cloudy spot on one eye??

[masshiimarro]

sigh... just as i get over my mousey dramas, i get this with my fish.

so,... one of my bettas has been slightly off lately. just slightly. people that dont know him would think hes normal, but he hasnt been acting as active as before, and is it just me, or is it when hes resting he seems to clamp his fins a bit.. maybe im paranoid... 0_0 but now, theres a small little cloudy area on his eye. it looks like a small-scale cataract, the eyes arent bulged, and theres no raised surface or ring around the eye like popeye. i have a (crappy) pic of him, its the right eye, and no its not the reflection, that areas always there..

oh and also, hes been flaring a lot lately, so now hes got a gill cover that doesnt cover all the way. the insides arent inflamed or red, but its like maybe hes... overdone/worked it? his color hasnt faded or anything, and eats like a pig. tips or help appreciated! D:

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gal divided
What temperature is your tank? 80 F
Does your tank have a filter? yup
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? no, its already too hot.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? the other betta on the other side of the divider

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? pellets and frozen bloodworms
How often do you feed your betta fish? 2 times a day, 2-3 pellets each

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Prime water conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia: na
Nitrite: na
Nitrate: na
pH: na
Hardness: na
Alkalinity: na

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? one of his eyes has a tiny cloudy spot, no bulging or white ring around eyes though.. and one of his gill covers doesnt seem to cover all the way.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? still eats and active, but maybe not as active as before. fins not as open as before either sometimes.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? yesterday
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? theres been salt in the tank for about 1 1/2 weeks. dosage of 1 tsp per gal. since both were acting a bit lethargic a while ago. havent gotten rid of the salt yet.
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? 6-7 months?

[Sakura8]

It seems like he might have a bit of cloudy eye. Increase the water changes to one 25% and one 50% a week for a few weeks and see if the clean water helps any. If the tank isn't cycled, then you probably want to continue with the same water change routine until the tank cycles. Also, I've been told that aquarium salt treatments shouldn't go over 10 days. Something about it damaging the kidneys after that point.

If your little guy starts acting any stranger or gets any more symptoms, definitely post again. There may be some parasite problem going on.

[masshiimarro]

the tank is cycled. its been running for like a year now. should i quarantine? is it contagious?

[Sakura8]

No, it's not contagious. Cloudy eye, isn't anyway. What I don't get is cloudy eye usually happens because of poor water quality but yours is just fine. That's why I wonder if it might be an eye fluke or even a cataract - is your betta old? You don't have to quarantine unless you want to.

Since I'm not 100% sure what this might be, you might want to PM DarkMoon or Oldfishlady.

[masshiimarro]

no hes not old.. when i got him he was a dinky little thing.. and since then ive only had him for about 7 months? the betta on the other side is going great though.. so it might just be him.. but its wierd, since hes always seemed much more robust than his fellow tankmate on the other side.

[Sakura8]

Could he have rubbed his eye against something? Like maybe the divider trying to get to his tankmate? Maybe it's a scratch on the lens of the eye.

[masshiimarro]

ah... maybe. lol that could probably also explain his gill cover... he probably got too excited whilst flaring.. and pulled something, just like how people can pull a muscle, if that happens in fish. DX

[Sakura8]

Yeah, it could. He just got all worn out showing off to his tankmate. Let's hope that's all it is. If it doesn't seem to be spreading and he's not showing any other weird signs, I'd say to just watch him for a few days, maybe step up the water changes for a week until he's back to normal. If you're worried about him flaring some more, you can always remove him or his tankmate for a few days. Maybe something happened between the two that just set him off and made him flare like crazy. Who knows what goes through a betta's mind?

[masshiimarro]

lol seriously. theyr nuts with their quirkiness.
well ill be keeping watch on him. tomorrow is water change day so ill see if theres any change after that. thanks for responding! :)

[Sakura8]

Sure. I'm sorry I couldn't be of any more help. I hope he perks back up for you soon.