African Butterfly Blue Dots Over Cornea On Eyes

[TiffanyCigan]

So today I brought home a new African butterfly, I had my guy for 3 years but sadly he passed away a few months ago. So I got my new abf home and immediately noticed that he has a blue dot on the cornea over the pupil of each eye. I've already ascertained that he is blind and he does not respond to finger movements and he seems scared and unsure of the tank. I even tried dropping blood worms over his head but he did not respond. Also, his eyes don't move at all. I'm pretty well versed with my fish but this is not something that I have ever encountered, nor has anyone else as far as I can see as I can't find any information on the Internet either. I'm wondering if anyone knows what this is and how I can proceed from here?

 

[Baccus]

Mostly I have heard of fish that where missing one eye rather than being blind in both. Being I am assuming an adult fish I wonder if its been blind its entire life or if its eyes have been damaged during transportation from origin to shop.
Since fish tell a lot about their environment by their lateral lines, your fish may need these sensory organs more for finding food and finding its way around the new tank. Depending on any other tank species I would probably reduce if possible any strong currents in the tank, because this will throw water movements all over the place in the tank making it harder for the blind fish to "read" its surroundings from ripples/ currents hitting its lateral line.
Then because of the blindness I can see you may need to either train the fish to hand feed, most likely from gently wriggling its food in the water simulating natural prey. Or you may need to keep a population of live foods such as mosquito wrigglers that the fish will be able to detect any movement from and hone in on.
In the mean time I would also keep an eye on the fishes eyes in case the blindness is a recent problem and follow on infections are yet to take hold.

 

[TallTree01]

African Butterflies are heavily dependent on their very keen eyesight. My butterfly sees everything and too much motion will spook him greatly. As soon as a food item touches the water he's right on it. It'd be awful for him to be blind. I can't imagine how to deal with it. I'd personally put him in his own tank so he doesn't get bullied by his tank mates and try to make it as calm as possible. Try to get some smelly food as he wont be able to see it. Best of luck mate, they're amazing animals.