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Fish go blind?


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Okay so during the last social at BRK I bought a purple tile fish. Got it home and quarantined for 2 weeks with prazi. Fish was eating all foods and was out active, so in the display it went. Within a couple of hours it was out and about with all the other fish. However for the past week or so it literally just hangs out on the bottom of the tank very lethargic and bumping into the rockwork and corals etc. It doesnt actively go for food anymore either. Is it possible that the fish went blind or something?

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It is probably not blind because even blind fish don't bump into things.  They use their lateral line more then their eyes to swim.  I think it has something else going on and I doubt Prazi would help.  I can't see it from here so I really can't say but it doesn't sound good

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Bumping into things is a sign of illness and a generally decrepit state.  It's more that the fish cannot control itself and is unaware of its surroundings rather than not being able to see.

 

On a side note, fish do go blind.  We used to remove cataracts from fish eyes due to either injury, age, or sometimes unknown environmental conditions.

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Prazi is only good for things like flukes. To really qt you need to use something like paraguard. I used a 21 day paraguard treatment as QT on my last fish that I purchased.

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Just remember a stressed fish will get more stressed in QT so it may not end well

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I had a blind Aussie tuskfish for months and he at times bumped into things. I'm pretty much 100% sure it was caused by ammonia build up in the shipping bag. It is still alive in another members tank after almost two years later. It has to be fed with a stick to put the food right in front of him.

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aaron, is the fish still alive? if so, what is the latest?

Fish is still alive and in main display. I redid the rock work and took out my two brittle stars since they were always under the rocks where the fish slept. The fish is a bit more active, but definitely not back out and about. Fish hunts for food when tank is fed, but still swims right by most of it. Working on trying to target feed him some LRS and meatier foods.

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still asymptomatic? how is the breathing rate as compared to when it was doing better and more active? did you treat with prazi prophylactically or because you noticed flukes, intestinal worms, etc? if so, did you do a FW dip prior to confirm there were no flukes present? how many rounds of prazi did you do? or were you treating food with prazi? how long was the fish held at the LFS and did they treat or quarantine it? you were on top of any possible ammonia or nitrite spikes during the two weeks you quarantined with your water changes and daily monitoring? pardon the slew of questions but really interested in figuring this out and hopefully seeing a fully recovered fish. thanks for entertaining my questions.

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still asymptomatic? how is the breathing rate as compared to when it was doing better and more active? did you treat with prazi prophylactically or because you noticed flukes, intestinal worms, etc? if so, did you do a FW dip prior to confirm there were no flukes present? how many rounds of prazi did you do? or were you treating food with prazi? how long was the fish held at the LFS and did they treat or quarantine it? you were on top of any possible ammonia or nitrite spikes during the two weeks you quarantined with your water changes and daily monitoring? pardon the slew of questions but really interested in figuring this out and hopefully seeing a fully recovered fish. thanks for entertaining my questions.

yes symptoms still exist. Breathing rate is not elevated when the fish is idle on the sand bed or swimming around. I treated with prazi because I had the QT setup already with fresh saltwater and it had prazi in it already. I didn't  do any FW dips though. Maybe I should have. Sadly I am unsure how long the LFS store had him. I am going to assume not to long though. I did a 10-15% water change every 4-5 days or so as 1 fish (plus small feedings 2-3 times a day) in a 40B didn't cause enough of an ammonia spike to warrant more.

I am starting to wonder if maybe I should beef up my sand bed on the side of the tank where he tends to sleep and hideout as I only have 2-4 inches throughout. I am also hoping since the starfish are gone and no longer blocking the the under rock cavern he likes to sleep in if that will help to. Trying to help alleviate any added stress possible.

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