4 angel fish loosing site?

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taichiman

Registered Member
Nov 14, 2013
2
0
0
My son has 4 angel fish that seem to have gone blind or maybe just have developed very poor site.
He bought them as juveniles where their body was about the size of a quarter, and all 4 are now about 4 inches in diameter.
Other than their newly developed site issue, they look healthy. Their eyes are clear with no shrinking of pupils or cloudy whiteness in them.
Before when my son just got near to feed them, they could obviously see him and would quickly congregate to the top.
Now, they don't see him, and do nothing. I told him to tap on the glass a few times before feeding and they are now trained to go to the top for feeding. Also before, they use to see their food and chase it. Now they just to to the top and start sucking until food happens to go in their mouths.
They seem to be eating well and like I said earlier they look quite healthy. They just have all gone blind or developed some kind of eye issue.
When I googled "angel fish going blind", there seems to be lots of this going on. It almost sounds like a genetic issue with modern angel fish.
Maybe too much inbreeding causing this odd vision problem when they reach a certain age? Just a hunch. Has anyone encountered this as well?

BTW, 3 of them are koi and one is a Philippine angel fish.
 

authmal

Pseudonovice
Aug 4, 2011
2,621
62
51
Phoenix, AZ
Personally, I doubt it's a vision issue. I have a koi angelfish, and he'll very occasionally chase food down (aside from when he was hunting RCS), but he usually goes to the top and hopes for food to hit his mouth, too. I know the eyesight is fine, because when our new babysitter walks by, he'll back up, and won't eat at all. And for all four to have the same genetic affliction seems highly unlikely.
 

FishFanMan

AC Members
Jun 13, 2013
691
0
16
Naperville, IL
Way, way back when I was a kid I had couple angel fish that lost their site and showed exactly what you described. I'm not at all saying what happened to my fish is the cause of your situation.
Back then I found the temp setting on the thermometer to be sensitive and one day I remember increasing it but didn't pay attention to the tank and days later some other fish were dead. I looked at the temp and I think it was over 90. That caused my angels to go blind. I felt terrible and never forgot that.
 

taichiman

Registered Member
Nov 14, 2013
2
0
0
I've checked the temperature and water parameters and all within specs. In fact, my son has a 2 horse face loaches, a mating pair of corydoras laying eggs all over the place, and 2 dwarf plecos one normal color and the other albino. All are doing fine. So I'm scratching my head wondering what the heck is going on. Hence the hunch of genetic defect with the angels. Like I said, all 4 use to see us and the food and they use to chase the food down greedily. Now they just bring out their white canes and start sluping blindly at the surface. And we tap the glass to let them know it's feeding time or they don't even know it's time to eat. So it's a total mystery to me and my son. I guess the good news is they are still healthy and eating.
 
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