Arowana is dying! Why?

[Xela360]

My 2 and a half year old asian gold arowana is lying head down on the bottom of the tank and im not sure why. It hasnt been eating for 3 weeks now but ive read that they sometimes do this and start eating after a while. It isnt showing any external symptoms either. The only cause i can think of is that around a week ago in the morning i found it with some missing scales, torn fins and a missing barbel and mouth injury. It probably tried to jump. I dont think its a water problem cause i have more sensitive fish in the same tank like peacock and they seem to be doing fine, i cant check cause they dont sell ammonia kits in my country but ph is around 6.5.

Any help on identifying what happened would be appreciated.

 

[Xela360]

Sorry for multiple s of the same photo

 

[kno4te]

That’s not looking good. Sounds like a trauma issue. Can try to separate the fish in another tank. Lower the water level so the fish can stay upright. Reduce stress. Clean water as u can estimate.

 

[Xela360]

I had already done that but its been 12 hours and there has been no signs of improvement. Would any medication help?

 

[kno4te]

I had already done that but its been 12 hours and there has been no signs of improvement. Would any medication help?

If it’s trauma then no. If u suspect swim bladder then try kanamycin and Epsom salt 1 tbsp per 5g.

 

[vtnamezeboi]

Had this happen to my silver. He jumped so hard knocked himself out and never recovered.

 

[islandguy11]

No way of proving it now but I'm just wondering if it was spooked (accidentally or purposely) by another fish, which caused it to jump and hit the lid/rim. At night or when the tank is darker there's an even greater chance of this happening.

Blood Parrots can be jerks sometimes, has it bothered the Aro before? Hope it recovers but have to say it's not looking good, best of luck.

 

[Xela360]

No way of proving it now but I'm just wondering if it was spooked (accidentally or purposely) by another fish, which caused it to jump and hit the lid/rim. At night or when the tank is darker there's an even greater chance of this happening.

Blood Parrots can be jerks sometimes, has it bothered the Aro before? Hope it recovers but have to say it's not looking good, best of luck.

Sorry i didnt have time to reply, it died around 12 hours after i found it like this. It was pretty dominant in the tank the only fish but it would occassionaly get in fights with my clown knife and jardini aro

 

[islandguy11]

Sad to hear that, not much if anything you could have done for it by that stage. Also I apologize to your Blood Parrot: after reading about the other tank mates in your post above, my money is on the Clown Knife spooked him at night, esp. if they have fighting history, as clown knives can be quite active after the lights go out, they usually hunt at night. But again it's just a guess. That said I personally wouldn't keep an Aro and Clown Knife together for this very reason, even if some may have done it successfully.