HELP NEEDED!!! Arowana Eye

[Avisek Dasgupta]

Three days ago I saw the right eye of my golden arowana was bulging. While a lot of people are saying that its drop eye, I have a few reasons why I believe that it may be an injury.

Here are the tank parameters:

1. Tank Size: 5x2x2
2. Tank mates: One Flagtail and One pleco
3. Filtration: Eheim Pro 4+ 600 canister and fluvial fx6 canister
4. Constant monitoring of ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, gh, kh and ph shows stable
5. Last water change done yesterday 30%. I do it once every 2 to 3 days 30% to 50%
6. No heater since the temperature is above 30C

Now the reasons why I believe its an injury

1. I have seen the flag tail sometimes bother the arowana, Could it have been that it may have hit the eye?
2. The bulge in the eye appeared almost overnight. Does drop eye happen so quickly?
3. I also see the bulge has some reddish patches on it

This Arowana has been on a market prawns diet since day 1. This probably is the only thing in favour of it being a drop eye.

Please help me identify what the problem is. I understand that if its a drop eye then surgery is the only option but if its an injury I want to treat it right.

Here are some images from today to help you identify.

 

[kno4te]

Not sure if injury or drop eye can be corrected for this fish. If it’s an injury then adding some pure Epsom salt 1 tbsp per 5g may help to reduce swelling. Will see.

 

[Avisek Dasgupta]

Not sure if injury or drop eye can be corrected for this fish. If it’s an injury then adding some pure Epsom salt 1 tbsp per g may help to reduce swelling. Will see.

Is it epsom salt or rock salt?

 

[kno4te]

Is it epsom salt or rock salt?

Epsom salt ( pure so no fragrance).

 

[The Silvs]

I've seen drop eye come on "fast" often the eye socket wont show many signs of pressure behind until it overcomes the sockets grasp on the eye ball and pop out it comes, hence the eye issue coming on fast. Theres a bit of footage on YouTube of aro drop eye surgery. We all know that king of DIY fella! Does this aro share a tank with any bottom dwellers? Theres many keepers believe that the aro's spend so much time looking down at tank mates that it allows a small void to be created behind the eye after so long of "looking down" I cannot guarantee if this is legit or not. I'm not an aro keeper. Best of luck with this mate !

 

[islandguy11]

There are a number of suspected causes of drop eye, such as physical trauma to the head, too fatty of a diet, bright lights kept on too long, possibly genetics, and yes some hold that having tank mates below it might contribute (which imo may be true to some degree, esp. if the fish are very active, but not as big a factor as the other ones mentioned).

Also while I've often seen over-feeding of super worms being associated with drop eye, I've never really heard of market prawns having this association (they're relatively low in fat). However I would try to get your GHXB onto pellets and not solely MP's. If you're only feeding frozen prawns/shrimp you risk problems with Thiaminase causing vitamin B1 deficiency. I would also try to add some frozen fish to its diet. If you can't get your Aro on pellets I'd make sure to soak it's shrimp/fish in a good liquid vitamin 2-3 times a week.

All of that said, Avisek I would agree with your thinking this likely isn't drop eye -- it looks more like a contusion with swelling so for now would follow kno4te'sa advice. If your Flagtail is bothering the Aro my guess is that it spooked your Aro and it spazzed out and smacked into the glass. To avoid such possible incidents is a big reason why I keep my Aros solo.

But only time will tell if it's long-term or not, I hope the swelling goes down and it's back to normal soon, keep us updated.

 

[Avisek Dasgupta]

There are a number of suspected causes of drop eye, such as physical trauma to the head, too fatty of a diet, bright lights kept on too long, possibly genetics, and yes some hold that having tank mates below it might contribute (which imo may be true to some degree, esp. if the fish are very active, but not as big a factor as the other ones mentioned).

Also while I've often seen over-feeding of super worms being associated with drop eye, I've never really heard of market prawns having this association (they're relatively low in fat). However I would try to get your GHXB onto pellets and not solely MP's. If you're only feeding frozen prawns/shrimp you risk problems with Thiaminase causing vitamin B1 deficiency. I would also try to add some frozen fish to its diet. If you can't get your Aro on pellets I'd make sure to soak it's shrimp/fish in a good liquid vitamin 2-3 times a week.

All of that said, Avisek I would agree with your thinking this likely isn't drop eye -- it looks more like a contusion with swelling so for now would follow kno4te'sa advice. If your Flagtail is bothering the Aro my guess is that it spooked your Aro and it spazzed out and smacked into the glass. To avoid such possible incidents is a big reason why I keep my Aros solo.

But only time will tell if it's long-term or not, I hope the swelling goes down and it's back to normal soon, keep us updated.

What an awesome response!

Really appreciate you taking the time to explain this so beautifully.

Will surely keep you posted on the update.

 

[Avisek Dasgupta]

Here’s an update.

it’s gotten worse and clearly looks like an injury now.

 

[Avisek Dasgupta]

Any suggestions?

 

[ECW]

Any suggestions?

Ouch. It definitely looks like an injury. Which is promising in the fact it may not develop into drop eye. What you can do is make sure your water is pristine with daily water changes. Add salt if you’d like and hope for the best. I think it’s promising for a full recovery if you stay on it like you have. Arowanas get crazy sometimes. Lucky he didn’t kill himself. I’ve seen it before...They can be suicidal.