blondie needs assistance

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Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm having some trouble figuring out what's going on with my elephant ear betta's eyes. Initially, I thought it was pop eye, but now I'm leaning towards diamond eye - or maybe something else entirely. I've been researching and looking at pictures, but none of them seem to match what I'm seeing. I've been treating him with E.M. erythromycin for about three weeks and I have seen some change, but I wouldn't call it an improvement just yet. He's still eating well and is active, and he seems to be able to see okay. I'd love to share some better pictures of him because he's really a stunning fish - and I'm also curious if he might be a metallic betta, given his iridescent scales.

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Here are some more pics of my elephant ear betta. I've got him set up in an old 5-gallon hex for now, using it as a hospital tank. Just got a new 10-gallon corner bow front that I'm cycling - he'll be moving in there eventually. His tankmates are a bushy nose albino pleco and a nerite snail.

[Lurcher]

I don't have any advice, but I'm sure someone will chime in soon to help you out with your betta's eye issue, and I'm looking forward to hearing their thoughts.

[angelica]

I had a similar issue with a tetra a few years back. Did daily 75% water changes, and for 10 days, no change. But then on day 11, the fish was back to normal, no other treatment needed.

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Thanks for sharing your experience, angelica. I appreciate the suggestion, but I've already tried daily water changes and unfortunately, it didn't make a difference for my betta. Still, I'm glad to hear your tetra recovered.

[swim_deep]

I'm gonna tag @coltin in this thread, he's usually pretty knowledgeable about illnesses and diseases in fish, so maybe he can offer some insight.

[copter]

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

[coltin]

I think your elephant ear betta has a pretty bad case of pop-eye, likely due to an infection in the head or eyes. Usually, clean water and salt take care of the problem, but since it's been going on for weeks and antibiotics didn't work, I'm guessing it's either a virus or a bacterial infection that's resistant to the meds.

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Thanks coltin for the response, I really appreciate it. Been running around like crazy doing water changes and testing, barely have time to keep up with this thread. My ammonia levels are still through the roof at 1.0 ppm, I've lost count of how many water changes I've done and I've even added some daxillite to the filter. I'm at my wit's end, to be honest. Blondie seems perfectly fine otherwise - he's playful, eating well, and always curious when I'm in the kitchen. I've got a brand new 10 gal tank all set up and cycling, and the ammonia in that one is 0.50 ppm, which is just rubbing it in my face.

[coltin]

I'm going to give you some advice that I've learned the hard way. If you ever find yourself dealing with ammonia in a tank with fish, you need to act fast. I would recommend doing a 75% water change daily, and make sure to give the substrate a good gravel cleaning each time, until you get that ammonia level down to 0ppm.

Also, I've recently discovered that if you have an established tank with a well-established filter, you can actually transfer that filter to a new tank and it'll essentially be cycled right away. This means you can go ahead and add fish to the new tank straight away, which is a huge relief.