very stressed afterwards. I noticed for a few hours afterwards he just stuck to the top of his tank and gill breathed rapidly. Occasionally he would bat his pectoral fins really fast. I'm pretty sure it was shock from the bath. I plan on discontinuing the salt baths and just keeping a low level of salt in his tank for a another week or two. His eye has slowly, but surely been getting better. I removed the decoration, which I believe he injured his eye on as well.