# what do i do with a blind RBP?



## nismo driver

ok well his eyes arent gone, when i got him one was already damaged it looked like he had some kind of injury and it scared over but he still had one good eye and seemed to be doing pretty good.. but recently my nitrates got pretty high and two of my P's got a film over there eyes so i did a 50% water change and have been using Melafix to help treat it and it looks less milky, then it looked like he got bitten or something cause there was goo or eye ball coming out of the cloudy covering, now i think hes blind..

what would you guys do????


----------



## P-Power

fillet'o'fish!


----------



## ONEmike

one of mine are like that i just left it its been 3 weeks and slowly going away


----------



## grumble

If the eye is actually damaged then im pretty sure eventually it will die because it wont be able to feed. If it's actually the cloudy eye disease do some research and find out what medications work. There should be some forum topics aout this in the sick fish forum.


----------



## tecknik

I had the same thing happen to one of my old reds. I didnt want to leave him in the tank with the rest of my shoal to become dinner so I gave him away.


----------



## SERRAPYGO

What can you do? Nothing. Let him fend for himself. They're pretty adaptable.

*Moved to disease, parasite and injury*


----------



## Sarandinakiap

I really think you should take a nice fillet knife, slowly but carefully remove all entrails and throw them away. Next make s nice fish stick out of him. Fist egg, soak in some fine quality Pabst Blue Ribbon, flour it and fry.... some lemon would add a nice touch. Make a batch of fried tatters and enjoy Slightly battered battered Red Belly Fillet and chips with a nice cold can of Miller High Life!!!!


----------



## Sarandinakiap




----------



## cooldudectd

> really think you should take a nice fillet knife, slowly but carefully remove all entrails and throw them away. Next make s nice fish stick out of him. Fist egg, soak in some fine quality Pabst Blue Ribbon, flour it and fry.... some lemon would add a nice touch. Make a batch of fried tatters and enjoy Slightly battered battered Red Belly Fillet and chips with a nice cold can of Miller High Life!!!!


Are you serious? I was under the impression that this forum was for people who care about their fish. If there is any way for the P to stay alive (as some of the experts here have indicated) then why not try to keep him alive?

I don't find your comments humorous at all.


----------



## cooldudectd

Oh yea-

By the way, maybe you should concentrate more on spelling. It isn't "tatters" it's "taters".


----------



## nismo driver

yeah i wasnt really looking for cooking preperation suggestions, i was more interested in how to either care for the fish or if any one has had experiance with this type of situation and how they have delt with a blind fish or if i should put it on ice (i think this would be the most humane way to put it down).

oh and if it doesnt make it im want to try drying it, clear coat it and mount it, but only if it has no chance of survival..

i was trying to feed it yesterday dropping food right in front of it and i do think its blind, it could definately smell the food but it nudges the bottom all around before it finds the chunks of fish and it swims right into the side of the tank when it trys to move around,, i feel kind of bad for it but not much can be done..


----------



## illnino

hmmm, if you are sure he is going to die, something that might be a fun little experiment is when it gets warm enough, take him to a small man made pond and release him, lol.


----------



## Kolbenschlag

I had three one-eyed caribe in a tank and they had a fight and one lost his good eye in adition to his tail and a large chunk of his back. After seperating the fish I treated him with melafix and his wounds began to heal. However, I was still stuck with the whole feeding thing. A blind fish will never survive in a shaol, so forget about that. Youll be lucky if he survives on his own.

After trying several times, he still wouldnt eat when i fed him. I even tried to place a piece of shrimp in his mouth, but somehow he knew i was there and he got scared.

So what I did was this. I took a small bit of shrimp, tied it to the end of some fishing line and hung it into the tank about his mouth level, and left it there with the lights off.

When i came back, it was gone. I tried it again and he ate it right away.

Try something like this before you kill him. It is a lot to care for the fish, but I think it was a better alternative than killing him. If you cant get him to eat, freeze him rather than starving him.


----------



## Genin

piranhas prefer darker waters right? people tend to find that their piranhas are super active at night right? most killing of other Ps happen at night right? what do all of those have in common............ lack of vision (or at least clear vision).

piranhas thrive in the dark. he's blind, so what? he'll be fine. he still has his lateral line to help him sense water vibration and has his keen sense of smell to help him get to the food. let him be and don't listen to any jackass that says take him out and cook him.

Joe


----------



## fiveo93

illnino said:


> hmmm, if you are sure he is going to die, something that might be a fun little experiment is when it gets warm enough, take him to a small man made pond and release him, lol.


 its dumb sh*t like that, why we have red states


----------



## nismo driver

he seems to be doing alright, i havent seen him eat but i never saw him eat before his other eye got messed up.. i would put 12 small feeders and 4 large feeders in the tank about every 4 days and they wouldnt really eat them until i left the room then they would finish them in 3 hours or less


----------



## cooldudectd

So you think he's going to make it?


----------



## illnino

well that is good if he is eating for you, good luck keeping him.


----------



## nismo driver

cooldudectd said:


> So you think he's going to make it?


 well its been about two weeks, the cloudy ness is gone and his "good" eye looks more normal.. i do think he has permanant damage but hes doing pretty good, although he was darting across teh tank at full speed hitting the glass pretty hard, not sure if he was just bugging out from getting spooked or if he cant see where hes swimming...

i never see him eat but i think hes fine...


----------



## gabester100x

I understand that this post is from a long time ago, but for anyone searching, if the eyes are too damaged, or like one of my old red bellies, both of the eyes are completely gone, you have 3 main options. Care for it for the rest of its life, let it be eaten by other piranhas, or to put it down humanely. If you need to put it down as humane as possible, ide use clove oil, tank water, and a bubbler. Use about 7-10 drops per gallon. Turn on the airpump with an air stone and let the fish set in there for as long as you can. Just to be safe I did 15-30 minutes, but you can do it longer just to be safe.


----------

