Blind Betta

Photos Incoming!
As you can see his eyes aren't fully clouded over, but I just tried to feed him and he cannot...for the love of fish...cannot find his food. :C Also it looks as though he might have something wrong/deformed about his caudal but I can't tell... e.e On the flip side, when he colors up, he's gonna have epic lips

In the death-cup:




In the hospital bowl (covered/heated/1gallon):



*this is a good example of his eyes... They're the same on both sides. v

I had a fish with similar eyes and I some times think my current betta may be near sighted. Or possibly just stupid. He never flares up and gets close to new things and just stares at them. My betta with the cloudy eyes never did get his eyes cleared up and honestly I was pretty young so not really sure how to treat it. You might want to try a little epsom salt to see if it is an infection. About two weeks of daily partial water changes with epsom salt seems to clear up most eye infections and it worked like a charm on my betta's popeye.

As for feeding, I feed in the same space every day. There are floating logs that have feeding holes in the top so food can't get away and I find those to be very helpful as the food can't 'escape'. I lightly tap the water and he comes to the sound and eats as I drop a couple pieces in. Getting into a habit with the fish of feeding it in the same place, even if you make a little ring trap for the pellets out of like a milk jug ring to keep it from moving away in a current should work. You'll just have to rely on sound and as mentioned before possibly 'smell' to help him find the food to eat.

Good luck with the little guy! Glad you saved him!

Learning Process Update:

He's worse in his right eye than in his left. His right eye yields no response to movement directly in front of it. His LEFT eye I think it can interpret light.... but thats about it. I had brought black phone up to the bowl to take a photo of him and cupped my hand to the glass to get rid of a glare. It spooked him! Which was weird because there was no noise/banging, so he must be able to see just barely out of that eye.

Still somewhat concerned that he isn't swimming or finding food. Will try the garlic oil trick when I get some and will invest in a feeding ring tomorrow...


QUESTION:
Do you think that a 3 gallon will be too much for him? He seems to struggle swimming around as is and I'm worried that more space will be just exhausting and disorienting for him... :C

ALSO I'm willing to release him to another member of the forum who is more versed with "special needs" betta fish if one comes along. I won't ship him so you'll have to come pick him up. I'm exactly half way between LA and SanDiego. Just message me if you are interested. If not I can hang on to him.

LadySoren said:

I can't believe they let his cup get so nasty. No wonder he's having issues.
I'm glad you saved him.

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The majority of what was in his cup was food that he couldn't find and wasn't eating. All those pellets on the bottom were not poop. They were food! I'm also pretty sure that the speckles in the water were body slime... hence the cloudy eyes.

Also, I found what I think is a sibling of his today at the same store, also with the same bodily conditions (no blindness though). I suggested they start treatment right away. (The Fish Department rep. is very familiar with me XD)

ZZD said:

x

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The 3 gallon is a bowl, so its the same distance around as it is to the surface (about 12 inches, maybe more...). I'm going to keep him in his hospital 1gallon until he proves that he can swim without constantly needing to rest on his plant at the surface. When I'm confident he can swim without issue I will consider upgrading him.

I'm guessing he has body slime (fungal). His fins have no apparent self-inflicted damage or rot. Just very clamped and frail. I would assume its from poor conditions and not eating in a very long time. I'm currently treating with daily 100% water changes, siphoning any uneaten food after each feeding, and treating with API Fungus Cure (1/10th ish of a packet per water change). Its kinda funny, it makes the water green but he seems to be responding to it well. I haven't seen him move as much until I put the treatment in.


SUCCESS though! Tonight I put some Hikari micro pellets like...RIGHT on top of his head and he went bonkers! :'D He ate as many as he could find before he got tired and rested (about 5 micro pellets). I'm so relieved. x u x I'll start feeding him on micro pellets from now on since he seems to like them more than the Omega One Betta Pellets.

Photo Update:
This is how he usually is, just floating at the top on a plant leaf... He did make a tiny little bubble nest around the thermometer though. ; u ;