How Do You Know If Your Betta Is Blind?

[attibones]

Today I was watching George, my handsome chap, and I dropped in a few pellets right in front of his face while he was taking in some air. He swam right past the pellets. He's kind of dragon scale, and half of each eye looks like the scales on his body. I also noticed him swim past some sort of wriggling live thing (some sort of worm or something living in my substrate or from my plants I assume). Point is, he didn't react to either the food or the wiggle. I put my finger in the water and he either did not care or notice.

Does the dragon scale look over the fish's eye mean he's blind? He looks very healthy. His colors are brilliant and his tail is in fine condition. He uses the whole tank and has several favorite resting spots. I just don't know if he's seeing the food.

George is a really sweet guy and he likes to hang out in the corner of the tank that is next to my bed (he's in a ten gallon on my nightstand). He doesn't even get scared when my pit bull presses her big nose against the glass to watch him.

How do I know if he is blind? If he is blind, what can I do to keep him comfortable? Should I switch to meaty foods like brine shrimp, bloodworms and the like? I keep bloodworms on hand but have not offered him any yet. I feed Omega pellets. The ingredient list looks nice.
I would like to add that he easily jumped over the fern leaf which rests on the surface. He's a jumper this one. He knew where the leaf was well enough to clear it. I don't know why he didn't just swim under it. Maybe it is fun.

 

[Mamashack]

Just keep everything in his tank the way it is now and he'll find his way around like you've already observed. He may not be totally blind yet but his directional vison is probably impaired somewhat.
The scales do indeed grow over their eyes eventually and there's nothing you can do to stop it unfortunately. I think mine starved to death because we never got the hang of hand- feeding. George may just not have been hungry when you tried to feed him.
You could try training him to take food from the end of a straw - Shel's idea - I'll see if I can find the thread to link it. I think you have to get into the habit of feeding them in the same area of the tank so that they can feel where you are and know that's where they get fed.

 

[attibones]

Good idea. I'll try him with the straw tomorrow night and see how it goes.

 

[attibones]

I got some amano shrimp from a not so local FS in New Orleans. George can see well enough that he was staring them down while they were acclimating in a bag. I've decided just to add some snails for George tomorrow. He might see well enough to catch the amanos, meaning he would definitely be able to see the bright red crystal shrimp I got! (Jeez, they were expensive!!)

I plan to update this periodically as I notice more things about Georgie's vision.

 

[Mamashack]

The amanos should be alright. I had 3 in with mine until recently and they just used to ping out of the way if their paths crossed. For the most part they ignored each other. I certainly wouldn't put small and/or expensive ones in there. I'm sure that accounts for my 2 losses recently.
Snails should be ok too. He used to leave the assassin snails alone, but once I put the nerite zebras in there he nudged them a few times but they were big enough to stand their ground and now he ignores them too.
EDIT: spelling mistakes - whatever happened to spell-check???

 

[Shelster]

Here's the link Atti:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433724-how-to-feed-the-betta/

Might be worth posting a pic on here too, so you can see how it compares in the future to now.

 

[FriedFlowerHornFillet]

They sense movement (with their lateral line I believe) I wiggle my finger a bit in the water every time I feed my anabatids that's what bugs do to the surface tension of the water in the wild I suppose.. My  crown tail Ed Wood was like 4 years old and blind but he always knew where the food was. If you're ever curious if your male betta or paradise fish is blind- get a small mirror you'll usually be able to tell immediately