how do you feed a blind fish?

[hbeth82]

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. For the most part, he seems to be better but he now seems to be blind. 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 gets trapped by driftwood. Water parameters are good, 0 ammonia & nitrite, nitrate < 5, water temp around 78, pH around 7.2.

Is it likely that he's completely blind or is it possible to really tell? His eyes aren't cloudy, if that makes a difference. 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!

 

[dkpate]

You can buy a dog/cat doser, that way you can stick the food right by their face. Can you try feeding him bloodworms or some other type of frozen food? That's what I did with Elvis when he was sick. Well, I still use it every day lol.

 

[mfdrookie516]

if it is indeed blind, it may take a while, but it should eventually start using its other senses more to find the food. just like when somebody goes blind after seeing for a long time, they eventually learn to do everything, it just takes some getting used to. for now, a turkey baster or something like that would be easy enough to throw some food right in its face

 

[meegosh]

You could maybe use some garlic to make the food smell more. He might be able to find it easier if it was soaked with garlic.

 

[Viper]

You could possibly try one of those feeders that suctions to the glass and holds the food in one place. That way your fish will know that the food is one place until he starts to develop his other senses as Rookie stated.

 

[hbeth82]

You can buy a dog/cat doser, that way you can stick the food right by their face. Can you try feeding him bloodworms or some other type of frozen food?

For the food dropper, the section of PVC works pretty well, but even when the carnivore pellets hit him on the lips, still doesn't seem to register with him that it's food for a few seconds, then he must hunt it down again. Forgot to mention the foods I'd been trying. In addition to the carnivore pellets, also been offering Omega sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp. Plinko seems to recognize all of them as food except the brine shrimp, but that maybe because he never got it before getting sick. The sinking pellets are just random luck if he happens to find one or two but since he's a fairly big fish, it's just a drop in the bucket. He is getting better with the bloodworms, on the rare times I can get the chunk to fall near him and he finds it, only a few little bits are getting flushed out via the gills.

if it is indeed blind, it may take a while, but it should eventually start using its other senses more to find the food.

That's what I'm hoping for but I guess I'm just feeling a bit impatient, and getting tired of trying to play that "hot or cold" game with him since he doesn't seem to be listening.

You could possibly try one of those feeders that suctions to the glass and holds the food in one place. That way your fish will know that the food is one place until he starts to develop his other senses as Rookie stated.

Cool idea, I have plenty of those clips for my turtle. I'd been trying to feed him in one small spot of the tank, hoping that it will make it easier for him to learn but hanging the food in one spot might be better, less digging and gravel-eating. But what fish food could I put in there?

 

[WhiteDevil]

Switch to frozen foods and feed him with a turkey baster, thaw the food in a cup of tank water and just basically baste right infront of him. Fish sight is great however their sense of smell is what really helps them see.

Garlic will intice him to eat yes but garlic is more of an appetite stimulant.

Try the thawed BW with a baster or medicine dropper(baster is longer and can hold all of the food and water mix, the less water the better cause the scent will be heavier in smaller bodies of water. I guarantee it that this will work, cause you don't have to "touch" the fish, just get his "sniffer" working and he will take it from there.


also, popeye isnt a disease its a symptom of a deeper internal issue.

 

[Viper]

But what fish food could I put in there?

Not sure, I'm not too familiar with Blue Acara's...Sorry!

 

[hbeth82]

Not sure, I'm not too familiar with Blue Acara's...Sorry!

The turtle gets romaine in her food clip, not sure what would work for fish. Have seen these used to hold little sheets of seaweed-type food but that was for SW fish. Can't imagine any self-respecting cichlid eating veggies! Is there any sheet-shaped food for FW fish?

 

[hbeth82]

Tried the thawed-bloodworms-in-turkey-baster tonight, seemed to scare him more than interest him, though I may have had it a bit too close to his face. He didn't catch anything from the first spray, then little bits after that but not enough to get interested. I'll try it again tomorrow, maybe only use a few drops of water. Any other thoughts or ideas?

 

[dkpate]

The meds doser is a little easier to control than a baster. The baster shoots water out, no matter how gentle you try to be LOL. The doser really does work the best IMO. You can pick one up for about $2. I would recommend the one that has the rubber on the end of the part you push, they last longer.

 

[hbeth82]

Well, the little medication / eye dropper thing helped a bit, though it still seems to scare him more than interest. At least he ate a bit more when I used it. How do you do it - hang it above them and spray down or directly in front of them & try to spray into the mouth?

 

[dkpate]

Both, and now Elvis comes right up and sucks it out of the doser, but that's how he eats too LOL.

 

[hbeth82]

Hopefully Plinko will learn with time. He kinda gets a few worms but those are just the ones that land in his mostly-open mouth, never seems to get excited and search out more though. Also had less luck lately in him finding the carnivore pellets. Hopefully he'll get better at using his other senses soon, as I hate seeing him unable to eat.

Any ideas on what FW fish food might be good to use in a food clip?

 

[7Enigma]

I would get a CLEAN small glass flat dish with a lip on it (like you would use for a tea cup to sit on) and drop the food onto that. The combination of a different tactile surface, plus the advantage of not getting gravel near the food should help to create a feeding spot. You can put a combination of food in the plate next to each other and hopefully Plinko will get nicely fed.

When treating after medication/disease it can take some time for the senses to come back (especially smell after the pungent Pimafix/Melafix is used). My gold barb that was in and out of hopital tanks due to tiger barb attacks was very difficult to feed due to the medication in the water and even after introduction back into the main tank took some time. Don't overdo the garlic if you plan on using it. I would stick with the sinking foods as is and see if the dish works.

HTH

 

[hbeth82]

While I was out of town, my boyfriend did come up with another way to feed him - wet the carnivore pellet, get it stuck on the end of the eye/medicine dropper, and put that in front of his face. He'll only eat a couple at a time but I'm happy to see him eat anything!

I would get a CLEAN small glass flat dish with a lip on it (like you would use for a tea cup to sit on) and drop the food onto that.

That's a cool idea, do you think the base for a small clay pot (little saucer, not the actual plant-holder) would also work? I've also tried dropping the food near him while he was in the sandbox (a glass pie-pan in one corner for the cory cats) and it was pretty much the same as dropping it on the gravel, except no gravel was inhaled. He was still able to tell that food was nearby but could never figure out where it was.

 

[dkpate]

SO glad to hear he's eating!!!

 

[7Enigma]

That's a cool idea, do you think the base for a small clay pot (little saucer, not the actual plant-holder) would also work?

Depends on what was in the pot before. I wouldn't use it if at any time you had used chemicals near it (say pesticides, grub killer, etc.). If not it's probably fine, but it might just be better not to take a chance and get a small glass dish.

 

[dkpate]

Which you can probably find at a dollar store.

 

[hbeth82]

It would be a new pot but I guess there's no telling what may have happened to it before it lands on the store shelf or what else it's been stored with. So happy to figure out a trick that worked (feeding the pellets via the eyedropper) that I don't want to switch to something else but if I ever need someone else to feed the fish, having them drop the food on a plate would be easier than directions on how to chase him down!

to dkpate - Just noticed your signature, what happened to Elvis, thought he'd recovered?