Arowana Problem.

[ktlifer]

I have done sooo much research and haven't found anything that I can figure out. I have a 2 1/2 foot Silver Arowana and he has these white to clearish round dots on both sides of his body about the size of a ..2 pencil tip. They will not go away (no its not ich) We haven't treated with anti-fungal medication as well as trying salt and temperature raising. He has had these dots for about 6 months. NOW...his gills are starting to look pinkish near the base and he is acting differently. He's an Arowana so he should eat everything and has up until now. We have tried feeders and a mouse and he wouldn't eat either. I have no idea what is wrong. This fish is like a family member. Please help! Any advice or thoughts would be helpful. I do not want him suffering, so I would like to know how to help. Thanks!


oh yeah, my tank is 125 gal with 2 of the biggest biowheels, 1 aquaclear 500, and 1 Rena 405 canister. It also has 2 of the Aquaclear 70 power heads. The other tank mates are 4 green sevrums, a motoro stingray, a frontosa and a common pleco. The water tested fine. and I tried to get pictures but telling a fish to stay still is impossible.

 

[_cRaCkEr_]

does you arowana swims upside down ?

 

[tttnjfttt]

Do the spots look like they are missing scales? Also, look at his gills, can you see parasites, is there alot of slime or mucous, does he seem to be breathing rapidly? What color are the gills? Looking at his behavior, is he scratching on anything in the tank?

What other behavior changes have you seen besides not eating?

 

[Matty]

a moroto needs at least 210 gallon, same with an arowana...you're heavily overstocked and it may be from stress.

 

[ktlifer]

He is not swimming upside down. I can not see any parasites or mucous on him at all. His gills are redish colored. He is not scratching on anything and has had no other behavior changes other than that he doesn't want to eat anything and he used to swim constantly, and now he'll just stop in one spot and sit there. I don't think it is stress, but thanks for that comment. The motoro is still a baby so the tank is fine and just being used to grow him out and save up the money to buy a bigger one.

 

[tttnjfttt]

do the sores look like scales have fallen off?
Has he been loosing weight?
Is his spine bent?

 

[ktlifer]

no it doesn't look like the scales have fallen off. These are tiny little pimple looking bumps and they are on the scales. His spine is not bent and he hasn't been loosing any weight, but he has stopped growing in length. this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I'm not so worried about the bumps as I am the red gills.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I definately agree with being more worried about the gills rather than the spots. I just wanted to check that it wasn't TB, which is very lethal over a long period of time. I"m trying to figure out if it a bacterial problem or a parasitie problem. Of course my favorite site that I get info off of is down at the moment.

If you look at the edges of the gills, are they ragged looking or have a white edge?

Right now i'm leaning more towards a bacaterial problem, mainly because the fish hasn't been flashing

 

[ktlifer]

the big scale covering the outside of the actual gill is red, there is no white just red. the body bumps are whiteish clearish, pinkish...thanks for trying to help.

oh yeah and we tried melafix, it took it away for about a week and then it came right back and worse(the bumps)

The gill/scale problem thingy just developed about a week ago.

 

[WILDER]

It sounds bacterial if the lumps are whitish do they have a red centre to them, or a circling of red on the outside.

 

[ktlifer]

yes...what can we try to fix it?

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/d...columnaris.html

 

[ktlifer]

that sounds exactly like what he's got going on. Thanks for that information I appreciate it. Hopefully it can be fixed though since this guy is like a dog hes so much a part of the family. Thanks again! This fish board is really useful.

 

[black angel]

It may be diet as well. Do you feed crickets or locusts as I wouldve thought too much fats might be bad for him.
Not that I know much about arrowanas

 

[ktlifer]

We feed him the Jumbo Chiclid sticks and that is about it. He won't eat anything other than those, we've tried giving him freeze dried crickets and things like that but he only likes his nasty stinky hard to find jumbo chiclid sticks. I think we've narrowed it down to some sort of bacteria. I don't know if we are going to be able to treat him or not, but hopefully we can and it will go away. I can say one thing for sure, if anything happens to him we will never own another arowana again. I have come to the conclusion that these guys ought to be kept in the wild, not in someones home.