Your arowana not well? It's probably the water…
Hi all,
I have received many emails from readers about their arowanas not eating, looking very lethargic, not moving much, etc.. More often than not, you need to start with the water! This should be the starting point for your investigations.
Ask yourself these questions : (not exhaustive ofcourse)
* Does the water look clear? Muddled?
* Does it smell like ammonia?
* Do you see any attachments on your arowana? fish lice, etc..
* Does your filter setup (cannisters, etc) stink? Too much uneaten food, etc..
etc..
A change of water will usually help! I also add a little salt with each change. Again REMEMBER, DO NOT CHANGE TOO MUCH AT ANY ONE TIME. My advise is only about 1/4 tank at any time.
PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT POINT :-
Now if you come across lice, worms attached to your arowana, you need to ALWAYS ALWAYS change your water. What you do in this case is, you medicate your arowana first … make sure these lice/worms are killed. You cannot be sure that they are 100% wiped out which is why water change is important after that. I would change at least 2-3 times in a week following the medication. This is also to get rid of the medication in the water.. Good water should always be free from all these 'drugs'
Cheers!
Filed under Arowana Care Tips by on Mar 12th, 2007. Comment. 
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Comments on Your arowana not well? It's probably the water…
dear steven thanks for sending me this very impormative article about arowana.this will help me a lot in rearing this wonderfull fish.thanks again and more power to you and your arowana.
من علاقه زيادي به اروانا دارم فقط درمورداروانا سياه اطلاعات مي خواهم. متشكرم
Ilve arowana blak is katalog and aks notarowana blak is iran thankyou
Farborz,
Sorry but I do not understand your question.. Can you rephrase that.
Steven
HI STEVE i have a silver arowana who lost it tail to fin rot.It has slowley started growing back,he is 490 MM LONG housed in a 10ft tank,his tail was complety gone ,i do water changes offten .how do i prevent this from happening ; what happend was i put in new gravel i washed it till th e dust from the stones were gone i then put back half of my water and filled up my tank with fresh water \ please send me info about water changes and how to take care of my arowana.my tank consists of red tail cat fish ,clarius cat fish ,red devil,giant gurami,hi-fin-shark ,green severum. they are all large in size and only fight when fed .how do i prevent this from happening again .
Marc,
Did you use any medicine when it first had finrot? You must always try and catch the problem before it becomes too severe. When you have problems like that, you must change the water more often than usual to get rid of any remnants of the bacteria causing this condition.
I would encourage you to get a copy of my arowana care book at http://www.arowana-care.com/arocare which goes into details on what to do when you hit issues like this.
Steven
Hi steven,
I have a silver arowana and it has got a white snow like growth on its eye. We had a tank change recently and he was kept it in the old tank for 2 days. Will the fungi stop medicine work for it or should i change my tank water again to get rid of it.
Jiji,
If you think it is fungi attack, then you should change the water more often to try and get rid of any remnants.. So all in all, medicate your arowana with the fungi medicine.. After a few days of medication, (pls read the label of the medicine on how much and how long to use this medicine) you should for the following week change the water every other day..
Steven
helo…i hav an 11 inch arowana and i hav jus move it to a bigger tank. now it refuse 2 eat,can u tell me wat i should do??i hav check the pH level n its ok..i can't figure out the problem..the bulb colour is BLUE so do u think that bulb colour is da problem??
Dear sir Steven,
I have a silver arowana. Its aquarium is located outside our house. Now, algae is infiltrating the tank. I change the water frequently, but still the water turns to be color green. Can you pls say any suggestions on how to deal with algae problems in the tank? And how is the correct way of changing the water?Thank you….
Hazmie,
It is very normal for arowanas to stay off food for several days when they are moved to a new environment. Definitely nothing to do with the bulb.
Steven
Archie,
If you put it outside your house, then you will definitely have algae problems… The sun promote algae growth..There is nothing much you can do except change the water. Sorry..
Steven
how opten i can change the water for my Arowana habitat? how opten or what is the interval of thier feeding? can i put little salt to my arowana aquarium?
Micheal,
You should change water at least once a week. If they are adults, feed them once ever day or two. Yes a little salt will do them good.
Steven
Hi Steven I'm not sure what is wrong with my 13" aro, this started after I made a 30% water change to my tank (due to removal or a sick fish to the hospital tank) the day before. This is very routine other than the increased amount of water taken out. Now he's being very lethargic, he's spending a lot of time in his little "feeding corner" (we always feed him from the same corner of the tank) he's hovering a little bit below the surface of the water, he's breathing normal, but his tail dipping downward, he's not touching his food either…I checked everything (heater, water parameter etc) nothing is unusual, and there's no signs of parasite or fungal infection symptoms visible on my aro, it's just his behavior… it doesn't look like it's something in the tank either cause his tank mate, a bloody parrot is doing fine, and so are some of the snails…should I change my water again? Or should I wait a bit and see?
Dina,
Be patient. Keep changing water every 3 days or so.. (20-25% water change max ok) maybe there is still remnants of whatever was making your other fish sick in the tank.
Steven
!!!your help needed ASAP!!! I have a 4 year old arowana, she's about 2 feet long, in a 150 gallon tank with a red devil, jack dempsey and 2 gars. Water has been tested and is fine, 25% water change this past monday. Feeder fish fed on Tuesday… Today she is floating on her side at the top of the tank… She's letting me grab her and hold her in the water for a few seconds then irratically swims off to the other side and begins floating on her side again. Whats wrong? Can I save her?
Joe,
I'm not sure what to say… Did this problem just happened after you changed water? There could be several reasons but will not be able to pin point it. These are some of them..
1) water problem?
2) being attacked or stressed by your other fishes?
3) could be an internal problem… maybe bladder problem..
Sorry I cannot be of more help here..
Steven
Dear Steven,
I'm trying to change my 6ft x 2ft x 2ft aquarium's stand, and I have a 4ft x 18in x 18in sump filter system under my aquarium.
My question is:
I need to empty my tank before I can move the tank to the new stand, and then setup the piping works for filter. Thus all water inside the 6ft tank has to be emptied.
What I'm having in mind is to drain the water in the sump system first, after moving the sump to the new stand, fill it up with water from the 6ft tank, around 20% of total water in 6ft tank. Then what should I do next on the remaining 80% water? I'm sure I can't get enough containers for keeping all waters! I don't have other tank to hold my arowana temporary too.
Should I go ahead drain all remaining water from the 6ft tank, after moving and setup, add in tap water, add in water treatment fluid to cure water, add in salt and black water, and on the pump to let existing water in sump to cycle to new water in 6ft tank? Then put in my arowana?
Your advice please, thanks.
Brandon,
If you put in 80% of new water (if I read your message above right) to mix with your 20% of old water… I'm afraid to say that your arowana will probably die! It's too much new water!!! (even if you add treatment fluid, salt, black water, etc..)
I cannot help you here but you will have to house your arowana somewhere else with most of the old water when you changed your tank stand. Sorry I cannot help you here…
Steven
hi steven, I really need your help. I got a 20cm red asian arowana that I just bought 3months ago. Everything is fine since the day I got her but I noticed that everytime I changed 20% of the water she would act strangely such as swimming up and down and loss her appetite. Do you have any suggestion? Thanks in advanced.
Danny,
I would suggest adding some salt and black water as well to calm it down.
Steven
Dear Steven
Thanks for the information on the last post. My fish is doing good for a few days but it got freaked out again by sudden enviroment changed. The light on the aquarium has blowed out and my aro was behaving worst than ever such as hurting itself and swim upside down again. My question here does the lighting factor caused it or could be something else?
Danny
hi sir steve im jonathan, i have something to tell you that my arowana isn't doing well, cause he swim horizontally in my aquarium, what i gonna do to make him back to normal…..
JOnathan,
hi sir steve im jonathan, i have something to tell you that my arowana isn't doing well, cause he swim vertically in my aquarium, what i gonna do to make him back to normal…..
JOnathan,
Please help me:
I have recently purchased 3 baby aros, one silver and two black. My little black, Juliet, was possibly attacked by the other two fish. I have had them for less than a week. She would eat at first, but now she rarely eats, with the exception of a blood worm that floats to her mouth. She lost most of her two anal fins, and one seems to have a cloudy like substance on it. Yesterday, we had noticed a white spot. The spot was between the size of a dime, and the size of a pencil eraser. It was more of a faded colour than a bright white. Now that portion of her fin is missing. Her mouth appears to be swollen, a new development as of this morning. Juliet is very weak. We have placed a divider in the tank to keep her safe, we did this yesterday. She swims very close to the surface. When she comes down, she swims for a bit, then her tail begins to float to the surface. The PH level is a bit high, 7.4. I have added a piece of driftwood. The ammonia and nitrates are okay. The temperature is 27 degrees Celcius. Please help me!
Jonathan,
I cannot really tell you but again the 1st thing that you should do is to change the water. 90% of the problems is to do with the water. This should always be your 1st area to look at.
Steven
Kathy,
From your explanation, it could be because it was attacked by the 2 other ones you had in there. When this happens, your wounded fish will be very stressed and this lowers it's resistance to infection, etc.. You did the right thing to segregate it from the rest. If it is not too badly wounded, it will recover but if it has reached a bad state, it could die unfortunately. Monitor it closely.
I would actually take it out and put into another tank. it could be infected now because of it's weaken state and could spread to the other two if they are in the same tank.
Steven
Danny,
I think it's your water condition. Lights blwing out should not affect your fish that much..
Steven
She passed away last night.
It all happened so fast. She was sick Thursday, and gone yesterday.
Really? She only appeared to have a small wound. Her fins were a little bit ragged, and she was missing a couple of scales, before we moved her. I never saw any aggression in the other two arowanas, even now that they are by themselves.
I need to buy more, I hear that eventually these two will probably fight, and that I will greatly reduce that chance by having a larger number. Do you have some advice on bringing the new guys in? I do not want any more issues.
Kathy,
How big are your arowanas? If they are already more than 8 months or so old, you should not add any new ones into it as this new one will probably be attacked by the other 2. Arowanas will live relatively peacefully if they have grown up together but if you add new ones especially young ones, they can be attacked and can be fatal…
Odd numbers are good but does not mean that even numbers do not work.
Steven
Steven
could you put a arowana in brackish water
Chino,
Yes…
Yesterday my girlfriend bought an 7inch arowana from the local petshop and it seems to have some silky coat over the gills. When he breaths its a little bubble that forms around his gills
Hey my girlfriend just bought a 7inch silver arowana from a local pet store and it seems to have some silk sheet covering its gills. I would llike to know what can I do to get the sheet removed from his gills?
Brian,
Sorry but I can't really envision what you mean by silk sheet covering it's gills. Sorry. If it looks ugly, I guess you can trim that area off but without really knowing what it is, it would not be advisable. Sorry I'm not much of a help here.
Steven
Aloha Steven,
I have a 5" baby silver aro and is looking forward to purchasing another one. My Q is, how can u tell the sex? And is it safe to get a male and female?
Mahalo,
Lani*
Leilani,
But just make sure that they are about the same size..
You can't tell at this very young age. Since you cannot tell the sex, it does not matter.
Steven
Hi Steven,
I have a 14 inch silver arowana he spends most of his time at one end of the tank rubbing his face on the glass. Is this a normal? any help will be greatly appreciated.
cheers
Farron
Hi Steven
My arowana suddenly has a small growth from the front of the mouth. I just added a sucker fish in yesterday and this happened today. Is he sick?
Thanks.
hi steven
one day ago i purchase 7" silver arowana but in pet shop he is eating many things, small fishes,pallets,sticks & like but in my tank he is still not eating & second is pet shop to my house drive from 1 hour in this transportation period he is lost his half tail pls help me & send quick treatment.thanks
Farron,
This is usually to do with the water. You need to change water at least once every 2 weeks.
Steven
Paul,
I doubt he's sick… Don't think its the sucker fish as well unless the sucker fish brought it some worms with it. Try changing the water more often and add some salt into it.
Steven
Khawaja,
When an arowana is moved to a new place, it is very common for it not to eat for the first week or so as it needs to get use to the new environment.
As for the tail, don't worry… it will grow back..
Steven
Dear Steven,
I have a 10inch silver aro which i bought 1 month ago. He was eating at first until 4days ago. I used to feed him frozen shimp. The shrimps were defrosted using tap water and shells were peeled off before I feed him. The last time I fed him quite heavy since I need to travel for 2 days. and now the aro not eating, even I tried gold fish. I doubted water condition, and i had been changing 20% water daily for 4 days, but condition not getting better, although it still swim normally and no abnomality observed. Pls help, thanks
its oky to have 2 arowanas in 100 gallon i have gold and im planning to buy a green.its oky to have them in one tank?please help me steve.
hey i just bought a arowana highblack from a pet shop but when i go home i accidentaly put to much chlorine into the water….and it almost died with its body staying vertical on the water.after that i quickly remove the fish and put it into another tank…..it survived but now it swims less then normal and would not eat the food given.he now looks like doesnt love to swim and always stay on top of the tank.meanwhile he always just follow the wave of the water direction……..plz give some advice!!!!it is just his new enviroment or he is going to die!!!! reply me A>S>A>P
Hi Steven
I brought 3 Arowanas in my fish tank about 2 weeks back. 2 of them did not eat the food except the live fish, whenever given. One arowana was okay with having feed as well as live fish.
but for past 2-3 days, the arowanas were not acting normal. they reduced their movements, rather like to stay idle. I thought that they might be hungry so I brought live fish for them. Probably all of them had eaten them.
But yesterday, one of them firstly started swimming down the water, subsequently remained with its head down. and others too were not active, one of them was getting its tail downwards, and both remained inactive while staying idle on the corners of the tank on the top.
i gave medicine (tetracyclin and another anti-biotic for gastric disorder) and increased the temperature to 28 degrees, and about 2 hours later of medication, I changed over 25% of water maintaining the same temperature. thereafter i increased the water temperature to 30 degrees.
in the meanwhile, i could see a change in other 2 arowanas but the one with head dipping downwards had a little improvement.
but today morning the arowana with head dipping downwards, dies. alas!
on inspection, i could find that the surviving arowanas, although they are better in their movements, but they have lost their color and texture and the fins are also broken. and one of them is still having tail tilting downwards.
I am really attached with arowanas, last year also i lost 2 of my arowanas.
please suggest me the remedy
regards
Rajesh Sharma
Steven
pl respond as now my one arowana is also now touching the gravel with head down and another is having its tail tilted down and both are looking very weak
regards
RAjesh Sharma
hi all
plz help me..
i have 1 silver arowana it 10 or 13 cm so he was jump from the tank,I don't know how long he was out for, but he was still breathing when I put him back,but its not look fine its not swim properly,its looking fed up and its not eta,from he was jumping from my auqrium,n i think his wound on his queue…so what i hav to do??
Mohaiy,
It is has jumped out of your tank, the chances is high that it would have injured itself. I cannot help you here.. This is why I always advise to cover the tank top securely so that it cannot jump out.
Steven
Rajesh,
There are a few things here to look at. I'm pretty sure it is your water that is the problem. You should have changed the water before trying anything else. By adding more live fish into the tank, you were actually polluting the water more as those small fishes were also producing waste.
Again always look at the water first and foremost before anything else.
Steven
Traze99,
Sorry but the arowana probably could have been 'damaged' by the anti-chlorine already. You must always prepare the water well before you bring the arowana back from the shop. I never put anti chlorine when I change water at all.
Steven
Koi,
I would not recommend that you add another arowana into your current tank with the other as it could be fatal for the smaller of the two. Arowanas can only be mixed when they grow up together from young.
Steven
Calvin,
A few points here. I would not change water everyday. As long as your arowana is swimming around gracefully, it should be ok even if it does not eat for 2-3 days.
Steven
hi,
i need urgent help…i have a silver Arowana kept alone in a half round 4ft tank. Its eyes are bulging out for over 1 month. i change 25% water every week n have given Tetracycline 2 days back. Now for the last 10 days she is not eating at all. Dont know what to do. her tail have tilted to one side. m All lost..pls help soon….
I bought a silver arowana and after 4 days i noticed that
his/her tail is totally broken i think his/her tankmate bite his/her tail,My arowana is always in the bottom of the tank and i think he don't have energy to move, what I'm going to do i already change 20% of the water and add some salt. ASAP.
Rakesh,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by bulging eyes but it could be droopy eyes which is not fatal as it is just a condition that your fish will learn to live with.
Based on what you say, I can only recommend that you keep changing water every week until it starts to eat again. Sorry but can't really tell with the description given.
Steven
Gian,
Have you tried taking out the tank mate to see whether that is the culprit? If your arowana is also resting at the bottom of the tank alot, it could also be your water condition. Keep changing 20% every week until it recovers but I would also take the tankmate out for now.
Steven
Steven,
We have a very sick arowana named Ying. From a few days ago he was not eating, developed white spots all over his body, the yesterday started loosing his slime coat. Today he kept losing slime coat. 2 days ago I did a water change, did a METRONIDAZOLE treatment. This morning I did another %0 water change, another METRONIDAZOLE treatment and put in 75 drops of ORGANI CURE COPPER 1.25% FORMALDE. The package said it was for marine fish only but said it should be okay for this fish as well. These guys helped me save my aro before from a different infection. The fish is now fliating head down and hardly breathing and not moving… near dead. I'm doing another 50% warer change in hopes of diluting the water to save my other fish two 13" polypterus. Seems like I accidentally poisoned him. Or the infection he had did him in and the meds didn't help.
What do you think?
Kimmie,
This is pretty common. This condition is called ich and is causd by parasites. Just get some white spot medication to get rid of it.
Some observations here ..
1) First thing I observe above is that you have changed too much water. Always change only about 25% max each time and you should not change everyday but evey other day.
2) You should have taken out the other 2 fishes if possible. This will prevent these 2 from getting ich as well.
Steven
Hi i have a 7 inch arowana, His tails is rotting too, it just started today, I lost 3 arowana already in a 4 month period, i dont wanna lose this lil guy, please help me, i added salt already, he wass just treated for ich, and now this!!! please help me thanks
Tommy,
When your arowana develops a condition, you need to change water every 2-3 days or so for the next 2 weeks at least. Why do I propose this? This is because even when you have successfully treated it for an ailment, there will still be remnants of the parasites in the water and you need to change water often enough so that you can get rid of most of the parasites in the water.
Steven
Hi Steven,
I changed my aquarium water yesterday and added Methelyn Blue solution to cure my malaysian aro's skin disease..When i woke up this morning my aro is already tilted downwards thinking it might have been poisoned..I immediately removed it and transferred to another tank with clean water..Will my aro recover from the poisoning, how many days will it return to its normal health…What more should I do to speed up its recovery? Thanks
Rene,
When it will recover will depend on how bad it is affected. Make sure to change the water regularly to get rid of whatever's in the water.
Steven
hello steven..
my question is.. why does arowana seemed to changed its mood.. he doesnt eat now for two days and always swim on top of the water.. the surface.. he wont swim down like what he normally do.. its his original tank and i change the water once a week i dont know what happened.. thanks.. is there a meaning why he just stay and swim on top of the water??
hi my arawana is swiming a curcule at the top of the tank with hes back out the water he swims only one way my cat fish did charge it and hit it in the side also the arawana has been moved in to another tank the ph has been tested and is ok please help
hi my name is tolo and my arowana is swimming a little funny. he's about 18 inches long and his tale sticks up out of the water while his head is facing down ward so what do you think is wrong with him….thank for your time!!!!!!
Hi i just bought 2 silver arowanas about 5" long on saturday
today i got home and both are facing down but still breathing, what can i do???
Hi,
Earlier today my 12" arowana jumped out of the tank. He usually jumps during the night, but never had he made it through the lid and the stuff that was holding the lid down. My dad found him on the floor and he doesnt know when it had jumped out. He put him back in and later on the day, it started swimming again. Now, it is laying on the bottom of the tank. I'm not sure if he normally does that at night, or its because he was out of the water. I think he usually just stays put on one side of the tank and floats in the middle. Do you think my arowana will survive?
Julie,
Time will tell. I think if within a week, it's swimming around, then it should be ok. Arowanas usually stays on the surface and not dwell much on the bottom.
Steven
Sara,
Did you cycle your water at all? You need to cycle it for at least 3 weeks before you can put your arowanas in.
Steven
Tolo,
Could be a bladder problem. If this has been for awhile, then chances of recovery will be low.
Steven
Donny,
Sounds like your catfish is very aggressive. Good thing you have separated them.
Steven
Giancarlo,
I think you have it all wrong. Arowanas are supposed to swim on the surface. When they are spending too much time at the bottom, then there is something wrong and this is usually because of water issues.
Steven
Hello Steven,
I have 5 year old silver arowana. A few days ago, I noticed his tail and fins suddenly became jagged. He holds his small fins against his body and stays low in the tank. He also has stopped eating. I recently changed the water and noticed the PH was about 7.5 or possibly 8. I am worried about him. Any advice?
Thank you,
Dan
Hello steven
I have a 3 yr old silver arowana…it was fine till date and now something seems to be wrong…It stays in one place or in a vertical position with its head pointing upwards…i have no idea what to do…i thought it might be due to the water which i had not changed since 3 weeks…I have changed it but still no use…when i put it in a tub of water it seemed to be fine…but in tank it goes n stays in one place or floats in a vertical position…plssss help!!
Hi ! sir,
I got a new fishtank(freshwater) and a arowana fish.. is it important to put salt in my fishtank? What is the purpose of the salt in the freshwater with arowana
what kind of salt for the fish tank ?
@Sara:
Sara my Advise if you use water for fishtank, Drinking water 99% no clorine ,chloromine. Check the ph,Nitrate,Nitrite,Alkaline,hardness,Chlorine,Amonia.