Lionfish has cloudy eyes

Ok, so I have 3 volitan lionfish in a 125 gallon fowlr. They are eating and thriving perfectly. I feed them silversides and krill only. No feeders. I use Ro/di water and my levels are perfect
Ammonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-0, ph 8.6, sg- 1.023, water temp 78-80. But my biggest one is starting to get cloudy eyes, but otherwise healthy as hell! I read some posts where people have said that this could happen due to over feeding, is this true? I dont feel like I am, I try to feed every other day, but maybe I am? There is no other signs of disease or stress. Body, fins and his behavior is otherwise healthy.

Any suggestions or ideas??

 

There are numerous reports of this problem with lionfish. Sometimes they can even go blind. The main consesus is it is realated to diet and or enviroment.Cataracts are also common.Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to reverse cataracts in fish, but you can take steps to prevent them from getting worse. Feed a variety of foods that have been soaked in a vitamin solution, something like Boyd's Vita-Chem. One or two different foods is not enough. Try weaning them to eat frozen cubes of Ocean Nutrition foods you can also try squid or Mysis.Over feeding is also a big issue with this fish. Try feeding every three days. Although it does sound to me its the variety or lack there of that is causing the issue.Good luck8)

 

Thanks Vinny, I will cut back feeding to every three days and try and vary the diet more.

 

NP.Good luck.Let us know how they are doing.

 

Overfeeding will not make your lion go blind.

But it would be advantageous to adjust that diet. I don't use krill at all anymore. There was a study going on about lockjaw and krill, but I think it has stalled as they never got enough samples. Shame really. But look up Kelly Jedlicki who was heading this. There are so many choices, why risk it, IMO.

Not all Silversides are created equal. What brand are you using? Some contain thiaminase which basically "inactivates" the fishes' thiamine level. Not good.

I go to the fish market and get whatever is on sale for the week and what looks good. I always have a few table shrimp as backup because sometimes a certain fish doesn't like what I'm serving. My Blackfoot lion does not like cod. The Volitans hates hake.They ALL love salmon, but be careful with that, it's fatty. Overfeeding (by means of too much food or too much fatty foods), can lead to fatty liver disease. We see this in a lot of preds.

Can you get a pic of him for me? Sometimes when they are about to have a good shed, the eyes become cloudy a couple of days before, but I would be concerned and start watching very closely.

(I would also be doing a good water change, feeding them Beta-Glucan and dosing the tank with vitamin C. IMO, it's a win-win passive strategy).

 

K+Just to be clear I wasn't suggesting overfeeding could cause blindness but it has been shown to cause other issues with their health and of course to help maintain water quality.

 

wetwebmedia says that it can be caused by bright lighting.

"Glaring lights are implicated in lion "blindness" environmental disease. Note the opacity in this Radiata's eye from being kept in too bright a system."
Lions&Rels2

 

Years have passed since that article was written and a great deal more halide owners exist than even 10 years ago. We've kind of moved on from thinking the lights blind them. We would see it more in recent years as there have been more and more lions exposed to halides.... and yet the numbers of blind lionfish have not increased as the number of halide owners climbed. Some of my lions are under halides, so if there is a risk, it's pretty small.

A great current source of info is Frank Marini's Lionfish and Scorpionfish book. It's a very interesting read for anyone looking for current info on these great fish.

 

Don't call it a comeback

Thank you so much guys! Turned out it was ick. Within. Short amount of time they all were takin a massive downward spiral, very sad. So I treated with copper as a last ditch attempt and to my amazement, they came back to full strength within a week. They have been going strong now for more than a month. I have varied their diet to assorted frozen saltwater fish from market and I treat the food with a vitamin soak before it goes into tank. my biggest is 7 inches, middle is 5 inches, and small one is 4.5. Thanks again for all the advice!!!