Betta went blind!

[upsideduck]

One of my fish just went blind. His set up in his tank with the plants, heater, everything is exactly the same as it always has been, but he recently needed a water change and I had run out of betta conditioner. I instead filled up some buckets with water and left it for a day and a night to de-chlorinate. The fish seemed fine, but I went out with a friend to see a movie and returned to find that he had gone blind. His eyes have gone from black to blue and he doesn't seem to see anymore. What do I do? Did the water change cause this? Please help!

[Aus]

It could be chloramine burns? Leaving water out a few days, especially with an airstone in, will evaporate chlorine, but chloramine (which is pretty common now in water supplies) sticks to the water molecules for up to 2 weeks.

Call your local council and ask them if you have that in the water - if so, that is likely to be the cause, imo.

I'm not sure if it'll heal, I have no experience with this. Grab some water conditioner asap, though..

Keep an eye on him, though, to rule out bacterial infection that can cause cloudy eye. If he gets white patches anywhere, or bloats, you could try an antibiotic.

In any case, very very clean water can only help him. Maybe add some IAL to help that healing along.

[Blue Fish]

I'm with Aus, it sounds like something to do with the ammonia levels. :( The IAL would help, and I'd think that some stress coat couldn't hurt either. And I second Aus on the conditioner too, put that in ASAP.

Poor little guy, I hope he's feeling better soon.