[clerbird321]

Hi again😅 My poor guy just keeps having issues!!🤦‍♀️😭

So I’ve kinda been watching this eye issue for a couple weeks now (his lump seems to be doing okay, it doesn’t seem to bug him and he’s still gaining weight and eating good btw, and his fins are growing back beautifully!!). It’s almost like his left eye is slowly getting covered up or closed by this white film or tissue. His other eye seems fine, but this one is turning into just a slit. Guess that makes sense as to why he has a hard time seeing his pellets. I’ll attach some pics. First 2 pictures are his good eye for reference. Any ideas?

 

[OxalisClover]

This little fish is such a survivor! I saw your other posts and you've both been trying so hard for him to get healthy. I hope everything keeps getting better for this him!

If the white on his eye is the same color as his scales, then it may be blindness that comes with age. Dragonscale bettas often get this because their genetics cause scales to grow over their eyes as they get older. My little white guy has it coming on, you can see it as the shine on the top of his eye.

Since your betta is recovering and growing his fins back, I wonder if this may be part of that extra healthy growth? Especially if this came on with feeding him better.

But, if it's cloudy/milky, or if his eye looks like it's bulging out, then it could be an injury and/or an infection. Kanaplex can help treat popeye. For what it's worth, I've used Kanaplex directly in my tank and it didn't crash my cycle. It can be kinda harsh on your fish, though, if he's already acting weak.

Also, I'm totally not a vet but I wonder if that weird bump on his back could have been part of his top fin that got bent/injured/bitten but then grew in wrong as it tried to heal.

 

[clerbird321]

@OxalisClover
Thank you for your reply!! Yes, he is such a fighter!! I love him so much so I’m doing my best🥰 Thank you☺ It does seem to be the same color as his scales, but looking back to when I first posted about this whole fiasco, I notice the eye issue there too, so I don’t think it’s the fin regrowth🤔 So it looks like the same color as his scales, I can’t really tell if it’s cloudy or milky, it mostly just looks like scales. It does kind of look like it’s popping out. It’s hard to tell honestly😅

That’s a good question on the lump on his fin! Maybe that’s it? I have just been keeping an eye on it. It doesn’t seem to bother him at all, and it kinda sloughs off some slightly transparent white tissue every once in a while. It almost looks like it’s spreading but at the same time looks better. Mr. Feesh is confusing me😂🤦‍♀️

If you use Kanaplex directly in the tank, do you just take out the filter cartridge and leave the filter running without it? I have Java Ferns and Anubias and Moss balls in there, so would that mess those up? I don’t know if I’ll treat him just yet. He’s acting happy and he’s eating and all of that. This is all so stressful😂😂

 

[OxalisClover]

If your little boy is happy, I would just let him be and keep healing. That means whatever you did seems to be working right now! And if the thing on his eye is just scales, there's nothing you can really do about it anyway. I'm rooting for this little guy!

I did a round of Kanaplex for one of my bettas a while back because he was abruptly acting really lethargic and both his eyes got a little swollen. It definitely seemed to help him. Because he was the only fish in the tank, I just medicated his tank directly instead of using a hospital tank. You have to take out any carbon you have in the filter, but you don't have to change anything else and you just add a dose every two days. I did a big water change at the very end and my cycle seemed fine, but my tank is pretty well planted so that might make a difference in how the meds affected it.