Just bought a fish with a distorted eye!

[Deja Q]

Yuck!

It's a beautiful deep-blue Electric Blue Cichlid, but I didn't notice his right eye at the time. It looks like it's been pushed in or just deformed.

Should I return it?

[Don Claybrook]

1. I don't know fish, but I know cameras

I just love my 15mm fisheye lens. It's distorted too. As such, you should keep your fish with the distorted fisheye. :)

[XanaDUer]

2. Keep the fish

he has been through enough already. It's not his fault his eye is bad, and think of all the extra stress bringing him back will do to him.

Plus, now he has a home with a nice person like you. :)

PLEASE keep the fish.

[Heddi]

5. Yep

If you take it back, they're going to euthanize the fish.

Are you sure that the fish doesn't have dropsy, tho? That causes a bulging eye---look down on the fish from the topof the tank--does he look like a pinecone or porcupine? do his gills stick out? Does he look ill in any other way besides his eye?

If you have one, put him in a quarrantine tank for a week just to make sure he's not 'sick'. If you don't have a quarrantine tank, just keep a good eye on that fish, and your other fish for a few weeks to ensure that he's not transmitted anything to his other fishy buddies :)

[Deja Q]

9. Thanks for the info!

No quarrantine tank though... :-( Gills look fine... quite normal looking apart from that eye, which isn't bulging at all (it appears to be the opposite, I'd say it was indented in...)

[Deja Q]

6. Will do, good points

His new home is more spacious and has lots of neat hiding places... and his species is aggressive anyway, so there's no doubt he can defend himself from the other fish, which are semi-aggressive anyway (tiger barbs and paradise gouramis)...

He is otherwise swimming normally and looks healthy (VERY colorful, he is), and his species lives in shoals anyway.

[XanaDUer]

8. Good

I love fish and fish tanks.

You're building up good karma.

[joeybee12]

3. Keep it!

It needs a home--they may just destroy it if you bring it back!

[XanaDUer]

4. That's exactly what I thought.

The fish needs a home.

[joeybee12]

10. Yes, the poor thing!

[short bus president]

7. look up cichlid diseases online

and see what the eye thing most likely is. Some fish eye things are temporary, and some are indicative of imminent death. Find out what it is and if it looks like imminent-death-type fish eye stuff, then take it back.

[SoCalDem]

11. My son raises angel fish and their gold one (Goldie)

lost an eye in a tiff with the other breeding pair.. She swims tipped to one side so that no one can sneak up on her.. Looks odd, but she's fine..