Blue Base Arowana head scrape

[islandguy11]

Day before yesterday soon after completing a water change, I came back into the room rather quickly which startled my BBXB. I'm now thinking a full length mirror on the wall near that entrance might have contributed.

Anyway she took a quick but strong jump and while luckily the tank lid was closed, she unfortunately scraped her head pretty good on the edge of the tank's 5" glass bracing (a bit over-engineered imo, 4" would have been fine).

I don't think there was too much if any heavy head impact, as I didn't hear a thump and she acted pretty normally afterwards, not like she was stunned; if anything she just looked kinda more pissed off than usual.



So not very pretty atm and always upsetting to see this happen to one of your fish, but it should heal up reasonably quick and at least she didn't lose a scale, which takes way longer to come back fully. The shredded skin will usually drop off after a few days.



So I'll keep her water clean as usual to help prevent secondary infection, but also with a decent sized scrape like this I like to add some cattapa leaf extract solution to aid the healing process. Out of this now but more coming tomorrow.

I also hope some of that lost skin comes back gold and not all dark brown, there were some nice shiny slivers there before, will have to wait and see.

 

[tlindsey]

Day before yesterday soon after completing a water change, I came back into the room rather quickly which startled my BBXB. I'm now thinking a full length mirror on the wall near that entrance might have contributed.

Anyway she took a quick but strong jump and while luckily the tank lid was closed, she unfortunately scraped her head pretty good on the edge of the tank's 5" glass bracing (a bit over-engineered imo, 4" would have been fine).

I don't think there was too much if any heavy head impact, as I didn't hear a thump and she acted pretty normally afterwards, not like she was stunned; if anything she just looked kinda more pissed off than usual.

View attachment 1389855

So not very pretty atm and always upsetting to see this happen to one of your fish, but it should heal up reasonably quick and at least she didn't lose a scale, which takes way longer to come back fully. The shredded skin will usually drop off after a few days.

View attachment 1389858

So I'll keep her water clean as usual to help prevent secondary infection, but also with a decent sized scrape like this I like to add some cattapa leaf extract solution to aid the healing process. Out of this now but more coming tomorrow.

I also hope some of that lost skin comes back gold and not all dark brown, there were some nice shiny slivers there before, will have to wait and see.

Hopes it completely heals back to normal.

 

[Dee eng]

It will heal up in time, my aro have done it a few times. The exposed skin will start to shrink and disappear and new skin will cover the wound in 2-3 months. Btw, beautiful Aro.

 

[islandguy11]

It will heal up in time, my aro have done it a few times. The exposed skin will start to shrink and disappear and new skin will cover the wound in 2-3 months. Btw, beautiful Aro.

Thx Dee eng, esp. when viewed from directly overhead she's a pretty intense dark purple and gold. But yeah like yours she's had a couple of scrapes before, though it's the biggest one, I'm sure it'll also heal up fine as you say, I'll be monitoring it daily.

 

[headbanger_jib]

Bracing always is a danger for fish that jump by getting spooked or while feeding.

From the looks of it he damage though, it's a minor scrape luckily, should heal quite quickly.

 

[islandguy11]

Bracing always is a danger for fish that jump by getting spooked or while feeding.

From the looks of it he damage though, it's a minor scrape luckily, should heal quite quickly.

My same thoughts about bracing, unfortunately pretty much all glass tanks made here (even smaller ones) use bracing in their design. Safer for the tank and one's house, but as you say not for fish prone to playing Air Jordan.

Along these lines I was surprised and not too happy when they delivered this replacement tank with 5" bracing (instead of 4" used in other 325) -- I guess they were trying to be extra safe after BBXB's first 325 cracked lol.

When my Aros (hopefully) get to a stage where they've outgrown their glass 325's I will most likely be going with some other design for bigger homes. Until then I might try to add some kind of protective padding to the bracing in key spots.

 

[Dee eng]

I don’t know if I’m the only one that does his. For the braces I use air hoses that fits to cover the edges of the brace so if they ever jump (they always do) it should protect them from the sharp edge. That’s the only way I’ve kept mine from getting badly hurt.

 

[flukeone]

Mine too has braces. Do you think painting the edges black or something can help avoiding having an aro jump into it?

 

[islandguy11]

I don’t know if I’m the only one that does his. For the braces I use air hoses that fits to cover the edges of the brace so if they ever jump (they always do) it should protect them from the sharp edge. That’s the only way I’ve kept mine from getting badly hurt.

That's actually quite brilliant, Thx for sharing! Going to try this solution later tonite, though the tank's bracing is 12mm thick, so will try first with 3/4" and 1" clear hosing used for water pumps/return lines.

flukeone I personally don't think painting the brace edges black would help; when they spazz they spazz.

 

[Dee eng]

That's actually quite brilliant, Thx for sharing! Going to try this solution later tonite, though the tank's bracing is 12mm thick, so will try first with 3/4" and 1" clear hosing used for water pumps/return lines.

flukeone I personally don't think painting the brace edges black would help; when they spazz they spazz.

Awesome, glad I can help! Yes, 3/4 or 1” should work perfect for 12mm thick brace. That’s what I use for my acrylic tank.