Blinded by the light?

[BettaMomma]

Jack has started doing something very odd.
He's kept in the pitch dark most of the day, so when I get home from work I switch on the light in the room he's in. I've made it a habit to leave his tank light off except when I'm feeding him and for a little while right after he's been fed because he flips out and fights with his reflection when his light is on.

Several times I've noticed that if he's been sitting in the pitch darkness, then we turn the room light on and then turn on his tank light right away, it seems like he's completely blind - he can't see us, or the pellets we drop in. They sink right by him - he used to follow them to the bottom.

Tonight, we dropped in 6 pellets and he never saw one of them. A few of them floated right by him on the way down. He was also swimming around the tank like he couldn't really see where he was going, in really short distances of like 1 - 2 inches. And when we'd wiggle our fingers by the side of the tank it was like he didn't even see us. Along with that, he was getting air, or it looked like he was trying to get food from the surface of the tank but there wasn't any there, several times in a row.

It seems very odd. Physically he looks perfect. What on earth?

 

[Kiarra]

If this lasts for a reasonable short time after you turn the light on, then it's not really a surprise. If you've been in a dark room and someone turns on a lot, you can't see very well, either, can you?

If this persists much longer than that, then that's very strange indeed.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, that's very true.
It is just odd, though, because he never used to do it at all, then it was a little bit, and last night it was for like 15 minutes and he never did find the food....

I guess I'll just keep an eye on him, and maybe get him a nightlight.

A nightlight for a fish?
Jeez.'