blind cichla ?

snot

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 30, 2009
198
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colorado
i have a small rio meta about 3" and i bought four 2" ocellaris to put in with him. they are the only ones i can offord to buy around here my rio cost $50 and he was only
2". everything seemed ok at first. the rio chased the os a little but not really bad. they are all in a heavely planted 65 with a big piece of drift wood plenty of places to hide. anyway long story short we woke up the next day and 3 out of four os were dead.moved the remaining one into another tank threw some dithers in with him.the little o was beat up pretty bad but he ate and seemed to be recovering nicely chowing dowm bloodworms and even tiny pieces of tilapia.everything seemed ok
three days later the little o starts bumping into plants the heater and the sides of tank .when we feed him i noticed him dragging him mouth along the sand until he bumps into some food then he chows it right down. his eyes look normal they are clear. but im starting to think his is blind. so my question is has anyone managed to keep a blind cichla alive? or ever even had a blind one. any thoughts on how i can keep this little guy healthy, any idea if ill ever be able to put him in a tank with me other bass? should i just whack him? ive been trying to put food in the same place to help him find it i know he smells it and using his bottom jaw he seems at least decent about getting it. we"ve been making sure we put enough food in that he manages to get a full belly. i can tell hes stressed his normal colors are gone bars are faded out and is top half is black all the time lower half just greenish gray. i had three os in the past grew them to 18"-24" my ex girlfriend killed them while i was moving out.those three were realy aggressive with each other so im wondering what are his chances of ever being in a tank with other bass in the future?
ill post picture of him when my gf gets home i dont have any idea how to do it.
 

High City Rida

C.R.E.A.M.
MFK Member
Mar 5, 2008
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In the air and I ain't comin down!
I have a blind Orino as well and I know of a few other here on the site that have dealt with a blind Cichlids before. You should be good just keep an eye on him and see how is getting along. The only time you will have problems is when introducing a new cichlid or moving this perticular cichla to a future tank.
 

fish junkie

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 13, 2009
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northern utah
i have a kelberi i figured was blind he had the same symptoms you describe ive been using vitacem i read that most fish that have this issue suffer from one of two things bad water conditions and a vitamin deficiency mine seems to have regained sight since i started using vitachem wonder if its something in the drift wood that robs them of nutrients or something
 

snot

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 30, 2009
198
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colorado
So, I'm pretty sure the others died from getting beat up by the bigger bass, although he was only maybe an inch bigger, he beat the crap out of them. That's the reason why we had to move the little guy into another tank. The tank we moved him to was a new set up tank and we do religous water changes once a week about 30%. The piece of driftwood in the original tank is actually a plastic decoration that looks like driftwood but not actual, real wood, that houses the bigger bass currently and he seems fine along with a Pink-Tail and a Killifish(All the same size roughly). The little guy is also accompanied by two other oscellaris we just got a few weeks ago. They are all getting along at this time and the other two seem to be just fine. So, we're not sure if maybe something happened to the little guy from getting beat up from the bigger one or what. I can say, one of the three that died previously did have his eyes eaten out, so my thinking is, the bigger bass maybe was doing that to him and caused some type of damage to the nerves, rendering him blind....
I'm not opposed to the vitachem, I don't think that is it because the Killifish we've had for 3 years and the pink-tail and bigger bass since christmas without any issues.
And it is looking like the little guy is feeling safe and finally has his bars again...yay!
 

snot

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 30, 2009
198
0
0
colorado
I have a blind Orino as well and I know of a few other here on the site that have dealt with a blind Cichlids before. You should be good just keep an eye on him and see how is getting along. The only time you will have problems is when introducing a new cichlid or moving this perticular cichla to a future tank.
thanks for yuor reply
has your blind one addapted reasonably well? how long have you had it? any tips for thier care being sight challenged?
 

High City Rida

C.R.E.A.M.
MFK Member
Mar 5, 2008
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In the air and I ain't comin down!
I have changed his tank a few times since I have got him. He used to be a bully in the last tank. In the tank he is now he is sticking TO THE SIDE OF THE TANK that his blind eye is on. But surviving.
 
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