arowana problems-help!!

[travelinman1969]

I moved over the weekend and my arowana has something on it I've never seen. He's 22 inches and was a real pain to catch. All my other fish are fine. It looks like clear scabs on his scales. He lost about 6 scales during the move. All in different spots so no visible damage to the skin that I can see. Anyone every seen this before? See the pic.

[travelinman1969]

Here is another pic.

[OrionGirl]

Looks like subcutaneous damage--ruptured blood vessels, bruising. I'd monitor to make sure it doesn't get worse, and make sure water quality stays good--ammonia/nitrite stress will reduce his ability to repair and recover.

[travelinman1969]

Think I should add anything to the water to help him?

[OrionGirl]

I wouldn't. A healthy fish can recover from most injuries without treatment, especially if they don't become infected. But then, I prefer not to medicate unless I can identify the ailment precisely--such as with parasites.

[dwf73]

Hey that is an interesting looking development- Has the fish been rubbing itself on the side of the tank at all, or any other noticable signs of an itch? There is white spot, which higher temps should cure, but this doesnt really look like that. I wouldnt yet rule out irritation from the move, but if it is possible i would move him to another tank by himself. A 1-3% salt addition would be good in that case, with a higher temp. I would treat it like a skin disease, not using any meds yet but watching the fishs behavior. I think isolation os important though- All the best, let us know what happens.

[dwf73]

Also- If you want to check for Mr. William Goh on the internet, he is from SP and is considered the authority on this type of stuff (arowana disease/cure). You may want to drop him an email with the pic.

[travelinman1969]

No rubbin just swimmin slow, like he got in a car wreck. I like Oriongirl's take on it. I think it is just irritation from the move. He jumped out of the net a couple of times and landed harder than I would have liked to have seen. :shake: That is one strong fish.

[fishdude]

ive heard that arowanas can jump 5 feet :eek:

hmm yea it might just be bruising

[travelinman1969]

I bet given the right conditions Grumpy could jump 3-4 feet. He is a tough SOB. Been at the old house for the past few hours. He looks hungry, gonna try some chicken strips. :D

[travelinman1969]

Nope won't eat. I see the blood vessles through the scales now, has to be what Oriongirl talked about. Looks like Tyson after Lewis got threw with him. He's gotta feel like he's been in a major car wreck. He looks like s**t. Hope I don't move again anytime soon. Next time I'm using a Muskie net. ;)

[dwf73]

If he is looking weak and not eating maybe you want to separate him from the oscar and other fish. Or get a divider?

[blitzen25bm]

mine jumped out a few times when i was moving him and had some bruising and it looks like he lost some of his slime coat too. hw should be fine though. ive only known one arowana that died and it was because the owner panicked and squeeze it too hard when it tried to get away from him, it had internal bleeding. watch him over the next few days and add some melafix. BTW what size tank did you get the fish into?

[travelinman1969]

I moved from one house to another, he went back in the 150. Putting him in another tank is not an option, don't have the money for another tank big enough for him. When he gets hungry he'll eat. The oscars run when he gets to eating. :D I've seen fish go as long as 2 weeks before eating after a move. At least my oscars and plecos got some chicken last night. The plecos very rarely eat chicken cause there never is any left. :p

[travelinman1969]

Well it seems to be getting worse and better at the same time. His antena do-hickies look like a cotton ball and the scab (as I like to put it) seem to be thickening, but they seem to be peeling off and it looks good in the areas where they fall off. Here is another pic of him now.

:shake:

[travelinman1969]

Here is the other pic of his mouth. :sad

[travelinman1969]

But everyone else is doin good. Just kickin it havin a good ol time. :D

For those that have seen my pics in the past, look how big my oscars have gotten. My big plecos have grown too. :D

[travelinman1969]

He's getting really aggitated by the oscars now. He hit em a few times, never seen him do that before. He just now starting doing it. :mad:

I couldn't help but add this pic, Mr. T chillin on top of the sword plant.

:cool:

[blitzen25bm]

did you add anything to the tank yet? hes going to need soemthing for his barbels, you wont want it to spread.

[Rhys]

Yes that is a good sign. When scales are damaged usually new ones grow pushing the old ones off.

[travelinman1969]

They aren't scales, it's like a whiteish clear slime. As it falls off the scales look pretty good. Not much change from last night though.

blitzen, I haven't added any meds because this doesn't appear to be a disease, just got beat up real bad. I did add a bit of salt.

[travelinman1969]

One of his antena barbs fell off. Looks like the other one will too. Will they grow back or should I be worried? :shake:

[dwf73]

The barbel problem is serious. So is the fighting with the oscars. You should post your pictures and an explanation at:

http://arowanaclub.com/forum/

under the "arowana problems" category-

You will encounter people who have dealt with the same issue, and they can probably give you sound advice. I have never had one lose an antenna, but the fighting and agression is usually due to territorial qualms (He might not enjoy sharing the 150g with two adult oscars). Anyway, I strongly suggest following that link, you will get some good help.

[travelinman1969]

Well it's been 3 hours and no response at that site. I like it much better here. Hope someone can tell me how serious this may be. The other antena hasn't fallen off yet, but looks like it will soon. He still hasn't eatin and the oscars are slowin down too. Water parameters are good, Best they've been in a long time. Think some goldfish may be in order. This way they eat when they want.

:confused:

[dwf73]

Hey I was looking online for you and found this, it is kind of similar to your situation:

QUESTION
"i have a silver arowana at home. just recently, i transfer it to a larger tank. during the process, it jump out of my hand and fall onto the floor. when i already transfer it to another tank, i discovered that one of its scales on its body had gone off. can it be regrowth by itself? or i have to do something about it? it now looks like a patch on its bofy without scales. thanks."

ANS
In a healthy aquarium, fishes have little difficulty in regrowing scales. Having said that, the tussle the arrowana went through may have done damage to the fish beyond the scale loss. Damage to any venerable areas, like the eyes and gills, could lead to more serious problems. The most we might do is a prophylactic treatment of antibiotics to reduce the chances of secondary infection.

-----------------------------------------
That was from aquariumpros. Maybe you should think about the prophylactic meds to stop the damage. I have never seen it before, I wish I could be of more help. Ill keep researching.

[travelinman1969]

Well, I just got handed a bit of bad news. I gotta go to Utah for a week tomorrow, so my girlfriend will have to be on top of everything. I'll still be able to watch the thread so no problem there. The cottenballs, as I like to call em, are on scales that are existing. He lost 6 scales through the ordeal and I see some red marks in those areas, but they seem to be the least of his issues. No cottonballs there. Again, as they fall off the scales look fine. Like he lost the mucas membrane around those areas and caused some sort of infection. I'm really starting to worry about this. I'm afraid he won't be here when I get back. :shake:

Thanks for your help dwf. Love the pic of the red. Bit**in!!!

[travelinman1969]

I just saw a thread on the arowana site that got me thinking. Kinda a crappy way to do it but, most arowanas do a bit of a dance when they get hungry. They kinda twist and act like the glass is crowding em. He hasn't done that since getting here. I think I'll have my girlfriend feed the oscars and when the arowana starts to dance then she can feed him his shrimp. Right now I wish he would eat, because I pump his shrimp and chicken with vitamins. He really needs it right now. If he doesn't do the dance then it may be all we can do to save him. I won't be here to try any meds and, nothing personal, but my girlfriend really doesn't understand how all the meds and bio stuff works. Just hope for the best, and hope that someone reads this and has seen something like this before.

I think the oscars are onto the fact that he's not healthy. Their lookin at him like they want a fight and he's running. This is new stuff, they've always gotten along. He's not sluggish anymore. He's movin around good. Very calculated and not running into things.

[blitzen25bm]

i always add melafix whenever things like that happens it seems to make everything heal a lot faster and it is kind of like an antibacterial so it would help with the fungus your fish has. the salt should also help, kep the temps high and make sure he gets food.

[travelinman1969]

Foods not an option right now but I think the melefix is. Gonna do it first thing in the morning. Gotta pull all the carbon and so on and so on. I hate medicating the tank. Real pain. Like changing a game plan in the 3rd quarter.

[ewok]

no guesses, sorry.

try here:

http://www.arofanatics.com/

[dwf73]

By the way, the antennae should grow back provided that they are not injured at the actual base of their growth.

[travelinman1969]

The other just fell off. The base seems okay. Leavin for Utah in a few hours, so it's up to my girlfriend. He's her favorite, so I'm sure she'll keep an eye on him.

[travelinman1969]

Bit of an update. Girlfriend says he's still not eating but the oscars are. :D She says he's still staying at the top so good news there. Most of the white mucas stuff has come off, but some of the scales look damaged. Guess we'll wait and see. I didn't have time to put any melafix in before I left. Water parameters are maintaining. I'm still worried he won't be there when I get home.
:(

[travelinman1969]

New update. He seems to be the same. Still swimmin okay, not lookin for food. The oscars are chowin. :D His scales look a bit ruffled but other than that, he seems to be okay. I figure he can go another 10-14 days without food before we have to worry. Water parameters are good, stabalized. Just hope for the best. Job ain't goin good, was supposed to be goin home friday but looks like the following week sometime. Killin me being out here and not there to tend to him. If it doesn't get any better by Tuesday, I'll have my girlfriend pull the carbon and add melafix.

[Kanstar]

add some of the water conditioner with aloe vera in it, my fish jump back to health with that stuff.

[fishdude]

its called stress coat

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

how is he?
if it get seriouse enough you might have to hand feed him which can be stressfull but gets the needed vitamins into them;)

[travelinman1969]

Great news!!!!!!! Grumpy at 2 shrimp about an hour ago. :dance She didn't pump any vitamins in but will try to tomorrow. Basically we pour some liquid vitamin on a plate and as the shrimp thaw, it sucks in the vitamins. She added some stress coat this morning. I don't think that caused him to eat but couldn't have hurt. I'm feelin a lot better now. I hate being away during a crisis like this. Thanks for all your help folks. :D

[Dragon_Lord_Tia]

thats nice good work

[Kanstar]

When it's healthy you'll have your self a nice seafood platter.

[travelinman1969]

Update. I'm still stuck in Provo, Utah. Was supposed to go home Friday. Looks like Thursday now. He's still eating, not like he was before the move but is eating. My girlfriend says the antanae appear to be growing back. :D Can't wait to get home and pet him. I miss him sooo much. Thanks to all those who helped. I'll update this thread when I get home.

[travelinman1969]

Well, I just left the house and was the TLC thing. He is still bruised up and some scales look damaged. All the cottony stuff is gone. He is still not eating as much as he was, but is eating enough to keep him healthy. Could this be due to his antenaes falling off and not sensing the food right? He doesn't dart after his food like he used to. I have to coax him into it.

Other than that, all's good. Nitrates were a bit high but a couple water changes fixed that.

[fishdude]

im glad your aro made it because that is a BEUTIFUL fish and it would be sad if it had died