My long finned tetra lost an eyeball. It was completely gone and i dont think it was from another fish. My tank is very clean and I've never had any problems with my fish. Anyone have any ideas?
2006-11-28 06:44:40 · 5 answers · asked by NICOLE S 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
sorry Ma'am it WAS another fish. Unless you can think of a reason a tetra would gouge its own eyeball out... this is one of the parts of the water world we fail to understand all too often.
Today a man put guppies in with a gourami inside a 5 gallon tank failing to understand why fish are dying in there... Its the same sad tune.
My first order would be to ask you what othe fish are housed with your tetra. To be perfectly frank, I've avoided tetras for several reasons. 1) I prefer territorial semi-agressive fish 2) I think they're boring dull and ugly 3) Not much meat on a tetra to use it as a feeder efficiently. But I do swear to you a tetra would last no longer than a mollie in my fishtank. If it got away just losing an eye... it would be a seasoned veteran in the tank.
One thing to understand is that tetras arent exactly carnivores so the idea of a tetra doing this to a tetra is just simply out the window.
Perhaps you have a cichlid that seemed cuter than it really is? This would be a kind of fish to steal eyeballs at night!
Maybe there's sharp edges inside your aquarium, your fish is experiencing ammonia exposure and is "scratching" off of ornaments in your fishtank? (this is the only non-violent scenario i can imagine). If this is the case, quickly! Change some water in there! Pick up a product called Cycle by... nutrifin? It promotes bennificial bacteria to grow in your tank, cutting down on this sort of behavior, reducing the amount of diseases in general your fish will get etc... Another product by the same company is called "Waste control" which will reduce an ammonia spike if there is ever the situation that it would be needed in.
If you dont have a water testing kit. Get one... Personally dip strips i think are inaccurate and wasteful, though you can get drip tests (dripping chemicals into 5ml of tank water in a vial) which are more accuarate, last for months and easy to use.
Even though your tank is "Clean" to the eye it doesnt mean that the biological filter is in place. Understanding your nitrogen cycle is a critical component to good fish keeping. You tell me it is clean, I will remind you of the term "nitrogen cycle" and leave it at that. (I hate having people give me this tip :( )
Another far fetched idea is that you house a plecostomus or synodontis catfish. I wouldnt really expect you would with tetras, but maybe you have them in a big tank with a spiffy bottom feeder.
Sometimes bottom feeders will devise themselves an affinity for FISH MUCOUS! Sound delicious doesnt it? The plecostomus's agree... They'll latch onto a fish and suck their "stress coat" a layer of protective enzymes off of your fish. This is a problem because 1) Your fish needs that "Stress coat" 2) your pleco has its own and 3) The pleco will actually kill the fish a lot of the times over its little snack. Although once i think of it a pleco doing this to a tetra is odd since plecos get to be nearly 2 feet and tetras are 1.5 inches.
So Ammonia might have done it from irritation
Or A fish stole it cause it was hungry, upset or cornered.... What do you have other than tetras?
Well... Here's my ideas, I hope you can put some use into them.. maybe let us in on some secrets of your tank.. how many fish, what kinds of fish, what size tank, etc... Dont hesitate to test the chemistry of your water just cause it "looks" clean.
2006-11-28 08:54:56 · answer #1 · answered by Accellerated Catalyst 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cr ap! That's something! Are there any ornamental pebbles or a sharp edge or a shell in there? It can't believe it would do something intentionally! Did anything sharp land in the tank? Do you have other pets that might have meddled? Poor thing...
2006-11-28 06:56:37 · answer #2 · answered by C h e e z C ஐ k e 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's happened to me. Except it was with my cardinal tetra. Usually what happens is other fish eat it. I had mine with platys (peaceful fish) and they wouldn't bother the fish at all, and then they just...i dunno.
So chances are, the other fish ate it, even the most peaceful ones can be evil.
2006-11-28 08:22:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
lost an eyeball? omg i have no idea! but I am sorry! that sucks!
2006-11-28 06:52:48 · answer #4 · answered by Melanie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
that rocks, a one-eyed tetra would be pretty cool to have.
2006-11-28 07:34:32 · answer #5 · answered by Rebecca O 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋