Healthy Arowana / Ragged Fins

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I agree, that is fin rot. My friend's silver arowana had that too, but more severe. It starts out small but eventually it will eats away at the fins dramatically. And it can spread to the other fins too. From your picture and video, the situation looks like it has gotten worse. If you have a smaller tank to treat the aro by itself that would be best. If you can't then you should lower the water level to at least 50% of what it is now. What I did for my friend was use salt ( 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons), stress coat and melafix - follow the directions. We treated it in a 75 gallon with the water half way full. It took about two and a half week before there was any improvement. I think that this is the best choice for your fish now. Don't wait too long because the fins may not grow back to the same length and size.
 
Bderick67 said:
Water hardness will have nothing to do with it. I can;t find the thread where an arowana was treated and cured from severe fin rot with meds. In my experience I have never had to do more then provide excellent water conditions. In your case I don't think this is the issue, I think you need to treat with meds though I can't recommend what meds to use. Sorry. Good luck with this.
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Hey no problem man. Thanks for the advice, and I will continue to search. If I find the thread I'll let you know, especially if it works for me too.
If its not the hardness, then it must be phenol or some other amino acid byproduct that I don't have a test strip for. The other possibility is that my test strips suck.

I think I'll try the pristine water approach until I find the right meds to buy. Just did another 20% water change with some purified water.
 
yanfloist said:
I agree, that is fin rot. My friend's silver arowana had that too, but more severe. It starts out small but eventually it will eats away at the fins dramatically. And it can spread to the other fins too. From your picture and video, the situation looks like it has gotten worse. If you have a smaller tank to treat the aro by itself that would be best. If you can't then you should lower the water level to at least 50% of what it is now. What I did for my friend was use salt ( 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons), stress coat and melafix - follow the directions. We treated it in a 75 gallon with the water half way full. It took about two and a half week before there was any improvement. I think that this is the best choice for your fish now. Don't wait too long because the fins may not grow back to the same length and size.
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I have a 20 gallon on standby right now for quarantine and medical situations, but I am wondering if it is too small for my 8" aro and maybe will only lead to a more stressful situation. Also is adding salt going to kill beneficial bacteria in a biofilter? Should I only use mechanical filtration and just do 50% water changes every other day? Thanks for the advice man.
 
8" can manage in a 20 gallon

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20% every two weeks? Im sorry, but thats your problem right there. Needs to be minimum 25% a week with an aro. More is better.

Towhead said:
Wow that is discomforting. I'll trust your experience. You are right about the scales. I actually thought he was getting healthier because his scales look like they have had more shine to them the past couple weeks. Now that I inspect them closer, I can see that they are in fact raising up a bit at the bottom and catching the aquarium light more. Is the scale problem due to the fin rot, or is it a symptom of dropsy???

The more I read on fin rot the more depressed I get by the cause of it; poor aquarium maintenance. I thought I was on top of this. I'm doing 20% water changes once every two weeks by vacuuming the bottom. I have snails doing sand duty and plants helping with nitrates. My nitrates have never been over 20 ppm. I'm cycling the water in my 75 gallon tank 6 times per hour with my 450 GPH pump with bio wheels.

I just did a water check with Tetra brand strips, and these are the results:

Ammonia = .5 ppm ( I recently medicated the tank with antibacterial, and I think it may have killed some of my beneficial aerobic bacteria)
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = < 20 ppm
GH = 150 - 300 ppm (hard to very hard)
KH = 80 - 120 ppm (moderate to ideal)
pH = 6.8 to 7.2
Water Temp = 81 deg F (Heated to remain this temp. Should I go higher?)

It seems you're helping Wendy with a similar situation. In my situation could it simply be the hardness of the water leading to a stressful condition? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really love this fish.
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sashimimaster said:
20% every "two" weeks is definitely not enough. I'd do that every 2-3 days until it clears up then 20-30% every week afterwards.
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Yeah I thought since I was monitoring the usual signs of poor water quality, I was ok, but I am learning otherwise. My poor fish is proof. Let this be a warning to you other fish keepers out there who don't water change enough. You know who you are. Thou Shalt Water Change!!!

So far I've done three water 20% changes in 5 days. If the condition doesn't show signs of improvement in 3 weeks of this water change frequency, or if it gets worse, I will move him to the 20 gallon and find some meds.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
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