Weird Eye on Betta (Don't think pop... better photos and video)

[metropolis93fan]

I don't have a CLUE what is wrong with my fish. I posted before thinking he had popeye. Now... I am not sure it's popeye, but it's... weird. I have been told that it was diamond eye... He DOES have it in the left eye. The right one isn't that. It didn't show up well in the few photos I had on my phone while at my parents' place. Someone took an interest, asked for more and more, and even a 1 minute video because his facial markings kind of come around his eye (white.) So I'm posting a LOT of pictures and the link to that video here in hopes that someone will take another look. Please. I have kanaplex and will use it if thought necessary. But if not, I'd like to return it. Please please advise. I also have aquarium salts I can put in the tank. I put in a grand total of 5 "small" cattapa leaves (preboiled, and some of the water added once cooled appropriately). For water specs... At last check (yesterday) ammonia was 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate perhaps .25ppm. I'm checking pH as we speak. It was very high yesterday. I don't know if that helps you or not. Okay... wow! the pH yesterday was 8.0. Today it read about 6.0! I'll create another thread about that.

Please help!
1 min (roughly) video so you can see him moving.

Thank you in advance!

 

[metropolis93fan]

I was going somewhere with teh catappa leaves comment... Before he was wildly missing food, and was fairly lethargic. Now he's finding it a bit easier. He has sight in the right eye, but it seemed to have gotten much less from I guess it was 2 weeks ago yesterday to a week ago today. Since having the leaves the past couple of days, he's perkier, hungrier, and seems to see his food better. But I think it's lowering the pH too much.

 

[Rocky99839]

Ouch...
@Colin_T do you know what this could be?

I would keep doing daily water changes of over 50% to keep the water clean. It may help him heal up faster.

Also the PH fluctuating like that is very dangerous and can be lethal. What is your KH and GH?

 

[metropolis93fan]

Ouch...
@Colin_T do you know what this could be?

I would keep doing daily water changes of over 50% to keep the water clean. It may help him heal up faster.

Also the PH fluctuating like that is very dangerous and can be lethal. What is your KH and GH?

Sadly my GH and KH kit don't arrive until Saturday. I hate using tap water because the lime scale build up from it is AWFUL here! I've been using distilled with a Tetra additive... it added SOME minerals but no one had really ever heard of it before and suggested something better to add. I have that but like I said... my GH and KH kit don't get here until Saturday. Nowhere in my research had I ever heard of testing it! I probably did at the aquarium in FL but that was 2009-2010. My memory doesn't serve. And they were using hose water to rinse out bio balls and every filter piece so I don't trust their methods anyway.

 

[metropolis93fan]

Ouch...
@Colin_T do you know what this could be?

I would keep doing daily water changes of over 50% to keep the water clean. It may help him heal up faster.

Also the PH fluctuating like that is very dangerous and can be lethal. What is your KH and GH?

Should I use plain distilled? It's getting late but I guess I could do a quick change. I have the distilled here.. or I suppose I could use tap water. I have seachem prime to use.

 

[Rocky99839]

Should I use plain distilled? It's getting late but I guess I could do a quick change. I have the distilled here.. or I suppose I could use tap water. I have seachem prime to use.

No, distilled has no minerals at all which can be lethal.

Sadly my GH and KH kit don't arrive until Saturday. I hate using tap water because the lime scale build up from it is AWFUL here! I've been using distilled with a Tetra additive... it added SOME minerals but no one had really ever heard of it before and suggested something better to add. I have that but like I said... my GH and KH kit don't get here until Saturday. Nowhere in my research had I ever heard of testing it! I probably did at the aquarium in FL but that was 2009-2010. My memory doesn't serve. And they were using hose water to rinse out bio balls and every filter piece so I don't trust their methods anyway.

If your water is hard you should keep fish that like hard water. Hard water can be very deadly to soft water fish.
The more chemicals added to your water, the more chances that your fish may suffer.

 

[metropolis93fan]

No, distilled has no minerals at all which can be lethal.

If your water is hard you should keep fish that like hard water. Hard water can be very deadly to soft water fish.
The more chemicals added to your water, the more chances that your fish may suffer.

Well I have one and am cycling tank #2 thanks to my mother INSISTING on having one too but not accepting anything bigger than a 1.5. Finally has given up on keeping him (another betta, different kind) and as soon as this tank has cycled I'm getting him too. No plans of rehoming either fish at this point. So I'll use Prime and go ahead and put in tap water I guess for today and tomorrow. Beyond that... I'll have the test kit... will test the tap here (it's POSSIBLE my apartment water isn't as bad as the water at my parents' place...) and just... go from there.

 

[Rocky99839]

Well I have one and am cycling tank #2 thanks to my mother INSISTING on having one too but not accepting anything bigger than a 1.5. Finally has given up on keeping him (another betta, different kind) and as soon as this tank has cycled I'm getting him too. No plans of rehoming either fish at this point. So I'll use Prime and go ahead and put in tap water I guess for today and tomorrow. Beyond that... I'll have the test kit... will test the tap here (it's POSSIBLE my apartment water isn't as bad as the water at my parents' place...) and just... go from there.

1.5g is wayyyy to small for any fish. Show her pretty shrimp and snails that are small...
(Seriously don't put fish in the 1.5)

 

[metropolis93fan]

1.5g is wayyyy to small for any fish. Show her pretty shrimp and snails that are small...
(Seriously don't put fish in the 1.5)

I told her it was too small. I told her it wouldn't cycle. (She couldn't comprehend cycling). I wound up trying to save it. Finally she got tired of the fish being weak and eating less and less and said "you take it." I'm on disability and all I had was a tank but I went and used up almost all the credit I had left on Amazon to put together a nice 5 gallon for it. This is the account I use to get my OTC meds doctors instruct me to take. Please please please don't lecture me on the 1.5 gallon. I tried. But she had her mind set. And now as soon as I cycle this tank it's going to have a nice 5 gallon to live in. I used super strong BB at a high dose in hopes of a quicker cycle. I might even in-tank cycle him just to get him out of that awful tank. (the catappa leaves seem to have helped him. A little more vigor and hunger since I put two in his tank on Tuedsay, my mom said). I'm doing ALL I CAN DO for him. Right now I'm not able to do any more until after my surgery for him. I won't let him stay here for a week without food. He's too weak for that. Other than the eye, mine is healthy. He can handle it rarely. But he's the one needing help right now, not my mom's.

 

[Rocky99839]

I told her it was too small. I told her it wouldn't cycle. (She couldn't comprehend cycling). I wound up trying to save it. Finally she got tired of the fish being weak and eating less and less and said "you take it." I'm on disability and all I had was a tank but I went and used up almost all the credit I had left on Amazon to put together a nice 5 gallon for it. This is the account I use to get my OTC meds doctors instruct me to take. Please please please don't lecture me on the 1.5 gallon. I tried. But she had her mind set. And now as soon as I cycle this tank it's going to have a nice 5 gallon to live in. I used super strong BB at a high dose in hopes of a quicker cycle. I might even in-tank cycle him just to get him out of that awful tank. (the catappa leaves seem to have helped him. A little more vigor and hunger since I put two in his tank on Tuedsay, my mom said). I'm doing ALL I CAN DO for him. Right now I'm not able to do any more until after my surgery for him. I won't let him stay here for a week without food. He's too weak for that. Other than the eye, mine is healthy. He can handle it rarely. But he's the one needing help right now, not my mom's.

I wasn't going to go on about the 1.5 as long as I knew nothing was going into it. Sorry if you felt like I was lecturing you.

If it was me I would have refused to put something together I knew would be inhumane and fail... But maybe it was good you did that so she could see for herself (sadly at the fish's expense though).


What brand of BB are you using? There is one (technically two) brands that make the BB that actually is beneficial. That being Tetra and Dr.Tims. Which are the same, just Tetra bought the rights to it.

 

[Rocky99839]

Good on you for saving him! Can't wait for him to get into his new and improved home!

 

[metropolis93fan]

I wasn't going to go on about the 1.5 as long as I knew nothing was going into it. Sorry if you felt like I was lecturing you.

If it was me I would have refused to put something together I knew would be inhumane and fail... But maybe it was good you did that so she could see for herself (sadly at the fish's expense though).


What brand of BB are you using? There is one (technically two) brands that make the BB that actually is beneficial. That being Tetra and Dr.Tims. Which are the same, just Tetra bought the rights to it.

I had MULTIPLE people suggest this: Fritzyme turbo start 700. I even paid to have it come with freezer packs. The packs were no longer cold when it arrived but I am hopeful it kept the BB alive. Why are Tetra and Dr. Tims the only good one(s)?

 

[metropolis93fan]

Good on you for saving him! Can't wait for him to get into his new and improved home!

I... thank you. I could have refused, but because I did the set up, he got the best chance out there. She would have picked out cheap, poor food, wouldn't have known how to deal with the filter issues, how much substrate... and so just... done crap. At least I was there and helping. MAYBE if I'd refused to help she would have given up. But if she HADN'T given up... she would have gotten a tank that would leak and... *sighs*

 

[Colin_T]

Don't use Kanaplex, it's not a bacterial infection.

Don't add salt or leaves. Just leave it for a bit and monitor the eye.

I can't tell anything from the video or pictures. If you film things with a mobile phone, hold the phone horizontally (not vertically) so the footage fills the entire screen.

The photos are just hard to tell from the colour.

If it is pop eye disease, it's not bad. But it looks like it is sticking out a little bit more than it should be. However, it's too hard to tell from the images. It might be how that particular fish is going to look. This would probably be from the dragonscale genes and inbreeding. Nothing you can do about it.

If you have only had the fish for a short time, you could return it to the shop and get a replacement or refund. the shop might not do anything but they might. It would certainly be in their best interest to avoid getting Bettas with the dragonscale genes due to other customers having the same issues.

You might also want to write to the state and federal governments about this and ask them to ban fish with the dragonscale gene because the fish eventually go blind and suffer a slow death.

 

[Rocky99839]

I had MULTIPLE people suggest this: Fritzyme turbo start 700. I even paid to have it come with freezer packs. The packs were no longer cold when it arrived but I am hopeful it kept the BB alive. Why are Tetra and Dr. Tims the only good one(s)?

Well companies have their "special" ingredients that they patent and then no one can use the same exact stuff. Tetra (who bought the stuff from Dr.Tims) actually use the real BB that help. The other stuff WILL help but the stuff doesn't stay and won't do that well in an aquarium.

I... thank you. I could have refused, but because I did the set up, he got the best chance out there. She would have picked out cheap, poor food, wouldn't have known how to deal with the filter issues, how much substrate... and so just... done crap. At least I was there and helping. MAYBE if I'd refused to help she would have given up. But if she HADN'T given up... she would have gotten a tank that would leak and... *sighs*

Yah, I understand. You would not believe that I used to be like your mom... I had a 3.5g betta setup with a large snail... I didn't cycle the dang thing and I used real ugly decor ... But sadly the fish died in under a month... I did a lot of things wrong but it was a huge learning curve.
Maybe your mom learnt something from that experience