It’s not unusual for fish to lose their eyesight either through disease, an accident, or a fight with a tank mate. Some fish are even born blind because of a genetic quirk. However, a lack of sight doesn’t mean that your pet can’t enjoy an excellent quality of life.
Of course, providing any fish with the correct high-quality nutrition is essential for its health. But feeding a blind fish can be challenging, even for an experienced aquarist, especially in a community setup, where other fish will compete for the food available.
Fortunately, there are several highly effective methods of feeding a blind fish, including offering certain types of strong-smelling foods, using a feeding ring, hand-feeding your pet, and even using a turkey baster or plastic eyedropper.
Telling whether your fish is blind or has eye damage isn’t always straightforward since fish rely on many senses to find their way around their environment.
Use a Turkey Baster
If your blind fish is a fan of frozen foods like brine shrimp, blood worms, and the like, you can use an eyedropper or turkey baster to thaw part of the food in a small amount of tank water.
Make sure the food is dropped right in front of the blind fish so that its sense of smell can take care of the rest!
Bacterial Eye Infections and Diseases
Diseases and infections that cause blindness can attack fish. Frequent illnesses that frequently result in blindness include viral hemorrhagic septicemia, bacterial hemorrhagic septicemia, and fish tuberculosis.
Fish blindness can sometimes be brought on by the actions of certain fish parasites, such as flukes.
Fish can sustain eye injuries from fighting with other fish, running into sharp objects in their tank, or being attacked by predators. Such physical trauma can seriously harm the eyes, even resulting in blindness.
Stress from your aquarium’s poor water quality eventually damages your fish’s health, especially his eyes. Pollution exposure over time can result in inflammation of the eyes, cataracts, and other damage that can occasionally cause partial or total blindness.
Maintain an effective filter system and perform regular water changes to keep the water in your fish tank safe and healthy.
Fish undergo age-related physical degeneration, such as changes to their eyes and visual system, just like people do.
Therefore, as the fish ages, its eyes may become less effective, which could result in health issues like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, which could affect its vision.
We address some of the most frequently asked questions concerning feeding fish that have lost their vision in this section of our guide.
What Causes Blindness In Fish?
So, why might your fish go blind?
Certain fish have physical or genetic abnormalities from birth that can impair their vision and eventually result in blindness. There is no known treatment for these mutations, which typically affect specific areas of the fish brain involved in vision.
FAQ
What do blind fish eat?
Can blind goldfish find food?