Goldfish almost blind

Question
QUESTION: Hi
I have had Magoo for three years and I am believing he is almost blind. I wrongly named him as he is morphing into his name.

I don't know how to feed him, as he is not able to see the food.  I try showering his head with food in the hope that he gets a piece before the other foodies get to it, but often he can feel me coming and runs away.

Do you have any suggestions.

Thank you so much
Kind regards
Mattie

ANSWER: Hi Mattie,
Wow! Interesting -- But poor Magoo!

He does still eat on occasion right? He's not having trouble swallowing food?

I think you are doing all you can right now in making sure he gets enough to eat and there's only so much you can do when you have fish that become fearful. When fish are frightened, they usually will not eat.

You could always try distracting the other fish with some food on one of the tank and then feed Magoo on the other side if possible. Perhaps try an unused eyedropper or turkey baster to deposit food in front of his mouth. This would be more subtle than your hands and may not scare him as bad.

The next option is to either divide the tank into a section for Magoo to eat in peace. Or give Magoo his own aquarium where he also wouldn't have to compete for food.

I do hope this helps and best of luck!
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Karen
Thanks so much for your prompt and helpful reply. He has no trouble eating if the food happens to be right in front of his mouth.

Magoo used to be the most energetic in the tank and I have noticed he has slowed down in recent weeks and thats when I observed that he wasn't eating and didn't seem to see the food.  Also his bulging eyes are not looking as clear as they used to.

He no longer eats of the bottom so is totally reliant on food wafting past his mouth.  If he ate off the bottom that would be wonderful.

I have tried distracting the other fish but its not working.  I will buy a turkey baster and try that solution.

I have a 100gal tank so am not sure how to divide that.  Do you have any suggestions.

Unfortunately I sold my smaller aquarium last week thinking I don't need it.

For info I have 8 goldfish in total, four of which are huge - 20cm+ long, so you can see that poor medium size Magoo has major competition for food.

Thanks again for your help

Kind regards
Mattie

ANSWER: Hi Mattie,
I see, so his eyes are getting cloudy? You should read about cloudy eye in goldfish here. This condition can be reversed.

http://thegab.org/Articles/DiagnosisChart.html#CloudyEyes


The most common causes are injuries or pollution in the water. And extra water changes and a healthy diet with perhaps even a fish vitamin supplement usually will help the fish heal. Unless of course something has just gone wrong and its in his genetics to eventually develop cloudy eyes and such. I don't think old age would be the problem. Since he is only three years old he is very young for a goldfish since their typical lifespan is up to 10 years. Possibly longer.

Dividing a 100 gallon tank definitely won't be easy and you would probably have to make your own dividers. I haven't too much experience with making homemade dividers but there are plenty of articles you can find where other people have done it by doing a simple search.

I have a feeling this cloudy eye problem can be fixed and eventually he could be a normal fish again.

I hope all goes well!
Karen~


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Karen

Thanks again for your prompt reply.  I checked the water and only the nitrite was a fraction high so did a little water change. Thanks also for the link - very useful page, which I have bookmarked.

When I look closely at Magoo's eyes, I don't they are cloudy as described on the page.  I froze some cos lettuce and dangled it in front of him, which he loved.

But I have remembered something.  About two months ago three of my fish, including Magoo developed haemorragic septicemia which I treated with antiobitics and was happy when they bounced back to good health.  My life has been so busy so maybe I didn't notice, but maybe Magoo slowed down since this infection.  He looks fine on the outside, no symptoms of anything as far as I can tell except for some markings in his eye and although not noticeably cloudy, they are not bright like his housemates.

Your fish vitamin supplement is a good suggestion,so will buy these.

Thanks again for your advice which is invaluable
Kind regards
Mattie

Answer
Hi Mattie,
Haemorragic Septicemia is a very common problem with goldfish. I wonder if the antibiotic you used in the past caused the loss of some of the beneficial bacteria and therefore could have caused ammonia to fluctuate and water quality to become unstable which would obviously stress fish and cause health problems. You mentioned nitrites were a bit high? or do you mean nitrates? Sometimes these two get mixed up. ;-)

I think just keeping a careful watchful eye on the water quality, plenty of water changes, and a vitamin supplement and quality fish food should help him recover. Perhaps he does have 'leftovers' from the previous Septicemia issue.

Sometimes fish vitamins are difficult to find in fishstores. But you can find them online in most cases. ;-)

I do hope all goes well and let me know if anything else comes up in a 'followup'.

Best of luck with Magoo!
Karen~