Euthenasia or not? Help me decide

catfishtabbi

Well i've heard of angel fish going blind but i never thought it would happen in my tank. So i have an 8 month old orange and black Koi angel who seems to have gone blind she seems to smell food and move ever so slowly towards it only to miss it she can't even find frozen brine shrimp!and ends up trying to pick food up off of decor and plants, shes coming up empty belly ! Shes against a plant towards the lower third of the tank which is unlike her and she seems to stare aimlessly just like a blind person would. Having regained much losted vision myself, i find this an awkward spot to be in, any suggestions ?Anyone know the cause of this ?

My water param's are amm - 0 n'riti-0 n'rate-0 and ph 7.6 (up from normal of 6.8-7 )

dramaqueen

Could she eat it if you put it like right in front of her mouth or would she still miss it? Poor little thing! If you can figure out a way to get food in her, I wouldn't put her down.

Twistersmom

First off, I do not know much about angle fish or if blindness in angles is disease related.

I do know that blind fish can learn to live perfectly normal lives. I bought a Yoyo Loach without eyes a while back. Someone had brought it into the store to get rid of. It was a full grown yoyo and I had been looking for one of adult size to place with my other yoyos. The fish stayed on one side of the tank for a good month. Slowly it started venturing out. Now, it is one happy yoyo, makes full use of the 210 gal tank it is in, plays and act just like all the other yoyos. She is pretty fat, so for her finding food is not a problem.

You could try target feeding the angel through an eye dropper for a while.

catfishtabbi

I'll try cone feeding again, i'd stopped for a while because the gouramis got most of the food and then i would have to add a cube for the others. So here i go to try, get back in a bit.

catfishtabbi

The cone didn't help her and even when shrimp fell all around her she couldn't manage to get any. I'm positive she has gone blind, now what ?

Twistersmom

How long has the fish not been eating and in this condition?

catfishtabbi

Since thursday.

dramaqueen

Awww, poor thing!! I hope you can figure out something to help her.

Twistersmom

I am afraid I do not have any advice to offer.

If it is just blindness, the angel will learn to adjust. If it is not making an effort to eat, makes me wonder if there are other health issues going on.

I would not give up on it yet though. Keep us posted if you see any changes. Hope the angle will pull through.

artgalnj

I have a Koi with a very similar problem. I bought the fish a few weeks ago and she was becoming VERY thin. She was having a hard time eatting at the surface. I sometimes wonder if she has a problem with her vision too because sometimes all of the fish are on one side of the tank, and she's on the other. But she does swim over towards me so I have to assume she see's me or my shadow at the very least.

Anyway, I contacted the person that I bought the fish from and he said that often times because of interbreeding (Koi's in particular it seems) have strange issues with eatting and their mouths. I started feeding the Koi by hand so that I could get food into her. It started with her coming to the surface and I would practically put the flake into her mouth, I also tried micro pellets and she would gulp at them on the surface. the micro pellets floated longer and spread out better. Then I had a nitrite spike and I think it was from overfeeding (trying to get food into her). Now I find larger flakes and I hold them inbetween my fingers and she comes up and takes them from my hand. She's started putting weight back on, and looks great. But I can see I'm going to have to do this forever with her. I tell myself that she and I have "bonded".

I just wanted to let you know there is hope, don't give up on him/her just yet.