Arowana Drop eye, cure?

[HardcoreYobo]

I have a 8 inch silver arowana that was in a 55gal tank when it was about 6.5 inches, that was developing drop eye, and cloudy eye (I think due to damage to the eye, and not bad water quality), anyways, we needed the tank for a black, so we moved the silver to our 900 gallon pond. After a month or so, it looks like the drop eye has disappeared. I can't see the side of the eyes, but from the top it looks pretty much like it's gone now...

I was wondering if that's even possible, or if I can't tell since I can't see it from the side very well...

It also got a nice dark tan. I'll try and post pix later if I can.

Thanks!

 

[scriving]

i have heard this work before

 

[Egon]

It would be nice if you could see it from the side just to be sure. There's a big debate on the causes of Drop Eye. Some models are: Heredity/bad breeding/inbreeding, head trauma from hitting the top of the tank, just being in the aquarium and only looking down lack of exercise of the eye mussels? If your saying the DE went away when the fish was moved to the pond then this data supports the aquarium model/lack of exercising the eye muscles. Interesting for sure, but you would have to really take a look at it from the side.

 

[Chaitika]

Well if you think it had cloudy eye due to some damage, the eye may have been inflamed or bulging due to an injury. Eye or tissue around the eye heals up and it's back to normal. Just a thought.

 

[HardcoreYobo]

Well if you think it had cloudy eye due to some damage, the eye may have been inflamed or bulging due to an injury. Eye or tissue around the eye heals up and it's back to normal. Just a thought.

Could be, but i think it was getting DE before it had the cloudy eye... >.< but I can't remember..

but interesting that it has been heard of tho... nice to know if any of my others get DE, heal them up and bring them back? lol

thanks everyone!

 

[roninkenshin]

It makes sense, the sky is the limit vs looking at the underside of a hood all the time.

 

[Zoodiver]

It's my opinion that the #1 cause of drop eye is keeping them in tanks. In the wild, arowana hand out at the top of the water column and constantly look horizontal and up at what is out of the water - searching for food and watching for predators (many of the largest predatory animals it needs to be aware of come from out of the water). In a tank setting, there is nothing to look up at, only below it. Eye muscles are not designed for prolonger viewing in that manner. Hence drop eye due to strain on the muscles. Captive aros kept in ponds or open top tanks (more natural settings) do not show signs of drop eye. Also, when animals with drop eye are moved to open top areas, the muscles (for the most part) tend to adapt back to what they do naturally.

One of the easiest ways to prevent drop eye is to have things floating on the surface of the tank.....fishing bobbers or floating plants work.

 

[sbuse]

it is unfixable if it is from serious head trauma...imo...it it was just a bump then maybe...if it was to hard of an impact then i don't think it is possible to undo...

i (aswell as many others) belive that de is caused for the most part or directly corralated to head trama...as many of us including myself have watched de form infront of our eyes imidiatly after an impact...the only flaw i can see in it is that in the wild they jump and it tree limbs to eat insects or small animals...while doing this they do impact the tree limb on many occations...though most of these wild limb impacts are from the inside of the mouth placing pressure from the underside of the eye, they still get some top side hits...all the while remaining de free...i also beleve that genetics play a large factor in it, but that is a whole other story...

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Considering giving arowana another try, this has been a very helpful thread.

 

[Egon]

Considering giving arowana another try, this has been a very helpful thread.

I have a 34" Black that does not have DE. Maybe look into a black next time. Unfortunately they are all wild caught. But that's the reason IMO they don't have DE. Natural selection keeps the defects out of wild caught.