[Pamela001]

Update on my latest Betta male, Apollo. He's been in my 60 litre tank for just over a week, still not eating pellets or flake food, but eating live food. A little bit more active, but still rather shy compared to my old Betta Adonis (R.I.P)

I noticed when I first got him he had a blue coloration actually OVER his eyes, the pupil them-selves being fairly dark. I have come after home after a week (my mom has been looking after him, 25% water change once a week, tested the water and nothing alarming has come up) and I noticed his eyes are completely different. The blue over his eyes are gone, and instead the eyes look 'normal' -to me-i.e. light colour pupil around a black iris, no blue-ness at all...any idea what this ? or what caused it ? The eyes don't look enlarged or inflamed. is this normal ? ? ?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Wait, the blue in his eye is now gone or is still there?

It's scaling over his eyes, this is common in Dragon scales but I've never seen this happen in a non-Dragon, he looks like he may carry the geno for DS but he's not one himself. It can cause blindness in one eye or both if it covers both.

 

[Pamela001]

Wait, the blue in his eye is now gone or is still there?

It's scaling over his eyes, this is common in Dragon scales but I've never seen this happen in a non-Dragon, he looks like he may carry the geno for DS but he's not one himself. It can cause blindness in one eye or both if it covers both.

The blue, from what I can tell, has completely gone, his eyes are light now. They don't seem glazed, swollen etc. so I don't immediately think it is an infection. I did think he may have been blind, but he seems to be able to see and follow food. I read older posts here where someone had something similar with their betta, they had a 'black skin' over their eyes, which came and went, the betta eyes going from solid black to light, like my betta, but they didn't talk about it much in depth, and it was an old post.

I assume he is a young-ish betta, due to smallish size, and shy behaviour, but that just might be individual. I recalled reading a post that said like their colours, betta eyes change as they get older ? don't know if it's true or not

 

[lilnaugrim]

I'm sure they can change a bit but I've never actually seen it. Your picture up there is a fish with scaling over his eyes, that doesn't just change overnight....can you get a new picture of him to compare?

 

[Pamela001]

I'm sure they can change a bit but I've never actually seen it. Your picture up there is a fish with scaling over his eyes, that doesn't just change overnight....can you get a new picture of him to compare?

Oddly enough, his eyes have gone back to the way were in the picture.. I checked on him this morning, for feeding, and they're dark again, with the slight scaling. Do Betta eyes change at night ?

I noticed my other fish in the tank change colours at night, for example the neon tetra and rummy red noses go pale at night when I've turned the light off. Come morning, their colours are back again. I assume this is normal ? for my betta too ? ?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Are you sure you just didn't notice? Yes Bettas will pale when they sleep just like your other fish. Sometimes also they will have scaling over one side and not the other so that is also a possibility that you might not have noticed? But once they have the scaling like that, it may stop at that but it may also continue to fully cover his eye and render him blind in that eye.

 

[Pamela001]

Nope, he's got the scaling on both eyes. Tiny bit, not covering the whole eye. I have been away for a week, only got home last night. My mom has been turning the light on and off and feeding them, so I couldn't notice anything then, but last night, I turned the light on briefly to see how the tank looked and Apollo's eyes were lighter...If it has something to do with some DS gene then that might explain why he doesn't eat too well...if it is slightly blind, or hard of sight, would that make him more shy ? more timid etc ?

 

[lilnaugrim]

That and he could still be shy from being more new. It can usually take around 2 weeks for a betta to settle in and then sometimes even a month before they eat. So it could just be both of that, new to the tank and the scaling over his eyes making it harder for him to see the food.