Tetra lost an eye

[David P.]

Hey everyone,

I’ve got a 30 gallon planted tank with 11 neon tetras, 3 rummie nose tetras, and 2 betas. Water conditions are good. 2 days ago I noticed one of the neons has lost an eye. It seems to be doing ok, it’s eating and swimming all right, although it’s not getting as much food as the other fish. I would say some of the concerning things would be that it secludes itself, it swims with a slight tilt towards the lost eye, and I can’t be totally sure of this but it appears the hole where the eye was might be getting bigger. Any advice or things I should do to improve the fishes situation?

 

[Colin_T]

get the Bettas out because they probably took the eye.

if the eye socket doesn't get infected, it should heal up and the fish will be able to carry on reasonably normally in a few weeks. But if you have a betta in a community tank and fish are losing eyes, you could lose more fish or more eyes.

 

[Luk3th3duk3]

Funny enough I noticed something similar was happening to my cardinals. Every morning I would come down and one would be eaten. I bought 12 and literally every night one by one they would go missing. I couldn't put my finger on it. Water quality was fine and all the other type of tetra I had were thriving. I noticed no fish being harassed during the day and in the end I think the cause was at night, they were the only thing that could be seen in the pitch black of the water. I think they acted like a honing beacon for the other fish who just nipped at them in the dark and left the other tetra alone who were less colourful. Once they all died I had no issues with any of the other fish.