My Old Beta

Question
Hi, I have a single beta that is about 3.5 years old. During the last year or so, he has been content with laying on the rocks at the bottom of his bowl (2 gallon), and only coming up to eat when hearing a gentle "clinck" calling from us. We took this as a sign of aging. During this time he also showed some type of scaling developing on one eye that I treated with more regular water changes, a bit of non-iodine salt at each change, and a week of green-antibiotic water. He always seemed to respond well, but it was obvious that he was loosing spark. Now for the 3 months he seldom comes to eat, just makes bubles and actually I have to change water more often as food is left uneaten. The last 6 weeks I stopped using pellets and resorted to grind one pellet at a time thinking that he could have an easier time finding food when coming up to the top (also allowing the food to remain longer at the top and not sink). Bottom line is he is not eating, looks weak and non-responsive. His eyes look dark-grey and not blue as before (maybe blindness?). I did not think he was going to last this long but feel bad that I'm not doing more for him. Can I do something else to help him, or is this just a matter of waiting for the inevitable?

Thank you.

Answer
Gil,

At 3.5 years old, this could just simply be a sign of old aging. It does sound like your fish is slowly loosing his sight when you describe his eyes. However, if he is still making bubbles for a bubble nest he is still quite content with his home and he feels comfortable in it. Continue to do what you are doing, as it seems like you treat your fish properly and you care. However, if the not eating thing gets any worse or doesn't seem to lean in a better direction, message me back and we'll figure something out.

-Bethany