blind betta?

[Raechal]

Okay so I have been monitoring Puck's behavior and I used to feed him with a dropper and ever since I lost the dropper I've been just dropping the frozen bloodworms in there for him. I figured he has been eating them because they were disappearing but he started to become really thin so I started to monitor his eating and when I would drop them in there right next to his face he wouldn't eat them and he wouldn't even know they were right next to him. So I splashed my finger around to make vibrations in the water and he finally figured out food was there. His eyes look the same as when I got him. They are a light blue color and were always different from my other betta's eyes. Is there anything I should do for him? Or anyhing I should look for to make sure he is blind? Water params are all fine 5 na 0ni 0am he is kept in a filtered 10 gallon with live plants and about 10 ghost shrimp.

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Well, if you're not sure if he's blind, just watch him, is he running into plants often? does he come up to the front of the tank when you come near, like most betta do? things like that Bettamomma can help you out weith this pretty good I'd assume seeing how she has a blind one.

 

[daudy_dojo]

does he only come up when he hears you??? ... freckles isnt blind but he does that

 

[Raechal]

Well, if you're not sure if he's blind, just watch him, is he running into plants often? does he come up to the front of the tank when you come near, like most betta do? things like that Bettamomma can help you out weith this pretty good I'd assume seeing how she has a blind one.

the plants are floating plants so he bumps into them sometimes but not alot. He doesn't come to the front of the tank when I come up to it.

 

[daudy_dojo]

well if he cant hear you then he wont come up,.... maybe he is blind... maybe he is lazy!

 

[50000_tears]

blind ones tend to red eyes w/ a glow like my wittle buddy i have him in a half gallon he can find his food on his own now i trained him

 

[BettaMomma]

A couple of things you can do to see if he's blind - try the mirror trick, of course - and try the finger against the glass trick. Wait til he's got his nose butted up against the glass and move your finger toward him. I haven't met a betta that won't back away from it.

Here's what my little Louis' eyes look like:

They can look the same way and be blue - but if you look into them, you'll see that it looks sorta like an endless tunnel rather than having a backdrop.

one last little trick to try, and it might be kinda stressful for him, but take him out of his tank and put him in a container that's a tad bit smaller. If the first thing he does is take a trip around the outside of it with either his snout or one fin pressed up against the side of the glass, then takes a trip from the bottom of the tank to the top, you can pretty safely suspect he's blind, or he has really bad vision. He's checking out his boundaries before he gets going to do other things.

To feed him, I decided at first that I'd just drop the pellets into his tank at the same spot, at the same time every single morning and evening. He finds them all right away. Blood worms and peas are a bit tougher. he's come to know that when I take the lid off his tank, I usually have a toothpick with some yummy worms dangling over the top of the water closeby... So... I get the worms on the end of a toothpick hanging down and then wait til he comes up to the top to swim around and find them, then dangle them right in front of his nose - and he sucks them all in at once. Same way with peas, although they're a bit harder.

And... he scavenges the bottom of the tank for food after feeding time is over. They have a GREAT sense of smell so even if he can't see them to eat them, he should be able to smell them.

I'd love to see a pic of him if you can

 

[50000_tears]

oh yeah most blind fish are either born that way or had soap contact. i know about blind fish since my little cousin squirted some soap in my older cousin's tank once. they were a huge pelco and a silver dollar fish they didnt die til recently but they were blind they had red eyes like Buddy and Louis.

 

[BettaMomma]

Not necessarily true.
They can go blind for one of several reasons - a bad bacterial infection, genetics, toxins, poor water quality, etc.

 

[50000_tears]

oops i forgot those..haha i got sidetracked by skittles