Missing an eye?

Question
One of my neon tetras that I bought a week or two ago is missing an eye. I never noticed it until now so it must have happened yesterday or today. My dad doesnt think he will last long but he is swimming well and he eats. I actually found it out when I was feeding them and he was right there. He doesnt have any other signs and the other fish dont seem to either. Is there anything to help him? Would salt be good? Does it hurt neons or ottos? I know its ok for my zebra danios but I havnt heard about ottos. Would anything else give him more of a chance or will he be ok on his own?

Answer
Hi Garrett,

While it's certainly possible that your neon hit his eye or developed popeye and the eye "popped out" it is equally possible that he was born without an eye. Out of my 21 cichlid fry, one was born without an eye. I keep him alone in a tank full of native pond plants that I cultivate. I feed him a few pellets every other day, since he nibbles on algae and roots all the time. Once in a while I drop in a piece of zucchini or cucumber and he will pick at that.

So as you can see, a one-eyed fish can live a normal life, although isolation is sometimes best since they will be the last one to eat. Try to offer foods it can graze on such as I do. These two types of veggies are relished by ottos.

Unless you are positively certain he had both eyes when you bought him (and therefore injury or infection is responsible for his condition) I would not add much salt, since ottos don't appreciate much of it. Maybe 1 teaspoon of aquarium or kosher salt, pre-dissolved in warm water. But that's all.

Keep the water very clean by changing it weekly, or more often, making sure to keep the filter and gravel free of detritus, and your neon should be fine. Just watch to make sure he does feed like the others. Fish with one eye have a way of facing themselves with their bad eye towards the inside, so it can be difficult to determine whether they have both eyes in the pet store. Especially if the neons were very small when you bought them, my guess is that this is a deformity from birth that you only now noticed. Fish like these are usually culled by the importer, but can be missed. Imagine just how small baby neon tetras are!

In conclusion - let me know ASAP if the other fish start exhibiting any signs of distress and we will take it from there, otherwise, I just wouldn't worry too much.

Take care, Garrett! Until next time.
Nicole