Blind Gold Severum

[princess]

My gold sev, Gavin is blind . Behind his eyes I can see a kind of mirror effect, his eyes move still but look "dead"

When feeding he hasn't got a clue where food is, he knows he's being fed by the sound of the lid and the smell but he goes for food at the top or bottom without a clue if there's anything there and usually gets a mouth full of sand.

He's in a 75G tank with only 2 silver dollars as tank mates so nobody to harm him.

Has anyone else got a disabled fish? how do they cope being blind?

He's 7 years old nearly 8

 

[ryansmith83]

All gold severums show the red reflective effect in their eyes if you look at them in the right light. They're like cats' eyes.

If he's seven I'd say he's coping with his disability pretty well. Could he ever see, or has he been this way since you got him? It's hard for blind fry to find food. You pretty much have to dump it right on top of them. Albino angelfish fry are notoriously difficult to raise because they are basically blind at first. If he's been that way since birth I'd say it's pretty miraculous that he made it past fry stage, let alone seven years.

 

[princess]

He's only just gone blind, in the last month i've noticed he doesn't respond to me walking to the tank and he doesn't follow my hand. I'd say in the last week his eye sight is now 0, he bumps into the glass.