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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Blind comet fish, need advice
Hello. I am new fish keeper. I bought a yellow comet from the pet shop that turns out to be blind. Instead of 2 black pupils in the center of his eye - his eyes look more like bubbles which are hollow inside. His co-ordination is a bit wobbly, i assume its because he cant see and he mainly eats the food at the bottom of the tank.
So my questions is: Was he born like this or could he have a disease that could affect the other fish in the tank? And, what are the chances that he lives a long happy life? (he is rather small for an adult fish). Most of the time he sits at the bottom of the tank and is only active when eating.
Tank population: 3 balloon mollies, 3 bala sharks and 2 comets. The tank is around 75 gallons. | 
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| welcome to fishlore!!!
you could have the bubble eyed goldies? have you seen those before?
also, your comets or goldies are cold water fishies and the others like warmer temps....so you are going to have issues where one or the other wont care for something....
has the tank been cycled?
sorry for the questions but it helps us help you  | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Thank you for the welcome, this sight is very informative.
I've had the mollies and comets in the tank for 3 weeks now and they are very active? i only found out afterwards that they require different temperatures but they seems to live happily at 26 degrees celcius. (is that too hot for comets?) however after i put the 3 small bala sharks in the comets have become less dominant.
regarding the yellow comet - i know for sure he is not a bubble eye. he does not have bags UNDER his eyes. His eyes are literally little glass balls that bulge out of his eye socket. also he has a skew jaw. ROBOT FISH lol. he is slowly becoming more and more lethargic but still eats very well. he isn't a very confident fellow and even gets picked on my the tiny male molly. he always swims somewhere around the filter and i hardly see any kind of group interaction with him. | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Moderator
| I wonder if he's suffering from Pop Eye | 
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| I hope everything works out better!
but bala's get to be huge and will deffinately need another tank...they get over 12" but are great fish....they do grow slower after the first 5-6 months but they like longer tanks to swim back and fourth in .....
the warmer temps could be making him lethargic and any fish that isnt up to par , can and will get picked on and even eaten if not able to protect itself....
if you can, pick up an API liquid master test kit to get your tank readings as it could be ammonia as well.....
im sorry to say but the warmer temps can effect the life and thriving ability of the goldies and maybe they should go back or maybe you can get a tank for them? | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| thank you for suggesting it. saw some terrible photos but im afraid its not even that. his eyes dont pop out in a fleshy swollen way... its almost as if it has 2 glassy marbles for eyes and it is dark and hollow inside. He does not react when i put my hand in front of him. if this was a disease, dont you think it would have affected the other fish already since they've been living together for 3 weeks now. this is becoming very puzzling.
tried to take a photo of him but cant get a clear one. will keep on trying. | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Master
| could the other fish as bad as it sounds, be eating at him? | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawnie  I hope everything works out better!
but bala's get to be huge and will deffinately need another tank...they get over 12" but are great fish....they do grow slower after the first 5-6 months but they like longer tanks to swim back and fourth in .....
the warmer temps could be making him lethargic and any fish that isnt up to par , can and will get picked on and even eaten if not able to protect itself....
if you can, pick up an api liquid master test kit to get your tank readings as it could be ammonia as well.....
im sorry to say but the warmer temps can effect the life and thriving ability of the goldies and maybe they should go back or maybe you can get a tank for them? | Thanks for the advice. I will cycle my backup tank and put them in there for now. | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawnie could the other fish as bad as it sounds, be eating at him? | lol yes it sounds bad but no, i've watched them for a while. the worst that happens is that he gets poked when they're scrambling for food or when he is close to the pregnant molly. understandable.
this poor little comet is such a mysterious case | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Most likely it is damage from an injury or from a rapid water temp change (hot to cold or cold to hot) or he got sucked face first into either a gravel vac or a filter intake. I have seen this happen. Most of the time, the damage is either too severe for the fish to survive more than a couple of hours, or they starve to death because the cannot find enough food before their tank mates eat it all. Since he has survived this long, he may make it. I would be concerned with a secondary infection in the damaged eyes though. You may want to dose him (in a tank by himself) with a bit of melafix or other antibacterial treatment. Your goldies do need to be at a bit cooler temp. They can handle quite a range of temperature, but do best in cooler (not cold) temps. Probably around 16 - 24 degrees celcius (I think that's right - I'm used to farenheit - so about 60 to just over 70 degrees farenheit). I don't think he has a disease that would be catchy for your other fish, I would just be concerned that he may not be getting enough to eat. Since he is eating off the bottom, you may want to try putting an algae wafer or a bottom feeder tablet in his favorite area for him to eat. If you can get some moss to grow on a flat rock, that would be good since he would be able to "graze" off the rock even if the other fish aren't eating and the algae wouldn't cloud your tank the way extra food would. It may take him a while to learn where everything in the tank is, and with the other fish bumping into him, it may throw him off his mental map. He would almost do better either by himself or with fancy goldfish that cannot swim very fast. That way, he would be on a more equal footing than with his current tankmates who are all faster, more confident, swimmers.
I can sympathize with you on this a little. My pond is outside and we have a lot of stray/feral cats in our neighborhood. One of my goldies got injured by a cat trying to get a free meal (it got a free bath in the pond instead). The cat's claw apparently scratched right across her left eye. It went all whitish opaque for the longest time. I dosed with melafix and she was fine. She learned to see one eyed. She would swim with her head turned so it looked like she was swimming sideways. After about 2 years, (yes, I do mean years), it was almost as if the injured scales covering the eye shed off and her eye was clear again. I'm not sure how well she could see out of that eye, but she went back to swimming normally again. Anyway, there may be hope for your little guy also - at least I hope so. | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Quote:
Originally Posted by gremlin Most likely it is damage from an injury or from a rapid water temp change (hot to cold or cold to hot) or he got sucked face first into either a gravel vac or a filter intake. I have seen this happen. Most of the time, the damage is either too severe for the fish to survive more than a couple of hours, or they starve to death because the cannot find enough food before their tank mates eat it all. Since he has survived this long, he may make it. I would be concerned with a secondary infection in the damaged eyes though. You may want to dose him (in a tank by himself) with a bit of melafix or other antibacterial treatment. Your goldies do need to be at a bit cooler temp. They can handle quite a range of temperature, but do best in cooler (not cold) temps. Probably around 16 - 24 degrees celcius (I think that's right - I'm used to farenheit - so about 60 to just over 70 degrees farenheit). I don't think he has a disease that would be catchy for your other fish, I would just be concerned that he may not be getting enough to eat. Since he is eating off the bottom, you may want to try putting an algae wafer or a bottom feeder tablet in his favorite area for him to eat. If you can get some moss to grow on a flat rock, that would be good since he would be able to "graze" off the rock even if the other fish aren't eating and the algae wouldn't cloud your tank the way extra food would. It may take him a while to learn where everything in the tank is, and with the other fish bumping into him, it may throw him off his mental map. He would almost do better either by himself or with fancy goldfish that cannot swim very fast. That way, he would be on a more equal footing than with his current tankmates who are all faster, more confident, swimmers.
I can sympathize with you on this a little. My pond is outside and we have a lot of stray/feral cats in our neighborhood. One of my goldies got injured by a cat trying to get a free meal (it got a free bath in the pond instead). The cat's claw apparently scratched right across her left eye. It went all whitish opaque for the longest time. I dosed with melafix and she was fine. She learned to see one eyed. She would swim with her head turned so it looked like she was swimming sideways. After about 2 years, (yes, I do mean years), it was almost as if the injured scales covering the eye shed off and her eye was clear again. I'm not sure how well she could see out of that eye, but she went back to swimming normally again. Anyway, there may be hope for your little guy also - at least I hope so. | Thank for your reply. Since i got him, i saw him vaccum the bottom of the tank , so i knew that something was wrong with him so i made sure about his meal.
So Basically each feeding i look if he is getting is meal. So the technic is ,placing at the top usual first, and a bit at the bottom with my hand ( on his side ) (. So while all the fish are busy eating at the top he could eat his meal relax for a short moment.Sometimes i feeding in a bowl ( water from the aquarium and put him back ), when the others are really agitated.
Yes i think i going to separed them and will put them in a other tank this week end. I will try really to take a pic and post it ! | |
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December 20th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Sounds like you are doing a good job taking care of your little blind fishie. Any name for him? since he IS a special fish...  | |
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December 21st, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Quote:
Originally Posted by gremlin Sounds like you are doing a good job taking care of your little blind fishie. Any name for him? since he IS a special fish... | Yea he is a tough little guy! we call him I-Robot lol! Thanks a lot for your advice! | |
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December 21st, 2008
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Meet I-Robot - the yellow comet. These are the best pics i could take of him. Please let me know what you think. Thank you! | |
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December 22nd, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| Beautiful coloring! I think I-Robot might be a female. Can't tell for sure, but the first pic showing the tail makes me think female. The orange one in the pic with I-Robot is a male - notice the deeply forked longer tail fin. I would say that the blindness was either caused by an injury or bad breeding by the supplier. More likely an injury when she was being moved from one tank to another. She should do fine as long as she gets enough to eat. You can try splashing the water in one corner of the tank just as you drop food in. Maybe she'll learn to associate the splashing in the one corner with feeding time and then start heading that way for food. She's a beauty! | |
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December 22nd, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I think Gremlins advice about the splashing might just work. Goldfish are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. | |
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All things Goldfish. Also check out the Goldfish Profile for care information and the Goldfish for Beginners article.
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