Do my Temensis sound like they're blind?

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The True Guapote

The True Guapote

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 14, 2005
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Cincinnati, Ohio
Well I think I've narrowed down the problem with my pbass relates to toxic residue on the new canister filter I had put on their tank. I've since quarantined them and they've made an excellent recovery...But! I had 5 originally, one died 24 hours after introduction of the filter and the rest spent the next couple of days respirating hard. 2/4 are fine, they hang out together and eat with plenty of gusto! The other two just hang near the bottom of the tank, don't seem to swim around very much and don't attack food when I put it in. After I put enough in they will go around the bottom seemingly attacking anything they run across and trying to eat it. I observed this last night when there was a stray piece of gravel in there and one of my suspect pbass mouthed it and spit it out. I think the real test will be tonight, I'm going to buy some live ghost shrimp and see how they react to them...
 
Update: I think the two I suspected do have somekind of damaged vision, I can nearly pick them up without them knowing it and I've never had such an easy time catching a pbass with a net in my life. They seem to be getting food by scavenging off the bottom, I try to drop excess in there so some hits the bottom and they go around and get it... I don't know what their future will hold though as far as cannibalization is concerned :(
 
Get some live foods and report back to us with how the react to that...It should give you a good indication of what is going on.

Were their eyes damaged after you put the new canister in the tank? Did they eat normally before any of this happened?
 
They were all 5 normal pre-canister, post canister one died, two seem to have vision problems and the other two seem ok. I've put them all back in the 75g tank today with my 3 new temensis and I'm hoping they'll all start to school. Again I don't know about the two blind ones but at least the other 5 will hopefully school like I had before the canister filter.
 
Oh and I also tried live ghost shrimp which none seemed very interested in, although a couple were eaten. The "blind" ones didn't pay any attention nor did they go after them. I think I'll get some live guppies next and see what happens.
 
keep us updated.
IMO they are having vision problems and might not be able to keep up with the rest and eventually will be outgrown.
 
yeah, they are having vision problems, i see him running into things. I'm gonna keep on trying to get food to them but I think you're right, they will be outgrown.
 
They're not blind. Their vision is based on movement. DON'T MOVE. THEY CAN'T SEE YOU IF YOU DON'T MOVE! ;)

Actually, I think this is a semi-common problem with young Cichla. Perhaps their sensitivity to ammonia/nitrite spikes??
 
It's a possibility, I can't rule that out, although my water quality was fine that night, 0 ammo, 0 nitrite, less than 10ppm nitrate, ph was around 6.8-7. I don't know what it was, too many potential factors in a such a short time. All I can say now is everybody is stabilized, blind or not they are getting food, they just trawl around the bottom and try to eat anything they come across.
Now that I think about it, they may not be 100% blind, because every now and again they will react to some food floating near them, but they could be smelling it too. Either way, I'm gonna keep trying to feed them and hopefully they won't be preyed upon :(
 
theyre probably feeling the food moving by,not seeing it.
you should try slowly putting a piece of shrimp just next to their heads.
 
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