Some of you may have read my slightly-obsessive threads regarding a blue acara, Plinko. A rundown of his problems -> had been in a tank with nitrates > 40ppm, began gasping, stopped swimming, and never ate so we moved him to my tank where the water parameters were much better; then he developed pop-eye, which I treated with Melafix and Pimafix (and have been since then, gradually lowering the doses this past week).
In general, he's gasping less, the popeye has subsided, no longer flaring out his gills when he does eat and swimming a little bit more. So, before I forget, thanks for the advice and tolerating my frustration (and failure to always be civil). However, I'm fairly certain that if he isn't blind, he'd definitely never be allowed to drive. I have been feeding him carnivore pellets and have gravel substrate and he seems to inhale more rocks than pellets. Watching him, it looks like he smells them and can usually get near them (try to drop them as close to him as possible but doesn't always work) but then it just seems to be luck if he finds one or two a day. He's also running into plants, the glass, and seemed to get trapped by a chunk of driftwood. Water parameters are good, 0 ammonia & nitrite, nitrate < 10, water temp around 78, pH around 7.2.
Is it likely that he's completely blind or is it possible to really tell? Also, can anybody recommend a food that might be more visible to him, or something I can do to the carnivore pellets to make them more obvious? I'd tried coating them a bit in garlic juice and didn't seem to make much difference
Thanks!
In general, he's gasping less, the popeye has subsided, no longer flaring out his gills when he does eat and swimming a little bit more. So, before I forget, thanks for the advice and tolerating my frustration (and failure to always be civil). However, I'm fairly certain that if he isn't blind, he'd definitely never be allowed to drive. I have been feeding him carnivore pellets and have gravel substrate and he seems to inhale more rocks than pellets. Watching him, it looks like he smells them and can usually get near them (try to drop them as close to him as possible but doesn't always work) but then it just seems to be luck if he finds one or two a day. He's also running into plants, the glass, and seemed to get trapped by a chunk of driftwood. Water parameters are good, 0 ammonia & nitrite, nitrate < 10, water temp around 78, pH around 7.2.
Is it likely that he's completely blind or is it possible to really tell? Also, can anybody recommend a food that might be more visible to him, or something I can do to the carnivore pellets to make them more obvious? I'd tried coating them a bit in garlic juice and didn't seem to make much difference
Thanks!
