# Betta blindness?



## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Anyone know anything about betta blindness - as in a fish that was normal, in a cycled stable aquarium,(heavily planted), 0 ammonia . . no weird happenings lately and no signs of disease but seems not to be able to see his food right in front of his face? 

Alejandro is my favorite sweet betta and I think he went blind. I don't want to treat if there is no obvious reason. I don't know if there is anything I can do for him except patiently feed pellets right near his mouth until he gets some in.

(5.5 gallon cycled planted heated to 82 degrees, filtered obviously, lighted obviously, no tankmates, 0 ammonia, only driftwood and plants, rocks, some Amazonia soil) Tank has been cycled and stable for months. Has a little Indian Almond Leaf homemade "betta spa" on all my water that I add or change.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Bettas have a great sense of smell so he should be okay. I think Carter cannot smell.


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## callistra (Jun 29, 2010)

My betta acts blind if I try to feed him too early in the morning or too late at night. Also if there's not enough light in the room and sometimes he's paying such close attention to me and the tub of food he misses that I've put some in. If he's truely blind and it's not an infection (like pop eye or cloudy eye) then I don't think there's much you can do but be patient with him. NLS pellets have garlic and a strong smell that may be helpful for locating them.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter seems to need my help eating he also uses his eyes alot.


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## SuperNoob (Dec 7, 2012)

Cheese told me to always feed him in the same corner of the aquarium so he will learn where to go for food.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Soak the food in Garlic juice so he can find it.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Ok, thanks people. I will try the garlic suggestions. There is definitely no pop-eye or cloudy eye, his eyes still move but . .. . well it's hard to explain but if you saw it you'd think he's blind too. Doesn't swim around any more, stays in one spot all day staring at nothing, doesn't seem to know when I am at his tank and he used to be a VERY responsive, friendly betta. He still leaps for food but totally misses a very very high percentage of them so I have to dump extra pellets until he gets one. I think he just senses the splashes of the pellets.

Hopefully the garlic juice or if I find garlic flavored/scented food will help, thanks all.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Could be temp lethargy?


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

I read something that said people sometimes blind their bettas with too much light when they try to grow plants. Unfortunately, I think it could be my own fault I blinded my favorite little guy. I wish when people write about how you should up your lighting to grow plants faster they'd have mentioned this little down side.


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

*Totally depends on how you decorate your tank.*


This is why I always provide hiding areas for the fish. 

Dried hardwood leaves are the best because they block light, add tannins, & create microbes for them to snack on. 

If a fish gets annoyed with too much light, they have the option to use the leaves/caves as shelter. If your fish hides all the time, they have anxiety issues. 

When I dumped in a giant handful of clean well soaked leaves, the bettas would dive into the leaves & some of them take naps in there. 

Keep in mind, if your betta is blind, it may not be your fault. It could be a genetic defect from poor breeding.

Some of my halfmoons have coloring that's starting to coat their eyes, but that's totally genetic & nothing that I created.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Thanks, MSG. I feel terrible that it might be my fault and that it didn't occur to me that this could happen. Of course I don't know for sure.

Alejandro has some IAleaves, pvc tunnels, driftwood with java ferns, all sorts of things to hide under but I still wonder. (My fish have so much stuff to hide in that I often can't find them, ha ha.)


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Try Garlic and healthy feed like NLS wish your Betta the best.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

I know this thread is months old but I didn't want to start this whole story over.

So Alejandro is still blind. I keep googling "blind bettas", "why is my betta blind", "popeye vs cataracts" . .. etc etc. He definitely seems blind in BOTH eyes but the other day when I put some meds in his hospital tank his one eye turned grey. No change in behavior at all, just his eye turned grey. Maybe it was just the meds but I wonder if anyone out there has any expertise on this kind of thing.

I read that it could be caused by a fungus or bacteria or injury (but that seems likely for just one eye, not both) .. . old age. . .bright light .. etc. I am moving soon and my mom is willing to care for him since I didn't feel like I should re home a sick betta .. so I think I have until I move to figure out how or whether to treat him. My mom won't mess around with meds but she's willing to take care of him long term. (She has done that for over a month when I traveled).

Anyone out there an "expert" on fishy blindness?


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

This is the lamp I thought might have blinded him. He was in a heavily planted 5 gallon tank. 

http://www.target.com/p/threshold-a...217288&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=14217288

And these are photos of the tank a little before I added some more floating plants and that lamp. So it's just to give an idea of how much cover he did have .. but that light was still really bright I guess. So like these photos but with more plants and another "castle" thingy to hide in.


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Ok, I honestly think it might be genetics. I've seen lights more powerful then that in a tank similar to that and the fish were fine. It seems Alejandro was produced due to poor breeding.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Well that would make me feel a lot better! He was my favorite betta because of his sweet cute personality and now the poor guy just sits around and I think of the sad theme song from Les Mis when I see him, lol. 

Thanks for taking interest.


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Aww ... Les Mis is an excellent movie, by the way.

Still, your welcome! I'm willing to do whatever I can to help people and their bettas. At least he'll live out a full and happy life with you.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Well- with my mom, ha ha. I'm moving in 2 weeks by airplane so my mom, who loves animals, generously offered to take care of him for as long as he lives, since I didn't feel right trying to rehome him. I also didn't think it was a good idea to try to ship him and all my plants to NJ from AZ. 

I think she is bitten by the betta bug anyway. I went to a nice planted tank store the other day and she was drooling at these beautiful black bettas.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

There's no way the lights in my tank blinded my guy. No cloudiness... I think it was genetic. I was confused at first because I bought him not blind and he went blind after I had him a couple weeks. I am nearly 100% sure it was genetic because nothing else makes sense. So I guess they can be born with their sight and lose it as they get older...

The only other possible speculation I've heard was that high pH could possibly cause it, but there isn't really anything to support that, its just speculation. I don't think its anything you did. Unless the light was super bright and on for way too long and the tank was bare, I don't think it was a light problem.


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Hehe, that works! Black bettas are awesome! *has a black orchid*

I'm moving my 3 tanks from IN to FL in 7 months sooo ... Lets see how that does. Goldfish, bettas, tetras, livebearers ... yay! xD


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Oh, well you know what, there is SUPER high ph and hardness in the Tucson Arizona water. But if that's it, then I can't do much because I soak Indian Almond leaves in my water and let it sit before I add it, and I also use Fluval peat granules to soften it . .. I had mopani wood and lots of plants too, and Amazonia Aqua soil, cycled so the ammonia would not spike and hurt him.

The water is really bad here. I test it even after I add tea colored leaf water and it's still above 8, more like 8.4 It's horrible, I hope that the water in NJ is better in case I get a betta there.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Kiara1125 said:


> Hehe, that works! Black bettas are awesome! *has a black orchid*
> 
> I'm moving my 3 tanks from IN to FL in 7 months sooo ... Lets see how that does. Goldfish, bettas, tetras, livebearers ... yay! xD


I was going to move my tanks if I drove, but I am nit driving. Plus I am moving into a small bedroom in my sister's house. . going to school for 10 months. I can't fit all my tanks in 1 little room and it's not really my place to take up. 

But when I am done with school and get a small apartment .. watch out! I'm going to put little long aquariums with bettas and plants in every room. . bathroom, kitchen . . bedroom. .


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

I hope my fish do ok. They'll go from coldish weather to hot weather and from 7.4 pH to 8.6.


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

I was going to drive with battery air pumps, but me and my boyfriend concluded with shipping them one day. Hopefully they don't get banged up and stressed out ...


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

I would think they'd be ok. With me it's more that I'm living with a whole family, husband, wife (my sister) and 2 small children, 2 german shepherds, and there isn't much space anywhere for me to throw around a bunch of tanks. They already have one betta .. actually. If I am lucky they'll let me keep one tank but otherwise I will wait. 

When I rehomed my other bettas, I met people who have huge tanks. One guy had 2 or 3 saltwater tanks and 4 freshwater. He gave my bettas each a 10 gallon tank! Another girl had a heated 36 gallon tank and she was about to upgrade. The guy with all the tanks was moving so he could have more tanks!


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Lol wow! I would love to meet people like that. Only person is my boyfriend who had 33 tanks (most being betta tanks).he would rescue the worst looking bettas and get them back to normal and provide a good home for them. It's AMAZING how he can transform a fish.

Still, that's pretty crowded! Hopefully everything will work out for you!  I'm just concerned due to how postage workers tend to treat the packages by throwing them around. I'm going to be EXTREMELY upset if I have a whole bunch of DOAs ...


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

Not likely. Shipping bettas is generally very successful. You just have to know how to pack them. I have heard that statistically, shipping a fish is safer than driving in a big city. Even people who ship fish internationally have a very small percentage of DOAs... It's just important that you know how to pack them and handle them as you are unpacking them. Usually, even the snail mail priority shipping is almost as successful as overnight shipping..


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Thank you! I'll be sure to be careful.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Kiara1125 said:


> Lol wow! I would love to meet people like that. Only person is my boyfriend who had 33 tanks (most being betta tanks).he would rescue the worst looking bettas and get them back to normal and provide a good home for them. It's AMAZING how he can transform a fish.
> 
> Still, that's pretty crowded! Hopefully everything will work out for you!  I'm just concerned due to how postage workers tend to treat the packages by throwing them around. I'm going to be EXTREMELY upset if I have a whole bunch of DOAs ...



OK that part about rescuing bettas- now that is really what I would absolutely love to do also! I have a "rescue" instinct, I even thought next time maybe I put an ad on craigslist that if you are stuck with your kids' betta and you don't want it, give it to me. . etc. After I had to rehome my bettas I realized that nice people really will adopt free bettas from Craigslist, so I thought someday maybe I can do that.

I did get my betta Nimbus who had pretty bad swim bladder disorder, and after a while he really transformed. He used to need certain aquarium decor to hold him down and one day I realized he did not need anything of the sort and I could take all that crap out of his tank and give him a normal tank. Also, he really grew up in that time, look at him (I know, it's not all MY doing but still .. I would love to rescue bettas)


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## sunstar93 (Sep 6, 2012)

mursey said:


> The water is really bad here. I test it even after I add tea colored leaf water and it's still above 8, more like 8.4 It's horrible, I hope that the water in NJ is better in case I get a betta there.


The water where I live has a pH of 8.5 and the water coming from the tap already has an ammonia level of 0.5 ppm...terrible water. It's very alkaline and very soft..not exactly ideal. I get where you're coming from regarding the water!!

I also wish your little boy best of luck...but it sounds like he has a very loving momma in you and a great home to look forward to


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Very pretty! He deleted the old pics, but he got a betta that was still alive in a small cup with ORANGE water and rotting betta pellets. The ammonia was off the charts and yet, he still survived. He's still alive and we named him Radiation (get it? lol). He's a red marble CT and he's gorgeous. I'll have to get a pic of him sometime.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Thank you!

Yeah I guess we can't do much about the water in our areas! I mean, we do what we can.


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## sunstar93 (Sep 6, 2012)

Exactly! But I finally learned that if I do a double dose of Prime in my 10 gallon filter tank, and add 3 drops of Prime to my unfiltered ones (and then redose them after 48 hrs), it really does help the ammonia levels, which is really my greatest worry..I had actually rescued a little female back in November and the next day she had died and I'm 99% sure it was due to the ammonia.
But you're right...we do what we can!!


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

That reminds me of when there was a pipe break in the city. There was a book rule that I didn't hear about and I did a water change. It ONLY killed my two bettas and I was sooooo mad! I had a 4mo blue marble HM names Daemon. He was gorgeous and I literally cried when he died. He was my pride and joy with bettas and my most gorgeous marble ever (even to this day) and he died from water poisoning. Oh, was I mad. Dx


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Wow - I was just worried about my ph/hardness but I read that buying ph altering chemicals can be even more trouble .. so I just tried to add natural things. Still, it's annoying. I wonder how the fish in our area pet stores stay alive. I hadn't even thought of measuring the ammonia right from the tap, but I do use Prime like you, and usually a drop or two extra falls out of the bottle anyway when I use it. 

I never knew fish keeping was going to be such a chemistry lesson :/


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## sunstar93 (Sep 6, 2012)

Same here! And chemistry is not my strong point..
I had bought some of that tetra "easy balance" and it doesn't do anything...so I finally just said forget it. I remember measuring it out of the tap because one day I had measured it when Leo got sick (the first time) and it was really high (I had been away for the weekend and the shrimp in his tank with him all decided to die at once..) and I wanted to see how it compared to water straight from the tap..otherwise I wouldn't have thought of it!
@Kiara: that's awful! I would have cried too!


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Oh! That stinks! I'm so sorry. I felt that way when my fish Purplius died. Come to think of it both my bettas that died .. well they died very quickly within the same time frame, and I had no idea why. (Not in a divided tank or anything, totally different tanks) Maybe it was a water thing I didn't test for. I know about the "basic" things like temp, ammonia, acclimating, food, etc. 

My fish Purplius was the craziest betta I have ever seen not on Aquabid. He was a purple marble fancy crowntail, I mean true purple with fuschia and white. I deleted his photos because it's depressing  




Kiara1125 said:


> That reminds me of when there was a pipe break in the city. There was a book rule that I didn't hear about and I did a water change. It ONLY killed my two bettas and I was sooooo mad! I had a 4mo blue marble HM names Daemon. He was gorgeous and I literally cried when he died. He was my pride and joy with bettas and my most gorgeous marble ever (even to this day) and he died from water poisoning. Oh, was I mad. Dx


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Wait, what happens to the water during a city pipe break?


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

I use Prime. I love the stuff. Much better the AquaSafe and it's cheaper around here. I'm currently treating my injured bettas (got into a fight) with Prime and salt. The scale regrowth started within a day. I love it!


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

A sewage pipe broke and leaked into the water. Still, that's sad! I had a purple/yellow marble veiltail and I need to find my pics if him. He died on Christmas and I felt terrible. He was given to me by my boyfriend ( after he rescued him from Walmart and had him for two years). I had him for two years and he got dropsy ... Still, I wish I would've seen your betta. I miss my Lithium.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

I don't know about Prime except that on this website I read some threads where people said things like "I ONLY trust Seachem Prime" .. ha ha .. so I now use it, even though it smells like rotten cat pee 

I had to google forever before I found dosages for small tanks though. A lot of products don't take into account betta tanks or nano tanks .. or anything under 20 gallons.


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Yeah, I don't smell it. Well ... at least I haven't smelled it yet. I trekked 2 hours to and back from Walmart in a blizzard while I was sick (coughing up blood, not fun) JUST so I could get Prime and salt for my bettas to get better. If that's not devotion, then I don't know what is. People saying its "just a fish". Ugh! That was last a week ago (Monday), BTW. I'm still sick, but getting better. I got blisters all over my feet. lol but, anything for my bettas.


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

I use a medical syringe to dose prime... My mom is a nurse so she has easy access to them. It's like .1 ml per gallon.

Prime is good because it can neutralize ammonia for 24-48 hours. It's good for people with ammonia in their tap. Plus, its just a high quality conditioner. Even if it smells like sulfur..


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Kiara1125 said:


> A sewage pipe broke and leaked into the water. Still, that's sad! I had a purple/yellow marble veiltail and I need to find my pics if him. He died on Christmas and I felt terrible. He was given to me by my boyfriend ( after he rescued him from Walmart and had him for two years). I had him for two years and he got dropsy ... Still, I wish I would've seen your betta. I miss my Lithium.



Aw .. I will post a couple pics. I don't know why he got sick and it was really sad, my mom & I loved looking at him! But I have a thing where I don't like to look at photos of dead beloved pets, I always feel guilty & bummed. But it's kind of nice to see we all feel that way some times.








And then this is him more colored up the week that he died .. . he was lethargic and his gill was all messed up and he was breathing heavily. This is his hospital tank, I'll post his real tank too.


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## mursey (May 9, 2012)

Kiara1125 said:


> Yeah, I don't smell it. Well ... at least I haven't smelled it yet. I trekked 2 hours to and back from Walmart in a blizzard while I was sick (coughing up blood, not fun) JUST so I could get Prime and salt for my bettas to get better. If that's not devotion, then I don't know what is. People saying its "just a fish". Ugh! That was last a week ago (Monday), BTW. I'm still sick, but getting better. I got blisters all over my feet. lol but, anything for my bettas.



Well it's not just "just a fish" to all of us here on this website!


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## Kiara1125 (Feb 1, 2011)

Right?! 

Still, GORGEOUS betta and tank! I'm so sorry that he passed ... I'll try to find something of Lithium. The only thing is that he was sick at the time and it is all I can find ...


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