Pet fish gets a fake eye after being ostracized by other fish

[From Facebook]

Julie Morgan’s pet fish Kiwi was having a hard time with his tank mates after developing a cataract in one of his eyes.

“[The other fish] figured out which eye was not working,” Morgan told Fox News. “They’d go up behind him, biting his tail. He had chunks of his tail taken out.”

Morgan separated the fish in to different tanks, but she wanted to do more for Kiwi. Though friends recommended putting him down, Morgan brought the brightly-coloured fish to Missouri’s Kersting Veterinary Hospital, where he underwent a unique kind of surgery.

Kiwi’s affected eye was removed, reported The Dodo, and the fish’s veterinarian Megan Baebler took the procedure a step further, to ensure the fish was not bullied any more.

[From Facebook]

Baebler created a 9 mm prosthetic eye out of acrylic, hand-painting it with nail polish and eye shadow to mimic the natural eye of a fish, she told Fox News.

Since the surgery, Kiwi has been happily swimming in his own tank, Morgan said, and has not yet been exposed to his fellow fish.

“It’s going to be the best chance for him to be able to lead a normal life,” Baeblar told Fox News.