Help! Arowana is swimming vertically

[joraejay]

Hi guys,

My arowana is swimming vertically (head up). Almost looks like he needs oxygen but he's not swimming at the top of the tank, he kinda just floats all over. All my other fish are fine. There are no signs of stress in the tank, all fish have been living together for about 6 months now.

The only thing I did last night was feed my fish market shrimp. The shrimp was frozen so I thawed it out a bit in Alhambra hot water, to a point where it was half way cooked. I cut the pieces up in little chunks so the arowana can fit it in his mouth.

Tank Size:
100 Gallon, Established for 1.5 year now.

Filtration:
1-Fluval FX5
1-Fluval 405

Tank Stock:
1-Arowana (about 6 inches long)
3-Blood parrot cichlids
1-Pike cichlid (very mellow)
2-Blue botias
2-Clown loaches
1-Pleco

Extras:
Bubblers on each corner of the tank to help water movement

Water test from this morning
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

 

[Bderick67]

You can only speculate as to why it is dying. How much shrimp did it eat? I lost a small black aro to what I believe was overeating.

 

[Gshock]

Always thaw in COLD water. You spoiled the shrimp.

 

[joraejay]

He died, not sure how long he was dead for but I've been gone all day. Thanks for the info Gshock lesson learned the hard way. I did a 40% water change after I took the arow out. Is there anything else I should do? I'll keep an eye out for the water parameters for the next few days...

 

[michalm]

I'm sorry man...

 

[sneary53]

Sorry about the arow friend...

 

[Fai]

Sorry about the loss. I thaw my aros food in warm/hot water and feed her in 15 mins. I have also seen my aro; now 18 inchaes and a year old; sometimes swim vertically in the tank; but this has been common behavior since the last 8 months or so since I have been observiing closely. Looks fine and normal to me. Continues to eat healthy and swim in good form.

Reading your thread, am concerned and will do some research as well.

 

[J.Lake]

I always thaw my shrimp in a bowl ion cold water. They defrost in like 10 mins. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Gshock]

Sorry about the loss. I thaw my aros food in warm/hot water and feed her in 15 mins. I have also seen my aro; now 18 inchaes and a year old; sometimes swim vertically in the tank; but this has been common behavior since the last 8 months or so since I have been observiing closely. Looks fine and normal to me. Continues to eat healthy and swim in good form.

Reading your thread, am concerned and will do some research as well.

Swimming vertically is never a normal thing, something is probably wrong. Start thawing your food in cold water rather than warm or hot.

 

[jlnguyen74]

I'm sorry for your loss. There's nothing wrong with thawing food with warm or hot water. Arowana swims in vertical position is not a good sign. It only does that when it's dying.