Arowana Showing Weakness

[rowinms]

Hi all,

yesterday, we cleaned the aquarium just like the usual. The usual goes, taking off 30% of the water from the tank, scrubbing the walls, putting back a new 30% of water, adding one table spoon of rock salt and life goes on. The only thing I forgot was turning ON the motor for the filter. Air pumps were on. After 12hrs, my dad noticed the motor was off and he immediately turned it on. However, the Arowana is already showing weakness, instead of swimming around its tank, it stays in one place and its mouth keeps on opening and closing like grasping for air. We immediately did another 30% water change and it is still showing the same.

Please see the images below as I noticed some red bulging spots near its fins.
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac350/rowinms/IMG_5097_800.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac350/rowinms/IMG_5091_800.jpg

also, please see the video I uploaded HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucLO5h7ej4g).

Is this bad? or is it just because he was left with no motor ON and it scares out of him?

thanks guys.

[Crispy]

he is not being scared, something is wrong.

I wouldn't have turned the filter on after being off 12hrs without a good cleaning first. turning it back on after sitting that long would probably release all sorts of nasty water into the tank. there could easily have been a huge bacteria die-off in that time. do you have multiple filters on this tank? these fish appreciate very clean water with a high turnover rate.

I would definitely bet it's a water quality issue with your jar and I would start doing 50% water changes every 2-3 days until he gets back to normal. they will turn around quickly when you remedy the problem.

I can't comment on the red bumps because I can't see them in the pic very well. do they seem to be getting worse?

best of luck because he is a beautiful jardini! please keep us updated on his progress. :fish:

[Demjor19]

I agree with the above. Aside from being oxygen deprived, their could have been waste/bacteria released into the tank. I would suggest another water change and see what happens from their.

[Lady Hobbs]

Doesn't appear to me as you did all that much cleaning. Looking at that green stuff on the bottom appears to me to be cyano algae is beginning to grow? Did you test for nitrates lately? I think I'd do as suggested above but also remove those rocks, clean that aglae from them and vac the substrate as well. Filter also looks very dirty.

Never seen bumps like that so can't even guess.

[Crispy]

Good call Lady Hobbs. I never noticed the large flat rocks on the bottom. that would make gravel vacuuming a nightmare and waste gets trapped under there very easily. I think an overhaul of the tank/filtration and plenty of clean water would be best for the jar.

[rowinms]

thanks all for the replies.

here are the water tests
pH -> 6.0
NH3 / NH4 -> 0.1
cL -> 0

As shown in the video, it seems like he is catching breath.

[Crispy]

whats the filtration and size of the tank? a little more info will help us better solve your problem.

[rowinms]

32Gallon tank, filtration? are you pertaining to the filters itself? its the bundled filter from jewel with a UV filter. sorry, my knowledge in this part is just of few.

[WaMiss]

How big is the Arowana? And what are his tankmates? I see he has a few in your you tube videos.

[rowinms]

mouth to tip of the tail, he's about 10" long.

there's just one pleco with him, already 6mons living with him in the tank.

[Crispy]

32Gallon tank, filtration? are you pertaining to the filters itself? its the bundled filter from jewel with a UV filter. sorry, my knowledge in this part is just of few.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.....

32g is way too small for that fish and your single filter is way too inefficient. jardinis need a big tank (180g bare minimum) for life. your jar is beyond a small fry and needs more room and a bigger more stable environment. it looks like you caught this early enough, but some major dedication to wcs and an upgrade are definitely necessary at this point.

[WaMiss]

Seems to me you're really overstocked for your tank size. I don't know how big your pleco is, but a 10 inch fish in a 32 gallon has trouble written all over it. I would guess that it would be near impossible to keep the water clean, which would result in an unhealthy fish.

[Demjor19]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.....

32g is way too small for that fish and your single filter is way too inefficient. jardinis need a big tank (180g bare minimum) for life. your jar is beyond a small fry and needs more room and a bigger more stable environment. it looks like you caught this early enough, but some major dedication to wcs and an upgrade are definitely necessary at this point.

Agree 100%. That fish needs to be placed in a larger tank and the filtration needs to be majorly upgraded. It's definitely early enough to be corrected with little long term damage.

[rowinms]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but.....

32g is way too small for that fish and your single filter is way too inefficient. jardinis need a big tank (180g bare minimum) for life. your jar is beyond a small fry and needs more room and a bigger more stable environment. it looks like you caught this early enough, but some major dedication to wcs and an upgrade are definitely necessary at this point.


Seems to me you're really overstocked for your tank size. I don't know how big your pleco is, but a 10 inch fish in a 32 gallon has trouble written all over it. I would guess that it would be near impossible to keep the water clean, which would result in an unhealthy fish.

Hi all, thanks for the tip. I think I will really have to move him in a larger tank. I will be upgrading the filter for him. I have just changed the water for him.

[Lady Hobbs]

Couldn't you find a big enough fish bowl?

Why would you even think putting a giant fish in a 36 gallon would be OK?

[rowinms]

@lady hobbs: Though I have that already in mind, i'm still saving up for the tank upgrade.

Update for everyone:
1. leaving the motor for the filter off for 10hrs caused the water to be badly contaminated with probably super bad bacteria. So we did a 60% water change last night.

2. Arowana already did show some signs of good progress 12hrs later

3. Arowana is showing its self again.

4. The mouth gasping for air breathing like is starting to fade.

5. Arowana is again communicating with us. He normally likes to listen when we talk to him. Tries to play with us too.

So far so good. Thanks for all the tips. I will surely be transferring him to a larger tank soon.

[Lady Hobbs]

I didn't mean to be rude, either, but this is heart breaking.
Glad he has improved.