Is my arowana getting drop eye

[islandguy11]

Carp buddy, if one does a bit more in-depth research about this topic instead of just perusing and regurgitating the first lines seen in a Google search, they'll find that the sentiment of most experienced Arowana keepers is that the ping pong ball treatment has NO noticeable effect on curing or preventing drop eye. If an Aro already has drop eye it's nigh impossible to get it back to normal short of cosmetic surgery.

While the exact cause(s) of drop eye is not known for sure, the main suspected culprits are:
1) genetics (esp. with Silver Arowana)
2) knocking their head too hard when jumping
3) too much fatty food (e.g. superworms) in diet
4) too strong of overhead lighting, kept on for too long
These are all pretty logical; the one I'm not sure about is whether having tank mates increases or decreases their chances of getting DE. That said, in the wild there are plenty of other fish and critters below them in the water but they rarely if ever develop drop eye.

 

[CarpCharacin]

Carp buddy, if one does a bit more in-depth research about this topic instead of just perusing and regurgitating the first lines seen in a Google search, they'll find that the sentiment of most experienced Arowana keepers is that the ping pong ball treatment has NO noticeable effect on curing or preventing drop eye. If an Aro already has drop eye it's nigh impossible to get it back to normal short of cosmetic surgery.

While the exact cause(s) of drop eye is not known for sure, the main suspected culprits are:
1) genetics (esp. with Silver Arowana)
2) knocking their head too hard when jumping
3) too much fatty food (e.g. superworms) in diet
4) too strong of overhead lighting, kept on for too long
These are all pretty logical; the one I'm not sure about is whether having tank mates increases or decreases their chances of getting DE.

LOL, sorry, I'm no arowana expert, it was just something I read a while back.

 

[islandguy11]

LOL, sorry, I'm no arowana expert, it was just something I read a while back.

I'm no expert either, but when I do research I really do research. It's a tricky and frustrating issue for Arowana owners to be sure: with 2 youngish Asian Arowana you can bet it's something I'm concerned about and so am trying to mitigate any possible causes. The one you can't really do too much about is the jumping and hitting their head given their skittishness esp. when younger (unless you happen to have a nice big pond).

 

[RD.]

That said, in the wild there are plenty of other fish and critters below them in the water but they rarely if ever develop drop eye.

Barrett was spot on, one thing that I will add about Asian aros. (I know nothing about silvers) In the wild, the water that Asian aros are found in is generally quite murky, tannin rich black water, not clear water, so a lot of what is below them would probably not be easily seen. At least not to the point of causing eye strain. Buy yeah, there is a lot of debate as to what causes it.

 

[CarpCharacin]

I think that fish that are less intellegent get drop eye.

 

[aroijuana]

In my experience it usually comes from head trauma and or aggressive tank mates as well as diet. Only thing you can really do to try and prevent it further is move him to a pond. Also I do not believe that it develops in "unintelligent" fish.. quite the opposite really.

 

[RD.]

I think that fish that are less intellegent get drop eye.

The correct spelling is intelligent, which carp seems to continually want to prove, he is not.

 

[CarpCharacin]

The correct spelling is intelligent, which carp seems to continually want to prove, he is not.

I spelled it like that on purpose, because I knew you couldn't resist pointing it out
https://www.businessinsider.com/people-who-correct-typos-may-be-jerks-study-finds-2016-3

 

[islandguy11]

...one thing that I will add about Asian aros. (I know nothing about silvers) In the wild, the water that Asian aros are found in is generally quite murky, tannin rich black water, not clear water....

Good point, in fact tonight after a water change I'm going to get around to trying a 'brown water' treatment with this almond leaf extract stuff in the hopes it will:
a) help a couple of lost scales grow back and color up faster
b) see if it helps relax my Xback a bit, he's kind of aggro sometimes -- attacking nets, or if I surprise him instead of run away he often rushes the front of the tank and gnashes his jaws like he wants to take a chomp.

That said I will likely only use this once in a while as a temporary treatment, I don't want to keep it brown all the time due to worry about chemical/water parameter swings (pretty hard water with high PH here).

But I was going to ask you: I know almond leaves can have the side effect of lowering PH, what, if any, effect would Sodium Chloride and Calcium Chloride being in the mix potentially have on PH? I don't think the salt would affect it (as I'm pretty sure they wouldn't use marine salt), but not sure about the CaCl2.

 

[RD.]

I'm guessing that they add those substances to increase overall hardness, to counter any potential water softening effect that the almond leaf extract may have. Can you buy, or pick up Catappa leaves locally, and make your own extract?