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Has anyone else used a "Miracle Beam" in-tank laser decoration? My son wanted his new betta tank setup to be a Star Wars theme. Part of the theme was a "light-saber" look from the Miracle Beam kit with 2 red lasers amidst the black gravel and "ruins" decor.

The first thing "Obi-Wan" did in the tank was stare into the light. I switched it off and left it off after that for concern he could damage his eye. But within 24 hours, his eye was white a swelled... He's now a one-eyed betta :-(

Naturally the packaging for the light decoration says "beneficial" to fish for supposedly klling off bad bacteria. Yeah, right. But it's OUTA HERE! now for half blinding my son's fish! My son is rather distraught and couldn't undo the "light saber" portion of the theming fast enough.

At least the little guy is still alve. Obi-Wan is now Obi-One Eye...

Anyway, if you have not tried these lights and have been thinking about it, you know how I'd urge you to go.

Gary

I use these kits in my tanks, except i have the blue and green lights and have never had a problem with them and they are on every night for 6 hours. and have been using them for over a year now. maybe its just the color red that catches his eye

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Could be, thanks. He is a red betta, so he may have been checking it out as a competitor.

Gary

i dont personally use one of these...but, i do have a nitelite though its quite different product.....anyways, i dont see the point of killing bacteria, specially beneficial ones, in there...coz they r the one part-responsible for stabilising the parameters.

Last edited by tankie at 18-Nov-2005 09:59

a betta wouldent see a red beam as a competitor btw

white, cloudy, swollen eye... this actually sounds more like a case of cloudy-eye, than a light-saber wound.

what are you water parametres like (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph, temperature, etc...). cloudy-eye is often caused by bad water conditions.

did you cycle the tank?

check out these sites.

for fishless cycling
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/misc/fishlesscycling.html

for cloudy-eye
http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Cloudyeye

he could well have just grazed his eye on the decoration.

What sort of light is it? is it a red light in a plastic thing or is it an actual red beam like a laser pointer? either way, switching it of for now is a good move.

betta trainers/fighters can use laser pointers as a way of training the fish, so I suppose that this could generate the same sort of interest.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

betta trainers/fighters can use laser pointers as a way of training the fish, so I suppose that this could generate the same sort of interest.

realy? what do u mean exactly? i havent heard of that before, so im curious

Cycling was not an issue. Water is/was fine: pH 7.2, GH ~3deg, 20ppm Nitrate, no measurable nitrites.

This was no disease... the two events (staring at the laser; eye about 3x normal size and totally white, like burned flesh) were too close together. We're not talking a merely cloudy eye. The eye is totally gone now...

These decorations are LASERs, not LEDs or red light bulbs. Had it not been for my son's desire on theming, I would never go for a gadget like this in a tank (might be useful in home construction or something need a straight line). But I never imagined this.

Thanks,
Gary

i_spaz_out,

This reference (http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Cloudyeye)
was very useful, thanks. Obi-wan's eye was WAY beyond any of those pictures.

This page is a good reference to bookmark. It has lots of good examples of a variety of diseases...

Thanks again,
Gary

Sorry FH, i was not 100% awake when I wrote that. A bit unspecific.
I do not know how common it is with fighting training in the traditional sense (I'd think its pretty uncommon really), but I have read and have a few people I knew who use a laser pointer on the background of the tank as a form of excercise, to get the fish to follow the red dot in order to get them to flare and work on their attitude. Some will flare for it and go completely nuts (this fish seemed rather interested), others (like mine) couldn't give a hoot.
Its pretty useless in comparison to a mirror or stick IMO, but I've definately heard of it being used before.
People use laser pointers for kittens and stuff too, very odd when it specifically says not to point it at eyes, bouncy kittens and flippity fish are just asking for trouble.

What sort of company would sell a product with lasers in it for an animal enclosure? Thats just nuts, i mean really! I was going ok, maybe its LEDs or something, but actual lasers? and spinning it as a health benefit? I bet it does kill things in its path, but that path is pretty small. Bah. And bettas are way too curious for their own good ]

Thanks for the warning, and has your son's betta's eye healed over?

Tell him not to worry too much, I know of plenty one-eyed bettas that have lived long and healthy lives. I had one myself called Squash, and she was a wonderful little breeder for me.

Of course, having one eye may mean that Obi-wan now has to rely on the force a bit more

Last edited by Callatya at 19-Nov-2005 03:34

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Callatya

That's interesting further details on the fight training. I can believe it would work for some indivudual bettas...

Obi-Wan will forever be be Obi-One now. The eye is totally gone. He is starting to adjust behaviors for it, learning to perch on a rock at the back of the tank with his one eye looking twards the front of the tank. He is still getting used to tracking food pellets as they fall; he kind of loses track of them as they near the gravel. But he's more active now and definitely showing some real inelligence to figure out what has happened to him.

Thanks everyone for your support. I hope the truth about these lasers gets out!

Gary

Makes me wonder what my laser pointer has done to my fish . Fish are attracted to red light they seem to love to chase my laser pointer like food however I stoped doing it becuase my cats also like the laser pointer. (cat trying to get into fish tank)

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

bcwcat22

Maybe I should lock that thing up before one of my kids gets an idea!