As the saying goes , " prevention is better than cure " . This phrase is true in every sense of the word. Maintaining good water quality for the fishes, feed them well and conduct regular checks on PH, temperature . ammonia , nitrite levels are what every commited hobbyist must do. Daily observation of the fish is also important . Look out for abnormal growth, erratic behavior or simply stops eating and becomes inactive.
Living in a 'closed' enviroment , fishes are literally at your mercy to take good care of them . stress is a vital factor in fish health. They may come in any form - an aggrasive tankmate, sudden changes in Ph and temperature and overcrowding. Even a tank placed where human traffic is heavy can be stressful to a newly accuired fish.
Fish do have an immune system that protects their bodies from diseases and infections. They even have an outer barrier in the form as scales and a coat of mucus, some may say.But if a fish is constantly under stress, then its immune system will be adversely affected for sure.
In low temperature, the immune system slows down and the fish will be more susceptible to infection. That also explains why as to fish tend to swim towards the heater and very often, salt, when its very sick. This is a behavioral symptom, natural for all sick fishes.
Many a time we have bros asking for help when their aro is sick and generally the advise to cure the symptom is to do 30% water change add salt from 0.1% to 0.3% and also raise the temperature form 30 to 33 depending on the type of illness
Very often members are reluctant to use western medicine.
So now we can classify salt and increase in temperature as natural(chinese medication)
Western medicine eg. Multicure.
Below I will list the common illness of arowanas.
1-Dropsy.
Cause: sudden changes in PH and a drastic drop in temperature, ammonia build up, and bacterial infection. Very fatal , number 1 killer for young aros.
Treatment: Natural option. Make daily 50% water change for 5 consecutive days.( Use only aged water ) Raise the temperature to 33 degrees , 0.3% salt ( 300 gram for 100 lites of water )
Western medication: BeFURAN which is colourless. ( A broad spectrum medication, absorbed rapidly and distributed in fish providing therapeutic effects in minutes. Bacterial infections of aeromonas , vibroisis, columnaris psendomonas, fungal infectious of saprolenga, parasitic infections of ichthyophthriud are rapidly cures . It also does not destroy your biological bacteria ) I strongly discourage using Japanese yellow powder and Qian Hu's third generation yellow powder. Reason being because the powder is an antibiotic called tetracycline which is a very old and obselete antibiotic for humans. Tetracycline will destroy all your hardworking good bacteria and the ammmonia level , nitrite and nitrate levels will shoot up and put more stress on the arowana and u have to recycle the tank again. For dropsy, I will not choose the chinese option cause salt at 0.3% and rising of temperature will create even more stress on the arowana. Using BeFURAN is a tested medication for me. BTW, the company also makes Furan-G but in my opinion this is inferior to BeFURAN.
2- INTERNAL HAEMORRHA.
Caused by bacteria infection , internal bleeding. Usually happens to a young aro.( 10~20cm) Very fatal.
3- ABDOMINAL FLUID.
Caused by Bacterial infection , Intestinal problems , poor diet. Uually happens when the fish is young ( 10~20cm ) Very fatal. The fish stops eating , stomach area becomes bloated , reddening at the vent and loss of balance as the accumulation of abdominal fluid the swin bladder functions. Head faces down , tail faces up.
Cure: As in dropsy.
4- OVERTURNED FISH GILL COVER
3 main causes. Too small a tank in terms of length and breath. Poor water condition eg. Build up of ammonia. Usually happens to adult fish only. Usually hobbyists will take the fish to operation. In my opinion if discovered in early stages it can be cured. My way is to put a strong wavemaker on both sides of the tank. WC 50% with aged water add 0.1% salt and blackwater. after 1 day, u can see the gills closing up. Comlete cure in 1 week. I have successfully cured seven arowanas( My friends) using this method.
As a general rule of the thumb, the length of a tank for an arowana should be at least 3 times the length of the fish or if not , longer. Likewise, the width is also very crucial in enabling the fish to turn around comfortably.
5- CLOUDY EYE.
Causes. Physial injury, bacterial infection, poor water quality. Very common problem for all arowanas. May lead to secondary infection. Not fatal in most cases but may cause blindness.
A white film can be seen covering part of an eye. Later it covers the whole eye. Usually affects only one eye sometimes, both. Fish eats and behaves normally. If the problem is not tackled early, the fish might be blind that eye. Cloudy eye is not to be mistaken as a blind eye where the whole black pupil has alreadly become white, a condition which is irreversible. Common salt( 0.3% ) treatment 30% WC every other day OR you can use BeFURAN. 1 dose for 3 days then 2nd dose. No need for WC ( less stress for the arowana ).
6- Chipped scales.
Some of the scales seem to be melting away , resulting in a crooked appearence. Tiny holes along the lateral line gets larger as each day goes by. At its final stage, skin around the head region also starts to rot.
Chinese salt treatment 0.3% salt , raise temperature to 33. Change water regulary to ensure good water quality. The fish would recover in 1~2 months time. Or you can add salt 0.1% with BeFURAN. Fish should recover within 2 weeks But the chipped scale will not grow back. You can try surgically to remove the chiped scale if beauty of the fish is of utmost importance to you.
7- WHITE SPOT DISEASE
Caused by parasitic protozoan called Ich. I am sure every hobbyist have encountered this problem. More common in Clown Loach when there is a sudden change in temperature. Very infectious. Best used in a hospital tank. Chinese treatment 0.3% salt and raise temperature to 32 degres. Using BeFURAN you need not use a hospital tank. Dose it twice in 1 week. Change 50% aged water then put one more dose ( this is to kill the young parasite which hatch from the eggs ).
8- FINROT
Caused by bacterial infection , poor water quality especially high ammonia. Infrequent change of water. Overcrowding high bioload. Newly accuired fishes. Fairly easy to treat, not fatal.
Improve water quality by making more regular water changes . Add 0.3% salt and a commercial anti-finrot agent( Baxter and plenty of others. Try to find one that does not colour the water as when the medication is blue in colour, it contains methylene blue and green colour caused by malachlite green ) These agents are poisonous to humans and was Banned in certain countries.
9- SWIMMING BLADDER PROBLEMS
In most cases this only affects young fishes ( 10~15cm ) . At that infant stage, too much air gets trapped in the body cavity, for some unknown reasons , causing the swin bladder to misfunction.
Treatment may not be necessary unless fish is uncomfortable struggling constantly to swim normally. A safer way is to put the affected fish in a seperete tank with water level that of the fish height only , ie 5~8cm. Add 0.3% salt and raise the temperature to 33 degrees. Alternatively, wrap the fish in a plastic bag with shallow water, pump in oxygen , add a pinch of salt , releasing it the next day ( not more then 24 hours ) this might do the trick as osmoregulation of the fish will enable the fish to swim normally again. Might need repeating after a day or 2. If all fails, the last resort is to use a fine surgical syringe to draw out the excess air from the swelling portion of the body. Work fast and preceise , place the fish into the tank immediately. It should be able to swim normally soon.
Feel free to add any other disease i may have left out. Thanks for reading.
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