Blind betta

[Celarii]

Seen this boy for the past two weeks at my local petsmart. He seems to be completely blind in his left eye and he's very lethargic. Their water would have been changed only twice in that time so that might have been a problem. I'm worried about his fins and his right eye. Could he go blind in that one also? He was labeled as a half moon but I've only ever heard about dragon scale bettas having their scales grow over their eyes. I've temporarily got him in a 1 gallon bowl with a heater at 78. I'm hoping tomorrow morning he will be feeling a bit better. He's just floating a bit sideways right now and hardly moving. I'll try to feed him later on. I'll move him into a quiet place so he can chill. Is there anything I can do to help him out? Is he too far gone?

 

[libertybelle]

Hard to say but hopefully you didn’t put the cup water in the bowl? If so he’s still sitting in ammonia filled water and is unlikely to improve. Did you dose with prime or something to detoxify ammonia/nitrites?

I wouldn’t try to feed him. Clean water will help him way more than food right now.

Is it a preset heater? Going quickly from room temp to 78-80 might have stressed him out too.

 

[Celarii]

Hard to say but hopefully you didn’t put the cup water in the bowl? If so he’s still sitting in ammonia filled water and is unlikely to improve. Did you dose with prime or something to detoxify ammonia/nitrites?

I wouldn’t try to feed him. Clean water will help him way more than food right now.

Is it a preset heater? Going quickly from room temp to 78-80 might have stressed him out too.

I filled the bowl and turned on the heater and let it heat up with him in there in the cup so it wouldn't be too hard on him. I usually check the ammonia levels in those cups when I get a new betta and he had just had a water change so it was at 0. I did 3 drops of prime to make sure things were clear for him. I'll see how he is tomorrow morning and maybe try to see if he'll eat.

 

[libertybelle]

Good idea with the heater; that still may be a pretty rapid of a change and stressful but way better then plopping into much warmer water, of course. Sounds like a good plan. Often these bettas are overfeed at the store though so if he isn’t really going after the food don’t push it. A couple days fasting is no big deal for a betta and can be good for them if they’re a little constipated or something.

I’m sure you know this but in an unfiltered bowl you need to do water changes daily, ideally but no more infrequently than 48 hours. (That’s how long prime will detoxify ammonia). Also do you have anything to cover most of the top. You don’t want to seal it of course but bettas are known jumpers. Since this guy isn’t feeling his best I would imagine leaping for ‘freedom’ is unlikely but you never know within bettas

Do your best to give him the cleanest water you can to help him heal; they can recover from a lot given a chance!

 

[Celarii]

Good idea with the heater; that still may be a pretty rapid of a change and stressful but way better then plopping into much warmer water, of course. Sounds like a good plan. Often these bettas are overfeed at the store though so if he isn’t really going after the food don’t push it. A couple days fasting is no big deal for a betta and can be good for them if they’re a little constipated or something.

I’m sure you know this but in an unfiltered bowl you need to do water changes daily, ideally but no more infrequently than 48 hours. (That’s how long prime will detoxify ammonia). Also do you have anything to cover most of the top. You don’t want to seal it of course but bettas are known jumpers. Since this guy isn’t feeling his best I would imagine leaping for ‘freedom’ is unlikely but you never know within bettas

Do your best to give him the cleanest water you can to help him heal; they can recover from a lot given a chance!

He's still just floating at the surface sideways but I can see he's still breathing so I'm not going to bother him right now. I've moved him into a low shelf in my room where it's quiet and I've taped a piece of mesh over the bowl in case he suddenly starts feeling better and decides he wants to leave. I'll try to do water changes as carefully as I can and try to clean anything that falls to the bottom. I'm hoping he'll make it through the night. Thanks for helping me I need to stop trying to rescue bettas or else I'll have a whole house full!

 

[libertybelle]

I know the temptation!

Hope he makes it through too. It’s a better chance than he had in that cup, at least.