Aro Swimming Upside Down! Need Urgent HELP!

[H]-[H]

mate, i know what is wrong. unless it was the case that the fish went on its side during transport and has not been able to right itself since then.. but i think this is not the case.

you dont add epsom salts. epsom is one salt harvested from the town of epsom in england.

the fish has been shocked by a sudden change in water or it is showing toxicity to something.

you need to add mineral salts. harder water! turn the temp down!!! slowly let it drop.
this is if your fish is still alive. it can die within 2 days like this.

then get some agricultural lime, add just 1 gram per hundred litres of tank water.
or calcium carbonate from the fish shop. or you can use dolomite lime just the same, it has two forms of minerals.. magnesium and calcium and this is preferable i think.

i also suggest you add 5 grams of rock salt per hundred litres. not table salt because it is just one form of salt. this is not much, but enough to help the fishes cells get back into a balance.

you can also use geo liquid. this has stuff in there from the earth just the same.

now tell us, where do you get your water from?

is it rain water only and too pure? or is it the exact same source water your friend used.

call him and ask and then get back to me.

oh and dont you feed that fish either. it can go weeks or months without food. never feed a sick arow that is big. it just dont need food and will make it worse. i have seen this happen before. 1 died, 1 lived.

May I ask why the temp needs to be turned down?
The water is directly from the tap, but I've added dechlorinator to the water when doing water change.. My friend's water source is from tap too..
How long before I should feed it again?

 

[Red Devil]

wow wonderful to hear he is still alive...don't worry about food right now...

 

[xionglue]

I am assuming its the ammonia level, you should check your ammonia level. Arowana likes it to be around 0-.5 only, if it is higher then that, it could be the cause of it.

 

[Arowana1]

I am assuming its the ammonia level, you should check your ammonia level. Arowana likes it to be around 0-.5 only, if it is higher then that, it could be the cause of it.

I agree that looks similar to what I have seen when a tank experiences a Nitrate boom (a fast accumulation of Nitrate) or ammonia or Nitrite. I would test the water in your tank and see first hand if your water has Nitrites, Nitrates, or Ammonia.

 

[H]-[H]

wow wonderful to hear he is still alive...don't worry about food right now...

Yes, it's pretty much alive..
& I've stopped feeding it, not that it bothers to eat anyways..
How long should I starve it?

I am assuming its the ammonia level, you should check your ammonia level. Arowana likes it to be around 0-.5 only, if it is higher then that, it could be the cause of it.

I agree that looks similar to what I have seen when a tank experiences a Nitrate boom (a fast accumulation of Nitrate) or ammonia or Nitrite. I would test the water in your tank and see first hand if your water has Nitrites, Nitrates, or Ammonia.

50% water change everyday should fix this, right?

 

[C L O W N K N I F E]

Sorry to hear man, hope he makes a full recovery

 

[xionglue]

Yes, it's pretty much alive..
& I've stopped feeding it, not that it bothers to eat anyways..
How long should I starve it?


50% water change everyday should fix this, right?

It only needs to be changed once. If you have a LFS near you, buy a medication called "Chlorma-X" its what I use to clean chlorines and ammonia. You should also try buying Ammonia and Ph testing kit so you would know whats wrong with it. The arowana probably won't be eating since its not doing so well, after it is back-up, give it 2 days before feeding it again.

 

[xionglue]

BTW I would recommend doing this ASAP, otherwise it will soon die.

 

[patrickjohnsgarcia]

not sure if this helps, but i had an aro once that floated like yours, what i did saw to hold it gently and i made it swim around, lika playing with a toy, and i massaged its abdomen GENTLY, then it swam as if nothing happened the next day....not sure if what i just did had helped it though

 

[ausarow]

When temperatures are high any toxic reactions are worsened. you know when science teachers explain chemical reactions? and these are sped up with higher temps.
your ammonia becomes more toxic, cause the percentage of nasty ammonia is higher when the temps are higher. if the water is suspect or overfed, the water will also hold less oxygen when temps are higher. also, if there is an osmotic balance problem this will not be made better by increasing temps because respiration and cell activity is increased. turning temps down slightly will thus buy you the needed time to fix the issues.
If an arow is sick, why would you turn the temperature up unless the temperature was far too low and making it sluggish to begin with. so turning up temps should not be done if the temp is say 23c-28c and the fish takes a turn for the worse at those temps.

you might have been lucky, sometimes big arows will go on their side during transport and then have swim bladder issues.
I am not convinced that them going on their side is just a matter of them not being able to sit right way up and so then over time that sets in or if there is some other unnkown causeing this from the start. as in maybe they are stressed and groggy and it just gets worse..

anyway, if the fish can be held right, sometimes it will just work itself out and come good.
but if this is a true thing, you didnt want to wait and see if it was just a temporary balance thing or if it was a water issue. i really wanted to verify if your water had different calcium levels etc. sometimes tap water can have too much chlorine but you say you treated that but people can only go off the dose guides because they dont have a chlorine test kit on hand to really know what the water is doing, or to calculate the treatment dose.