# Popeye. Best method and best med?



## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

Argg help! It is the first time I have been hit with popeye and I am at a loss to knowwhat to do.

Best method to get rid of it? Best medicine? My cories were all healthy a day ago but now all of them are gasping at the bottom, presumably sightless.

thx


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

WHAT???
How did that happen?

Well, if all your fish suddenly got popeye in one day, then this isn't a case of finding a good medicine anymore, but in not letting that pathogen escape into your local environment. What you'd need would be one of those expensive new antibiotics which can cross the blood-brain barrier, but frankly, if it's that bad you probably don't have enough time to get one.

Don't flush those fish or pour the water down the drain. Seal the fish into some small container and put them in the trash for the landfill. Pour bleach & alcohol into the tank to sterilize it for a few days, then pour it out, rinse & scrub everything, dose heavily with dechlorinator, rinse again & again, and finally set it all back up again from scratch.

Don't even bother trying to treat with some common, lesser drug just because it's something you have handy. Your fish are too far gone already, most likely, and all you'd do is greatly increase the risk of that bacteria becoming immune to your drug of choice. 

It's not good news, no. Just consider what would happen if that pathogen got loose into your local water supply. Your first duty is to your environment & fellow humans. Not many pathogens can cause that much damage in that short a time, so you must respect the severe risk this one poses. The kind of medicine you'd need cannot be bought from a petshop; you'd have to go to a doctor for it so it wouldn't be cheap. You can safely assume that your corys' brains are infected at this point; popeye like that just isn't normal.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

thanks I'll do that TOS. Actually the fish were added a few days back so cant be sure, and I quarantined them so you are near definately right.

Yep baby_baby, thats what Im getting but really suddenly. I hope my (wild) gambusia and endlers at least will pull through, they sould have better antibodies.

Thank you again!


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