A Blind Fish?

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I’m not sure if one of my fish is blind . I thought she was unwell as she was fairly inactive so I had her in a breeder net in the main tank and last weekend she perked up again and was eating so I released her into the main tank and she just basically sat on the spot and didn’t eat so I put her back in the breeders net. If the light comes on she does swim around but generally she is inactive; she looks ok (lost a bit of weight but then she hasn’t been eating) so I watched her eat last night and she looked like she was stabbing around in the dark for it, she kept missing and went back to sulking. So I tried her with some blood worms and again she came and missed, I have some tongs I use to feed my newts with so I tried to hand feed her the worms…again she kept missing; I wiggled the worms right in front of her eyes and in front of her mouth and nothing; if I left the worm in front of her mouth for a while she did eat it, but I went back with the tongs and wiggled them around and no reaction; I accidentally touched her and she got a shock (she couldn’t have missed the tongs coming towards her). I think maybe she has some vision as afterwards she did ‘appear’ to see the worms coming towards her but she kept missing them (and believe you me they rarely miss). Do you think she could be blind, or going blind?

Also she seems more active in the little breeders net, I wondered if she just felt safer in it because she was losing her vision.

Her eyes still look perfectly normal. I mentioned it to my mam and she had said last weekend when she was eating she was missing all of the food as well and she had wondered that as well.

So IF she is losing her vision, what is the best thing for her, should I move her to a smaller tank alone or should I just leave her in the net. I imagine she’ll have to be hand fed and watched to make sure she gets her food.

What is the best course of action?

 

[amy1994]

I'm not sure if one of my fish is blind . I thought she was unwell as she was fairly inactive so I had her in a breeder net in the main tank and last weekend she perked up again and was eating so I released her into the main tank and she just basically sat on the spot and didn't eat so I put her back in the breeders net. If the light comes on she does swim around but generally she is inactive; she looks ok (lost a bit of weight but then she hasn't been eating) so I watched her eat last night and she looked like she was stabbing around in the dark for it, she kept missing and went back to sulking. So I tried her with some blood worms and again she came and missed, I have some tongs I use to feed my newts with so I tried to hand feed her the worms…again she kept missing; I wiggled the worms right in front of her eyes and in front of her mouth and nothing; if I left the worm in front of her mouth for a while she did eat it, but I went back with the tongs and wiggled them around and no reaction; I accidentally touched her and she got a shock (she couldn't have missed the tongs coming towards her). I think maybe she has some vision as afterwards she did 'appear' to see the worms coming towards her but she kept missing them (and believe you me they rarely miss). Do you think she could be blind, or going blind?

Also she seems more active in the little breeders net, I wondered if she just felt safer in it because she was losing her vision.

Her eyes still look perfectly normal. I mentioned it to my mam and she had said last weekend when she was eating she was missing all of the food as well and she had wondered that as well.

So IF she is losing her vision, what is the best thing for her, should I move her to a smaller tank alone or should I just leave her in the net. I imagine she'll have to be hand fed and watched to make sure she gets her food.

What is the best course of action?

We once had a blind goldfish poor thing, kept bumping in to the sides
Unfortunately it might be better to isolate her, as with ours all of the other fish picked on her...
By the sounds of it she either has very bad vision, or like you say is going blind.
What sort of fish is it?

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

We once had a blind goldfish poor thing, kept bumping in to the sides
Unfortunately it might be better to isolate her, as with ours all of the other fish picked on her...
By the sounds of it she either has very bad vision, or like you say is going blind.
What sort of fish is it?

She is isolated at the moment in a breeders trap. She hasn't been picked on (my girls are really calm) but when I put her back into the main tank she just sat on the floor; but in the net at least she swims around.

She is a female betta/fighting fish.

 

[amy1994]

We once had a blind goldfish poor thing, kept bumping in to the sides
Unfortunately it might be better to isolate her, as with ours all of the other fish picked on her...
By the sounds of it she either has very bad vision, or like you say is going blind.
What sort of fish is it?

She is isolated at the moment in a breeders trap. She hasn't been picked on (my girls are really calm) but when I put her back into the main tank she just sat on the floor; but in the net at least she swims around.

She is a female betta/fighting fish.

Like you said before it might just be that she feels safer in a smaller area.
Whether to keep her in the net or move her to another tank i don't know, but if she feels fine in the net it might be easier for her there.
Also if she swims in to net it's soft, which is better for her than bumping in to the sides of the tank.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

~That is very true. I'll see how she gets on I suppose