Any ideas on why?

[nolapete]

Silver arowana that I've had for about 5-6 months living in 210 with 8 others exhibiting no problems suddenly stopped eating and is swimming with tail down, nose breaking surface of water, with slight jaw movement breathing. No signs of parasites or any trauma other than a little fin fraying.

Tank mates:
8 silver arowanas
7 turquoise herichthys
pink giant gourami
acarichthys hecklii
chocolate cichlid
3 botia modesta
5 clown loaches
4 bocourti
fat sleeper goby

The only aggression in the tank is between the pink giant gourami and the bocourti. Everyone else gets along.

They were off feed for a few days, but that's never been a problem in the past. I've always fasted my fish on occasion to clear digestive tract.

I doubt he's going to make it, but curious as to what might be the cause. Just did a water change and he is swimming nearly vertical now instead of horizontal.

 

[Columbian Shark Catfish]

That is really weird. I hope he makes it.
I'll TTT it for you

 

[Bderick67]

My guess would be that it got spooked, and jumped into the top or slammed into the side glass. Probably has caused some internal damage. If it is swimming vert, it won't last for long.

 

[nolapete]

I think that's probably it as well. Eyes are getting that predeath blank look as I type this unfortunately. I thought eggcrate as a jump preventer would be better than glass tops, but evidently that is not the case. I'm going to pick up some nylon screen this weekend and build some covers out of that. Maybe that'll prevent jumping AND head trauma. Unfortunate for a perfectly healthy fish to meet with its demise this way

 

[classic-chassis]

Egg crate can hurt the fish because of the sharp edges. Sorry to hear about the fish.

 

[jwong1024]

stress???? you have lots of big aggressive fish.

 

[peewee]

8 silvers in a 210? OMG! +++ all those fish, survival of the fittest!

 

[nolapete]

They aren't big. About a foot maybe. I got them when they were half that size. They aren't crowded at all. It's a 7'x2'x2' tank.

Head trauma is the only thing that makes sense as there are no other problems in the tank.

 

[nolapete]

I think I found the source of my problem. A costly one at that as I'm losing two more arowanas as I speak.

The gumbo shrimp 1 lb. packs from Rouse's (grocery store here) have Sodium Tripolyphosphate and Sodium bisulfite added which is known to be toxic to aquatic organsims. I can't believe I didn't read the label first.

 

[phillydog1958]

if the shrimp are for human consumption, why would they harm your fish? please explain.