African arowana fin rot

[graylizard]

I would like to start with, I got this arowana 3-4 weeks ago. He is 6 inches long. I have been documenting him on my YouTube channel with weekly updates. I had him with two baby bichirs and a baby clown knife. He was in a 55 gallon with currently an algae bloom and weekly water changes. He was active and eating very well and seems to be holding onto a little weight. But my friend came over last night and noticed that something looked wrong with him. We caught him out and put him in a inspection tank and realized that he had some bad fin rot. I moved him into a 20 gallon grow out tank after doing a 70% water change and moving the fish out.

How do I treat him? Can I treat him.
I would be devastated if I lost him because I wasn’t observant enough.
Any help and advice is appreciated.him last night in the 20 gallon after a feeding

 

[Ansorgii]

Algae bloom and fins like that scream Amonia poisoning to me. How long was the tank running? And what media do you use in your filter.

If it is that, clean water and time will be everything he needs. Maybe you can increase the healing with higher temperatures and some tanins.

That he is still eating is good, but if I remember correctly african Arowanas constantly sift the sand to filter it for food, so especially when they are young they need lots of small portions during the day to really put on weight.

 

[graylizard]

Algae bloom and fins like that scream Amonia poisoning to me. How long was the tank running? And what media do you use in your filter.

If it is that, clean water and time will be everything he needs. Maybe you can increase the healing with higher temperatures and some tanins.

That he is still eating is good, but if I remember correctly african Arowanas constantly sift the sand to filter it for food, so especially when they are young they need lots of small portions during the day to really put on weight.

I’m using a 75 gallon hang on the back filter running filter pads/ cartridges with a little bit of filter floss. It was running for 3 weeks before I got him. I thought ammonia but the water is good on nitrite and nitrate. I am still in high school and so my ability to feed him during the day is limited. And I heard that keeping them with a algae bloom allows them to feed on the algae, which I was using as a day time source of food I would feed 2 blood work cubes in the morning (6:40-7:00) 2 when I got home (3:40-4:00) and 2 blood worm cubes before I went to bed (8:00-11:00) with occasional feeding before, around dinner time (6:00-8:00). How do I get tannins? I was recommended by the seller to use aquarium salt and some medication.

 

[Ansorgii]

Nitrite and Nitrate are what ammonia gets turned into by the bacteria, if the bacteria aren't there to do so, you can't measure them and your fish will get ammonia burns. However some fish are more sensitive than others, and it might only affect a few.

Having an algae bloom in an Aquarium always means the nutrients are of the chart, and since your Aquarium is new it can only really be ammonia unless your tapwater is very contaminated.

If you start your filter media from zero, you need to built the bacteria culture first before you ad larger fish. The beginning of that process is always awful, but where you are rn I would recommend to keep your sensitive fish in a different Aquarium with clean water, and let your main tank run without water changes until the algae bloom is over, which siganls the bacteria is there and did the job.

And for feeding, 3 times a day is already good. I would just recommend to get him on good pellets (I always recommend sera granured nature) as Bloodworms are not a good basis for larger fish diets. They are Sandsifters, so I don't know if they can make use of the suspendet algae which is usually a lot finer.

You can get tannins as a concentrate or just use any dried hardwood leafes (oak for example) or the wood itself if it aged enough from the trees you have around and that you know aren't poisonous. My go to always is ***us sylvatica leafs, but idk if you have them around. Tannins stabilize the water, make it easier for the fish to absorb nutrients and are anti fungal and bacterial.

Salt helps the ease the load on the skin and especially slimecoating, however not all fish tolerate it. So be aware if you have one of these fish.

Medication is a whole different discussion and a Pandoras Box for some, so I will stay away from that topic.

 

[Ansorgii]

If you have a friend with a good running setup, maybe you can ask him if you can get some of his "filter-mud". Just take a bucket of water, wash/squeeze one of his sponges in it and put that in your tank. It will accelerate the process a lot.

Just be sure his tank is healthy and has no problems with parasites or unwanted bacteria.

 

[danotaylor]

So 2 Birchers, a baby clown knife and an African lung fish all in a 3 week old tank…is that correct?
Is there an established filter on the 20 gallon?

 

[graylizard]

So 2 Birchers, a baby clown knife and an African lung fish all in a 3 week old tank…is that correct?
Is there an established filter on the 20 gallon?

If you have a friend with a good running setup, maybe you can ask him if you can get some of his "filter-mud". Just take a bucket of water, wash/squeeze one of his sponges in it and put that in your tank. It will accelerate the process a lot.

Just be sure his tank is healthy and has no problems with parasites or unwanted bacteria.

Yes that is correct. But from what is sounds, that wasn’t enough time? This is 1 of my 10 fish tanks. I used water from my 125 (1year old) and 75 (2 years old) I used some substrate from my 125 in the 55. The 20 gallon has been running for a year now and has gone back and forth being a grow out tank and a hospital tank. The 20 gallon also has a sponge filter. I have medicated and added salt to the 20 gallon for the arowana. I took the carbon pad out and replaced it with filter floss.

 

[danotaylor]

You really didn’t provide enough info in your initial post. Anything that looks like ammonia burns etc is gonna elicit responses that related to age of the set up, bioload and filtration.
Using substrate from another established tank is a good head start for beneficial bacteria colony, but your bioload was very heavy right off the bat and you likely had ammonia spike caused by a mini cycle.
So you’re saying the filter on the 20gal is mature w fully established beneficial bacteria colony? Is the aro in that on his own? Then weekly large water changes & salt at 1tbsp/5gal should see things turn around slowly.
You mentioned meds, what did you use?

 

[Ansorgii]

The bacteria always need some time to establish themselves and find a balance in your filter. Using water and substrate from estblished tanks was the right start, but they could not keep up with the load you put on them or were still in the process of finding balance. Its difficult to put a certain timeframe on processes like that, as it all comes down to the individual situation and the current process.

The Algae bloom was the clearest sign that something was off and should have been a clear warning to not ad more fish and be aware of ammonia. But I think you learned that lesson and will be aware of that in the future.

There are some tanks, for breeding amphipods for example, that have such algae blooms on purpose, but they are due to different processes and in a regular fishtank it is not something you want to see.

 

[graylizard]

You really didn’t provide enough info in your initial post. Anything that looks like ammonia burns etc is gonna elicit responses that related to age of the set up, bioload and filtration.
Using substrate from another established tank is a good head start for beneficial bacteria colony, but your bioload was very heavy right off the bat and you likely had ammonia spike caused by a mini cycle.
So you’re saying the filter on the 20gal is mature w fully established beneficial bacteria colony? Is the aro in that on his own? Then weekly large water changes & salt at 1tbsp/5gal should see things turn around slowly.
You mentioned meds, what did you use?

The bacteria always need some time to establish themselves and find a balance in your filter. Using water and substrate from estblished tanks was the right start, but they could not keep up with the load you put on them or were still in the process of finding balance. Its difficult to put a certain timeframe on processes like that, as it all comes down to the individual situation and the current process.

The Algae bloom was the clearest sign that something was off and should have been a clear warning to not ad more fish and be aware of ammonia. But I think you learned that lesson and will be aware of that in the future.

There are some tanks, for breeding amphipods for example, that have such algae blooms on purpose, but they are due to different processes and in a regular fishtank it is not something you want to see.

sorry if I came off a little rude. Bioload wise I didn’t know that having two bichirs a clown knife and an arowana was too much. Yes the 20 gallon filter is established. Yes the arowana is now on his own. I moved to the red tail that I was growing out in that tank into a larger tank, did a water change and syphoned the tank, and then added the arowana. For medicine I used API E.M. Erythromycin.