Betta cloudy eye

I have a male betta with 7 neon tetras in a 20 gallon heavily planted aquarium. Since last month, my betta has cloudy eye. I used Melafix and the cloudiness got removed in a day. But again within a few days the betta had cloudy eyes. This time I treated him with melafix for 7 days as instructed on the bottle. The cloudiness was again fixed within a day I started the treatment. Today, I saw that it again has cloudy eyes. Now I feel bad to treat him with medicines every few days and want to know what’s causing the cloudiness in his eyes. My water parameters are fine (ammonia, nitrite 0ppm and nitrate between 10-20ppm, ph is 6.8 but when I turn on the co2 it drops to around 6). The only probable cause I can see is the pH of the water. My betta eats normally and there is no change in his activity level. Can anyone tell me what could be the cause of cloudy eye.

 

This is just from my own experience with my girl who also had cloudy eyes, I'm not an expert fish keeper in the slightest. My pH was also 6.8 or so, and after research I found that low pH could cause eye cloudiness, and adding baking soda will raise the pH. After adding half a teaspoon predisolved in tank water, it brought the pH up and I added her back in. Her cloudy eyes have been clear since. Again, I'm not an expert, and to be honest, half a teaspoon was probably a bit too much, but its what worked for me.

 

This is just from my own experience with my girl who also had cloudy eyes, I'm not an expert fish keeper in the slightest. My pH was also 6.8 or so, and after research I found that low pH could cause eye cloudiness, and adding baking soda will raise the pH. After adding half a teaspoon predisolved in tank water, it brought the pH up and I added her back in. Her cloudy eyes have been clear since. Again, I'm not an expert, and to be honest, half a teaspoon was probably a bit too much, but its what worked for me.

Okay I can try doing that. I have two questions. Did you add baking soda to your planted tank and what is the size of your tank (to know how much baking soda I should add)?

 

Okay I can try doing that. I have two questions. Did you add baking soda to your planted tank and what is the size of your tank (to know how much baking soda I should add)?

I only have three mini moss balls in my 3 gallon, so I'm not sure that can qualify as a planted tank. I would try to remove the fish first to avoid shocking them too. All I did was add half a teaspoon to a little bowl of tank water to dissolve it first then poured it in. I would just do a little bit at a time and test it as you go and stop when you get to 7 or so. Since you have a larger tank than mine, you'll probably need to add more but starting small might be the wiser choice, and of course acclimate the fish to the new pH before adding them back in.

On a side note before you start, are the eyes protruding at all like popeye, or is it solely cloudiness?

 

No his eyes are not potruding. It's just cloudy eyes. I actually have to check whether baking soda will harm my plants. Also, the planted soil actually buffers the water to 6.5 ph so I don't know whether adding little bit of baking soda raise the pH.

 

No his eyes are not potruding. It's just cloudy eyes. I actually have to check whether baking soda will harm my plants. Also, the planted soil actually buffers the water to 6.5 ph so I don't know whether adding little bit of baking soda raise the pH.

That might be wise. Perhaps looking into pH buffers by api would be better and less harmful? Like I said before, I'm not an expert, this is just what has worked for me when I thought my girl was getting cataracts.

 

That might be wise. Perhaps looking into pH buffers by api would be better and less harmful? Like I said before, I'm not an expert, this is just what has worked for me when I thought my girl was getting cataracts.

Sure, I appreciate your way. The prime motive of this post was to know about the different opinions in this matter. Thanks.

 

Sure, I appreciate your way. The prime motive of this post was to know about the different opinions in this matter. Thanks.

Best of luck to you and your kiddos ❤