Silver Arowana not swimming and darting

[tlindsey]

Hopefully they do chime in. I don't wanna stick on this forum forever waiting on an answer. I'll see about grabbing some Hikari floating food sticks for now. I've turned the oxygen generator back up and for now and just left the lights off. The aro seems to be swimming a little more, but we will see. Fingers crossed and waiting.

Great to hear it is swimming more.
JK47
S skjl47
duanes

Need help with why ph is not stable.

 

[tlindsey]

Hopefully they do chime in. I don't wanna stick on this forum forever waiting on an answer. I'll see about grabbing some Hikari floating food sticks for now. I've turned the oxygen generator back up and for now and just left the lights off. The aro seems to be swimming a little more, but we will see. Fingers crossed and waiting.

Great to hear it is swimming more.
JK47
S skjl47
duanes

Need help with why ph is not stable.

 

[skjl47]

Suggest stop feeding feeder Goldfish to the Aro. If feeders aren't quarantined they can infect your aquarium with parasites and bacterial disease.

hello; Consider this.

Do you plan on upgrading soon like about 3 months or less.

now my arowana is about 7-8 inches long

Hello; While stocking density is not a settled thing, my take is the 55 tank is overstocked especially with a WC only once a week.

beef heart

hello; Do a search on beef heart. Some do not use it.

water changes, I do one every sunday. Is this too often or not enough?

Hello; With some ammonia in you test results it seems more WC are called for. Say three times a week of some percentage. May be 50% or more volume may wind up being needed. Check the water to see what WC schedule will be needed.

I don't wanna stick on this forum forever waiting on an answer

Hello; We may not have "an answer" so to speak. Most likely you will take exception to some suggestions. For example, The 55 is not big enough for the fish you already have and likely can only be kept tolerable with frequent and large WC. With the fish you have a much bigger tank is needed right away and not later on. My guess on the size tank based on other arowana threads is a tank of multiple hundreds of gallons will be needed.

Good luck anyway.

 

[Evoyang87]

hello; Consider this.




Hello; While stocking density is not a settled thing, my take is the 55 tank is overstocked especially with a WC only once a week.

hello; Do a search on beef heart. Some do not use it.


Hello; With some ammonia in you test results it seems more WC are called for. Say three times a week of some percentage. May be 50% or more volume may wind up being needed. Check the water to see what WC schedule will be needed.


Hello; We may not have "an answer" so to speak. Most likely you will take exception to some suggestions. For example, The 55 is not big enough for the fish you already have and likely can only be kept tolerable with frequent and large WC. With the fish you have a much bigger tank is needed right away and not later on. My guess on the size tank based on other arowana threads is a tank of multiple hundreds of gallons will be needed.

Good luck anyway.

Thank you so much for the response and I will go ahead and do a water change tomorrow for sure. I will shoot for 50% and test the water after. Hopefully the PH level levels out a little higher around 7.0 and the ammonia drops to 0%.

As for feeding, I will attempt to grab some small crickets tomorrow. Hopefully my arowana tolerates or better yet, loves em. For the tank, what size would you recommend that would be stable enough to raise it for the next year or so? Would a 100 gallon tank suffice for his size? I feel like the tank I have right now seems pretty big for his size, but then again I am no expert and this is my first arowana.

 

[Bonytang]

You mentioned symptoms started after giving feeders.. could be he ate too much and doesn't know how to regurgitate // or feeders may have caused bacterial infection. I stopped feeding aro live food b/c of that.. If you can add a tankmate help stimulate activity. could also lower the water level in your tank too. aro is top swimmer, high water level keeping them closer to roof of tank, if he is shy aro...he's hiding. take away room to hide and he'll be normal.

recommend adjusting pH slowly. ketapang is best.

 

[skjl47]

Would a 100 gallon tank suffice for his size? I feel like the tank I have right now seems pretty big for his size, but then again I am no expert and this is my first arowana.

hello; My suggestion is to do a search on arowana. Several threads on the subject here. Best as I can recall some suggest a 300+ gallon tank for a lone adult arowana. Not sure what the minimum size may be. I also understand there are some varieties that get bigger than others so that is a factor to take into account.

Hello; One more comment. Chasing pH is a difficult thing. I stopped decades ago. My take is a consistent stable pH is better tolerated by a lot fish more than a regular flux in pH when you try to adjust it. I know it may limit what fish you can keep but it is so much easier to keep fish that tolerate your source water than to modify the water.

 

[slipshodman]

One more comment. Chasing pH is a difficult thing. I stopped decades ago. My take is a consistent stable pH is better tolerated by a lot fish more than a regular flux in pH when you try to adjust it. I know it may limit what fish you can keep but it is so much easier to keep fish that tolerate your source water than to modify the water.

Totally agree on this point, chasing PH is like chasing a rainbow

 

[Bonytang]

hello; My suggestion is to do a search on arowana. Several threads on the subject here. Best as I can recall some suggest a 300+ gallon tank for a lone adult arowana. Not sure what the minimum size may be. I also understand there are some varieties that get bigger than others so that is a factor to take into account.

Hello; One more comment. Chasing pH is a difficult thing. I stopped decades ago. My take is a consistent stable pH is better tolerated by a lot fish more than a regular flux in pH when you try to adjust it. I know it may limit what fish you can keep but it is so much easier to keep fish that tolerate your source water than to modify the water.

Totally agree on this point, chasing PH is like chasing a rainbow

You have to look at it differently, pH can be looked at a few ways -

- When you transfer a fish to a tank you're assuming the hardness you're transferring your fish into is the same hardness it just came from. When you wonder why fish aren't acting normal after transferring them you need to consider OSMOTIC PRESSURE.

- Cytolysis, or Osmotic Shock is what happens when the cell wall burst due to drastic changes in hardness. It's on wikipedia too.

- When breeding, or considering introducing trace elements for vitamin deficiency, nutrient solution, aquaculture, or whatever.. pH will be the difference in stabilizing // metals, bacteria, even disease.

When i change or adjust pH, I look at it as if I'm treating an ecosystem. Do you put tapwater straight into your tank? That's fine if u do but rather.. distill your water w/ the ketapang already in it. With the water container you're using to do a water change, let the leaves soak in there and only pour half of hat water at a time so all the ketapang jizz soaks up in the water container all the time.

I'm into aquaponics and when i do nutrient/ water change that's how i do w/ pH. Slowly but on point. If you want your plants to grow, use less chemicals, adjust your pH if u can based on the temperament of your fish.

that's why just use reverse osmosis water if u can