Arowana Fish Common Diseases and Treatments

Featuring a long body, the Arowana fish is one popular freshwater fish. Generally, Arowana fish are native to Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia. They are one of the most expensive aquarium fish that need careful attention. Otherwise, health issues would appear. In this article, let’s take a look at the arowana common diseases and treatments.

• Content Table

• Common arowana diseases
• Sick Arowana treatments
• Measures to prevent arowana from sickness
• Sum up

Common arowana diseases

Before we get into the details of arowana diseases, let’s take a quick look at some common arowana diseases.

• Not Swimming
• Drop Tails
• Drop Eyes
• Cloudy Eyes
• External Injuries
• Fin Rot
• Scales Corrosion
• Overturned Gills
• Protruding Scales
• Parasites
• Fish Lice
• Anchor Worm
• “Red Spot” disease
• “White Spot” disease (Ich)
• Rotting Gills disease
• Swim Bladder disease
• Herbal Bacterial disease
• Stomach Ailments

Next, we will cover the causes and symptoms of some common diseases of arowana fish.

Not Swimming

Causes

• Frequent fluctuation of water conditions: Fluctuation of water conditions may be the result of continuous water changes, as well as aquarium filter media cleaning and changes
• Changes in the living environment: Arowana fish are sensitive to changes in the living environment. For instance, new fish introduction, aquarium equipment replacement, as well as water flow and lighting changes would bring stress to Arowana fish
• Result of suffering from diseases

Symptoms

• Stay at the bottom of the fish tank

Drop Tails

Causes

• No wavemaker in the tank: Arowana fish get less exercise as there is no wavemaker at the bottom of the tank
• Limited space: For limited room, Arowana fish swim around constrained. Then their tails may drop
• Downward water flow: The downward water flow in the tank may be a reason for drop tails

Symptoms

• Split tails

Drop Eyes

Causes

• Diet: The food sink to the bottom of the tank, then arowanas will look down to search for food. Also, excessive fatty food will lead to drop eyes, like the beef heart.
• Genetics: Drop eyes are more common in some arowanas. For example, the Silver Arowana. Generally, the more active ones may lead to more frequent impacts.

Symptoms

• Fat accumulation above the eyes
• Look down diagonally

Cloudy Eyes

Causes

• Polluted aquarium water
• Improper handling

Symptoms

• Whitish gray film on the fish’s eyes
• Moldy eyes
• Swell eyes covered with blueish-white matter
• Markings on fish body

External Injuries

Causes

• Fight with other tank mates
• Hit against rocks, tank lid, driftwood, or other aquarium decorations

Symptoms

• Injuries on fish bodies, fins, or scales

Fin Rot

Causes

• The result of Gram-negative and aerobic bacteria infection
• Stress caused by poor water quality, high fish density, incompatible tank mates, or other factors

Symptoms

• Fin erosion
• Skin lesion
• Gill necrosis
• Loss of appetite
• Move slowly

Scales Corrosion

Causes

• Poor water quality
• Fight with other tank mates
• Bacterial infection
• Vitamin deficiency

Symptoms

• Damaged or corroded scales
• Whitening scales

Overturned Gills

Causes

• Poor water quality: Decaying uneaten food and fish feces will cause poor water quality. Also, high levels of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia will reduce the oxygen level in the aquarium.
• Limited space: Without an adequate living room, the gill may become overturned.
• Water temperature fluctuation: Arowanas are sensitive. Hence, maintaining a stable water temperature is essential.

Symptoms

• Irregular movement of gills
• Faster and abnormal breathing
• Concave gill covers and curly gills
• Loss of appetite

Protruding Scales

Causes

• Polluted aquarium water
• Sudden changes in aquarium water temperature

Symptoms

• Tilted scales
• Blood at the root of scales

Sick Arowana treatments

In this segment, let’s learn some treatments to deal with sick arowana.

Diseases	Arowana Treatments
Not Swimming	Maintain stable water quality: Change water regularly and do not change a large amount of water at one time Avoid sudden changes in the living environment
Drop Tails	Add an aquarium wave maker at the bottom of the tank Make sure adequate living space
Drop Eyes	Change the diet: Feed your Arowanas with floating pellets or live food, then they would not look down all the time Limit the Arowanas’ visual focus: Cover the tank’s sides, and only leave the top side uncovered
Cloudy Eyes	Do water changes: Change 30-40 percent of water/Change 20-25 percent of the water every three days Add coarse salt Increase the water temp: Heat the aquarium water to 86-92℉
External Injuries	Maintain warm water: keep the water temperature at 88℉ Add salt. Just follow the rule “300 grams of salt for 100 liters of water”
Fin Rot	Do water changes: Change 20 percent of the aquarium water Add salt. Just follow the rule “300 grams of salt for 100 liters of water”
Scales Corrosion	Heat the water: Raise the water temp to 86℉ Do water changes: Change 30 percent of the water every two days Apply antibiotic medications Add vitamin
Overturned Gills	Do water changes: Change 20 percent of the water every 2–3 days Improve the oxygen level: Add or turn on the aquarium air pump Create strong water flow: Add an aquarium wave maker or water pump
Protruding Scales	Do water changes: Change 20-25 percent of the water every 3–4 days Add coarse salt or copper sulfate to the water Improve water temp: Heat the water to 90-94℉ Promote the oxygen level in the water

Measures to prevent arowana from sickness

This part will share some measures to prevent arowana fish from sickness.

Maintain great living conditions

You should clean your tank and change the water regularly. Also, monitoring the water parameters is needed. It is essential to maintain stable water temperature and other levels, like pH level.

Reduce the risk of infection

If you want to add new tank mates, it is recommended to quarantine them for several days before introducing them to the tank. It can reduce the risk of disease infection or parasite spread.

Provide adequate nutrition

Provide a balanced diet. However, you should not overfeed. Every time finishing feeding, it is better to remove the uneaten food with a fish net.

Reduce the stress

Actually, water temp fluctuation, overstock, incompatible tank mates, or others may cause stress to Arowana fish. Consequently, just keep in mind – do not overstock. And you should be cautious about introducing new tank mates.

Sum up

To conclude, Arowana fish can produce a lot of waste. And most diseases mentioned above are caused by poor water quality. Hence, it is vital to keep Arowanas in a large tank with great water quality. For additional care guides for Arowana fish, you can read Guide to Take Care Arowana Fish.

Finally, thanks for taking the time and we hope this article helps.