Drop-Eye, current knowledge (2019) ?

[boomerk9]

Here in Southeast Asia, Asian Arowanas with DE are extremely common.
There a commonly seen video of a black aro with DE too in Japan.
Arapaimas get DE quite commonly too.

Read a good article somewhere that argued against fatty diet, genetics, looking down etc. The expert says it's most likely head/skull trauma.

Will share it when I find it.

 

[Leo Messi]

Interesting Leo, I didn't know if Silvers were also prone to DE in the wild

No no, I didn't mean that. I don't know either, but I do not think they get DE in the wild. I just can't imagine that they do get DE in the wild due to having to "exercise" way more, jump/hunt for food etc.

I just think they are generally way more prone to DE than other Aros (Black, Asians etc.) and thus a **** load of Silvers in captivity get a DE because of overfeeding. I think it's not even too much fat in the food, I think it's simply just feeding too much. Then again, hard to really tell. You'd have to buy a few at a small size and raise each one up in a different tank, feed one a lot, feed one just very little, feed one somewhere in between, stronger current etc. etc.

Here in Southeast Asia, Asian Arowanas with DE are extremely common.
There a commonly seen video of a black aro with DE too in Japan.
Arapaimas get DE quite commonly too.

Read a good article somewhere that argued against fatty diet, genetics, looking down etc. The expert says it's most likely head/skull trauma.

Interesting. Could it be that thats the case because in Asia, most ppl have their Arowanas in pretty small tanks? Or feed them way too much?! Crazy though that you've seen videos of Black Aros with DE. I have legit never ever seen a single one here in Europe.

The thing with the head/skull trauma could be interesting too. Maybe if they jumped against the glass/hard lid, or crashed into the viewing panels? Although I really don't think thats the case. But it sounds interesting.

 

[jaws7777]

If it is diet related. What do you all feed your silvers to avoid this ?

 

[boomerk9]

No no, I didn't mean that. I don't know either, but I do not think they get DE in the wild. I just can't imagine that they do get DE in the wild due to having to "exercise" way more, jump/hunt for food etc.

I just think they are generally way more prone to DE than other Aros (Black, Asians etc.) and thus a **** load of Silvers in captivity get a DE because of overfeeding. I think it's not even too much fat in the food, I think it's simply just feeding too much. Then again, hard to really tell. You'd have to buy a few at a small size and raise each one up in a different tank, feed one a lot, feed one just very little, feed one somewhere in between, stronger current etc. etc.



Interesting. Could it be that thats the case because in Asia, most ppl have their Arowanas in pretty small tanks? Or feed them way too much?! Crazy though that you've seen videos of Black Aros with DE. I have legit never ever seen a single one here in Europe.

The thing with the head/skull trauma could be interesting too. Maybe if they jumped against the glass/hard lid, or crashed into the viewing panels? Although I really don't think thats the case. But it sounds interesting.

Here's the video. There's a MFK thread on this from 2013.

 

[islandguy11]

Here's the video. There's a MFK thread on this from 2013.

Interesting, just the way it's using that left eye it gives me the impression that it's quite actively looking down at what's going on below it, and the eye has developed to accommodate this. However, it's just my thought and we can't know if it dropped the eye because of this or if something else did (diet, head trauma or whatever), and it's now just making the most of how it is.

Also that's a pretty shallow tank for the stocking imo, and the other denizens are almost right below the aro -- I wonder if this too might be a factor compared to if that tank was say double in height -- the aro might not be quite so concerned with what's going on below it. Just a possibility, very difficult to prove.

 

[boomerk9]

Eye-Droop in Arowana and Arapaima gigas - AMAZONAS Magazine

Jay Hemdal examine an affliction of fish seen mainly in public aquariums (and a few larger home aquariums); “eye-droop” in the Osteoglossids.

www.reef2rainforest.com

This is the article I meant

 

[headbanger_jib]

This is a niiice discussion on drop eye.

Atm I have arowana which are less than 2 year old.

6 silver arowana and not one with drop eye, grew them in a 220 right from the start, and moved them to the pond.

Diet is mostly roaches, meal worms(when young) now super worms, tilapia fillet and macrobrachium shrimp.

And of the few Asian I have, my 24k xback has drop eye, but this happened, right after the filter crashed, in the tank the fish was.

This fish has drop eye on one eye and it's other eye kinda is tilted upwards

 

[islandguy11]

This is a niiice discussion on drop eye.

Atm I have arowana which are less than 2 year old.

6 silver arowana and not one with drop eye, grew them in a 220 right from the start, and moved them to the pond.

Diet is mostly roaches, meal worms(when young) now super worms, tilapia fillet and macrobrachium shrimp.

And of the few Asian I have, my 24k xback has drop eye, but this happened, right after the filter crashed, in the tank the fish was.

This fish has drop eye on one eye and it's other eye kinda is tilted upwards

Thanks for sharing Jibran. I think we can guess moving your Silvers to that nice pond of yours has very likely helped prevent DE, but that's very interesting (and sorry to hear) about your 24K, first I've personally heard of an eye being tilted up. A couple of questions:
-- Is the 24K still in a tank or in the pond, and any improvement/worsening since the filter crash/start of the symptoms?
-- If its Dropeye (and Upeye?) were related to the filter crash, I wonder what would be the bio-mechanics behind it?

If it were due to ammonia spike there would surely be other indications like ammonia burn. Could high nitrites do something like that, or very high nitrates and/or TDS? I assume it didn't wig out, try to jump out of the tank, which they're known to due if water parameters aren't good, and hit its head on the lid, or you would have noticed some marks.

Just trying to connect the dots if possible.

 

[headbanger_jib]

Thanks for sharing Jibran. I think we can guess moving your Silvers to that nice pond of yours has very possibly helped prevent DE, but that's very interesting (and sorry to hear) about your 24K, first I've personally heard of an eye being tilted up.

My first experience as well, the tilt is very subtle and only when closely observed is it noticeable.
I have a few pics of this fish, never got to them because of the defect.
Will share for sake of information.

A couple of questions:
-- Is the 24K still in a tank or in the pond, and any improvement/worsening since the filter crash/start of the symptoms?

The 24k was in the tank after I noticed that something was wrong, one of my blue eye was sluggish, i immediately did a large water change and added activated carbon and zeolite to the tank.
After three days I noticed some burns on the pleco and skewed eyes on the arowana.

The pleco recovered, but eyes of the arowana didn't, after 10 days moved him to the pond, currently it is a bit shy, will try and get a video, although he started eating and competing with the others in less than a week

-- If its Dropeye (and Upeye?) were related to the filter crash, I wonder what would be the bio-mechanics behind it?

have no clue, but it has a clear de on the right and a subtle tilted up eye on the left.

If it were due to ammonia spike there would surely be other indications like ammonia burn. Could high nitrites do something like that, or very high nitrates and/or TDS? I assume it didn't wig out, try to jump out of the tank, which they're known to due if water parameters aren't good, and hit its head on the lid, or you would have noticed some marks.

No jumping or such thing, but no visible burns on the fins of the arowana, but the pleco did have visible burn marks.

Just trying to connect the dots if possible.

 

[islandguy11]

Appreciate the extra info, I guess there's no telling if the 24k's eyes will stay as they are, but let's hope after being in the pond for a time they normalize, plz keep us updated.