Swordtail fish are beautiful freshwater fish that is a favorite among many aquarium fish keepers. Although the swordtails are very hardy and tolerant, various diseases ail them if they aren’t taken care of properly. We have heard a lot of worry from the owners about the fish going blind. So, today we will discuss if swordtail fish can go blind.
Can swordtails suffer from blindness? Yes. Your swordtail fish could go blind due to poor water conditions, injury in the front eye, or loss of eyesight due to old age.
The signs that your swordtails are blind are that they start swimming abnormally, bumping into other tank objects or the tank glass. Likewise, they confine themselves to the bottom or top of the tank. The fish will have trouble eating, swimming, and doing other daily works due to losing eyesight.
In this article, we will look at how Swordtail fish see and what causes loss of their eyesight, along with how we can prevent it. So, keep reading!
How Do Swordtail Fish Eyes Work?
A swordtail fish’s eye works the same as any terrestrial animal: the reflected rays enter the eye through the cornea, pass through the pupil into the retina, where cone cells or rod cells convert light into impulses carried by the optic nerve to the brain to produce an image.
But the development of the structure of the fish’s eye is different from those of other animals. Swordtail fish have eyes on top of their head, so they can also see what’s above them. However, they have no eyelids, so you wouldn’t know if they can or are sleeping.
The Swordtail’s eye also helps them see in the dark because of a reflective surface above their eyes. This allows them to see even when there is little light available.
Can Swordtail Fish Go Blind?
Blindness is a possibility for swordtail fish. These fish are susceptible to the salt content of their water, and if they don’t have enough fresh water in their tank, they will become blind.
They may also have weak vision due to old age or illnesses like Ich or other disorders.
Blindness in swordtail fish is only temporary if your swordtail tank’s water conditions aren’t right or if they have treatable diseases like Ich.
Otherwise, depending on their age and the severity of their condition, swordtail fish blindness may be permanent. So, yes, swordtails can go blind.
Is My Swordtail Fish Blind?
When fish start moving strangely or bumping in places, we might think that the fish is blind. However, swordtail fish can get a long row of general eye problems. Thus, you must be sure of the causes of temporary eye problems before concluding that your fish is blind.
Cloudy eyes are a common problem in swordtail fish. The cause of gray eyes is a fungus or a bacterial infection. Adding antibodies like chloromycetin to the water can fix the problem.
Similarly, if your fish appears blind without any trauma or infection, it might be the effect of poor nutrition or poor lighting. Make sure to dim your lights from time to time, or turn it off at night as swordtails do not need light at night.
If not, your swordtails might even have opaque eyes caused by nutrition deficiencies. Improving the diet and introducing vitamins can solve this issue.
The most common cause of fish not seeing is Ich that affects eyes and gills, and popeye disease. This affects the looks of swordtails leading to difficulty seeing.
The following problems can be easily confused with blindness. Therefore, it is crucial to check for these problems before you label your fish as blind.
It doesn’t mean that swordtails might not be blind. Blindness is also a possibility in swordtails. Lack of oxygen during birth or improper water conditions are the leading cause of death in swordtails.
Signs That Your Swordtail Fish Is Blind
Although the signs of common eye problems and blindness are somewhat similar, here are some indications:
Having a Hard Time Finding Their Way
The best swimmers are usually swordtail fish. Blind swordtail fish, on the other hand, will swim up to a tank wall and halt.
Your Swordtail may have stopped moving since they can’t see where they’re going. Swordtail fish have trouble seeing long distances, so if your Swordtail is swimming in circles or constantly banging into things or the wall, it could be because they can’t see where they’re going.
Bumping Into Objects in Aquariums
Swordtail fish rely on their vision to locate food and evade predators. As a result, swordtails without eyes will collide with objects in their tank more frequently than usual. If your Swordtail does this, it could be indicating that it is blind.
Swordtails need to know where they’re heading so they don’t collide with anything. If your Swordtail is blind, it will have a difficult time avoiding dangers.
Staying Near The Water’s Surface
Swordtails don’t usually spend much time on the surface of the water, but blind swordtails will begin to spend more time there. This is because swordtails must breathe oxygen from the air through their gills to survive. So if your Swordtail spends a lot of time near the surface of the water, it could be blind.
Stress
Swordtails that have lost their vision will feel more vulnerable than other fish, causing them to become agitated. Swordtail fish usually try to avoid danger to avoid being discovered by predators. However, if a swordtail is blind, it will not know when it is in danger, leading them to get stressed.
Because they believe there is a predator around, blind swordtails may swim frantically or attempt to jump out of the water.
Appetite Suppression
The best way to tell if your swordtail fish is blind is to observe whether it eats or not. Swordtail fish eat flake food, but they can’t see it because they’re blind. So if swordtail fish want to feed, they must navigate their tank.
Thus, if your Swordtail doesn’t notice that you’ve placed food in the tank, it could be due to blindness.
What Causes Blindness In Molly Fish?
Swordtail fish might be considered hardy, but they do not take drastic changes very well. They aren’t as developed as mammals, and the minimal things can cause stress and disease.
Blindness has similar reasons. If the water parameters in your swordtail tank aren’t up to par, it can introduce your fish to various parasites and infections. The parasites can even cause permanent blindness in swordtails.
Here are a few causes of blindness in swordtails:
Parasites
Parasites can infect swordtail fish for a variety of reasons, including polluted tank water. Swordtails are particularly susceptible to these pests since their water quality is generally poor. If the parasite is not treated and spreads to a big group of swordtails, it can cause a white film to form in their eyes, known as “Popeye.”
The clouding of the eyes can be remedied with medication and the addition of additional salt to the water. However, if you leave it untreated for too long, your Swordtail will go blind.
Injury
Swordtail fish can sometimes get hostile. They will fight for food, territory, and even when mating. Male swordtails will chase the females around and sometimes other males. This will end up in fin nipping and sometimes a fight.
Swordtails can injure each other in the eye while fighting and can sometimes be fatal, causing blindness.
Getting Older
Swordtails’ eyesight deteriorates as they mature, and they become increasingly blind. Freshwater fish go through a natural aging process.
If a swordtail is more than five years old and has gone blind due to aging, it will not see again without surgery. In addition, as they grow older, they may lose their vision. As a result, you must relocate them to a tank where they can live out the remainder of their lives in peace.
The water of Poor Quality
Poor water quality can cause blindness in some people. Depending on how serious the disease grows, it may appear gradually or suddenly. However, swordtail blindness is not a disease. It’s simply a matter of the surroundings. If you move your fish to a different environment with higher water quality, the blindness may be reversible.
If you move your swordtail fish to a tank with higher water quality, sufficient filtration, and regular water circulation, they will usually recover their eyesight.
Nutrition
When swordtail fish don’t obtain enough nutrients in their food, they can go blind. Fish that don’t consume enough or have inadequate nutrition live shorter lives.
Swordtail fish that do not get a balanced protein, vitamins, and fiber-rich diet can go blind permanently.
Genetic Disturbance
A hereditary condition affects swordtail fish that are blind from birth. This blindness can be inherited, and environmental factors such as parasites or poor water quality have no bearing on the situation. As a result, salt therapy is ineffective in the treatment of these types of blindness.
Because the cause of swordtail blindness is due to their DNA in this circumstance. As a result, swordtail fish with a genetic abnormality is blind from birth and do not respond to treatment.
Therefore, these are some of the causes of blindness in swordtail fish.
How To Treat Blindness In Swordtails?
Permanent blindness in swordtail fish is not treatable. If you identify your Swordtail as blind for life, all you can do is keep them in a separate tank and feed them with your hand.
However, you can treat blindness caused by parasites, injuries, or poor water conditions. Here are some ways in which you can treat blindness in swordtails:
Maintain Tank Conditions
To avoid problems with low water quality, test your water regularly. A pH of roughly neutral to slightly acidic and a temperature range of 72 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal water parameters for swordtail fish.
Similarly, use air pumps and filters to oxygenate your tank appropriately.
Keep your fish tank clean and free of any items that could cause them stress. Make sure your fish are in tanks that are the right size for their age and size and that they have plenty of areas to swim.
You can keep your swordtails from going blind this way.
Maintain Swordtail Fish Diet
Swordtail fish prefer soft food that they can consume in a matter of minutes. Molly fish that have gone blind should be fed live or frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms, or daphnia because these items are easy to eat.
Swordtail fish may be less likely to contract infections if they eat this type of food. Furthermore, abundant, nutritious food will lessen the constant struggle to find and feed themselves against the stream of the water.
Add Live Plants
Blind swordtail fish benefit significantly from live plants. The plants offer them a safe and secure environment. Swordtail fish will still orient themselves around plants even if they are blind.
Salt Treatment
Adding salt is another treatment for swordtail fish’s blindness. Salt can help flush out extra fluid from the eyes and make them more comfortable.
Salt also reduces stress. It is important for any sick or injured swordtail as they have a lower immune system.
Other Treatments
Another type of treatment for blindness in swordtail fish involves feeding them vitamin A supplements, garlic supplements, and vitamin B to improve Swordtail’s sight.
The treatment for swordtail fish’s blindness is a medication- eSHa 2000. You can also use Praziquantel. They are antiparasitic medications.
How To Prevent Blindness And Improve Eye-Sight In Swordtail Fish?
Your swordtail fish can go blind again even if you manage to treat it the first time. However, this only happens if you neglect the cause of the first sight loss.
The best way to prevent blindness in swordtail fish is to keep a healthy tank environment with appropriate water parameters and tank mates.
In the same way, you should also try to keep your eyesight strong, so your fish do not lose it even in old age. Some of the ways to improve vision in swordtails are:
- First, maintain a healthy environment for swordtail fish.
- Regularly clean the tank, but do not clean it with soap, bleach, or other chemicals.
- Change the water of your fish tank regularly.
- Feed swordtails with healthy and fresh food as much as possible. Remember that only protein (meat) supplements are not enough for your swordtails. So, provide swordtails a variety of green foods as well.
- Ensure there is good light in the swordtail fish tank for the excellent development of their eyesight.
- Keep your swordtails away from sharp objects in the tank and aggressive fish to prevent eye injuries.
- Would you please provide a good hiding place for swordtails to reduce stress levels so that they can have some time?
Therefore, these are some ways to improve eyesight and prevent sight loss in swordtail fish.
FAQs
Do Swordtail Fish Sleep?
Sleep is an essential requirement for all organisms, including fish. So yes, swordtail fish sleep, and they do need a good amount of sleep.
They, however, have a different pattern as they cannot close their eyelids to go to sleep as we do.
How Do You Know If Your Swordtail Fish Is Sleeping?
Swordtail fish will sleep when they feel like it’s dark outside. You can know that swordtails are asleep when they are less active, lying motionless, at the bottom of the tank, and has slow heart rates or slow breathing.
You should note that these are also the signs of sickness, so you should take a close look.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many veteran aquarists have mentioned that permanent blindness is rarely a problem in swordtail fish if you maintain good water conditions and take care of them with proper food supplements.
To prevent any temporary blindness in swordtails, you should give your swordtails a healthy and peaceful environment with no fights and no disease.
I hope I helped you understand a few things about blindness in swordtail fish. Happy Fishkeeping!