can bettas go blind?

[studioskim3]

I gave my betta to my parents, cuz I was traveling back and forth b/w my apt in college to our home (2 hr drive) and he was gettin stressed... recently he started to become "blind" where he can't see his food or misses it. is he gettin old? I had him for about four months, and I think he is over 2 years old when I bought him (i figure this b/c he doesn't blow bubbles/ bubble nest). He is in a 2 gallon tank, and we clean his tank w/ a 75% water change. He is very active and loves to see himself in the mirror, haha. he loves to eat (for a time my parents were feeding him 5 pellets plus some flakes a day) and then he started to grow big in the belly so we reduce his diet to 4 pellets a day and mayb some flakes. He even jumps for his food. I bought him a heater, but when I had it on, the tank would be heated up to 82-85 degrees b/c our home is normally 70-75 so we stopped using the heater altogether. whats going on? thanks!

[herefishy]

I once read where a group of aquatic veterenarians removed a cataract or some other macular deal from the eye of a prized fish at some large aquarium. It may have been the Shedd in Chicago. I would suppose it is possible. I've had one eyed fishes that I bought out of mercy, that live long lives in my tanks. But, you said that he loves to see himself in the mirror. Considering what you have written, I would say that he is probably playing with his food for entertainment. But, don't take my advice whole. There may, in fact, be something wrong.