MY aro have brain damage?

[Exile]

3 nights ago my arowana had what I would describe as a spaz attack and jumped and hit the hood atleast twice with a considerable "thud". Hes been jumping and hitting the hood every night last week but nothing like this occurrence. The next day I had a hard time getting him to eat his silversides, which is very concerning since he use to stare me down and get excited any time I approached the tank cause he wanted to be fed.

Now he is extremely sensitive and skittish. Before this incident he was an average level of skittish getting spooked if I suddenly approached the tank but now if I stand 5-6ft away from the tank and move my arm he gets extremely stressed often running into the walls or going into a corner and settling at the bottom. When i move away from the tank he resumes the normal arowana cruise along the top from one side of the tank to the other but when ever he sees me getting remotely close he stresses out as stated above.

Right after his spaz (which took place at night after the lights shut off) I removed roughly 40% water and only refilled about 30% leaving the tank about 5" lower. I added salt and a generous amount of stress coat.

Has my arowana caused himself brain damage?

- Had him for over a month now
- Nearly 10 inches in length
- Knife fish hes with tends to swim up to him at night, never actually touching him.
- The top of his head shows gouges in it and hes lost a scale or two.

 

[jsodwi]

I had a 28" one that was 4 years old he did the same thing the last month I had him. Stopped eating and would ram the glass tops over and over again for a couple weeks straight. He finally layed down one night and died

 

[T@nkbuster]

I had a 28" one that was 4 years old he did the same thing the last month I had him. Stopped eating and would ram the glass tops over and over again for a couple weeks straight. He finally layed down one night and died

That's a sad story man...

Exile, your aro is probably still trying to get used to his new home and you. My silver has been with me now for just over 5 months now, is about the same size as yours, and is still not used to me. Sometimes it cowers away in one corner when I come by to feed it, other days it'll be swimming around not minding me being there. Same thing happens when I do water changes: sometimes it'll just 'sit' in one corner, sometimes it'll be swimming happily, and once in a while it'll get upset and trash around a bit. I've also seen it jumping and hitting the hood a few times. I have to say its behavior is less predictable, if that can be said of them, compared to my jar and yellow-tail.

If it's still eating, even a little, since the 'spaz' episode, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Exile]

Thanks tankbuster, you made me recall when i first got this aro he behaved similarily to that of his current behavior, which settles me a little. However I havent seen this behavior for about three weeks ( Ive had him for just over a month ).
I plan to do another WC today along with filter maitenance. I didnt feed him last night cause i was occupied with something else, so i hope he will accept food when i get home.

Posted via Android.

 

[Exile]

I just fed him, his condition is most intriguing. He is acting almost exactly as he was when I first got him, very stressed when I approach the tank and laying on the bottom when I leave the wooden canopy open.

He didn't hesitate to gulp up the silversides. However he didn't swallow them until I moved away from the tank, which he didn't do prior to the spaz.

I want to emphasize that I think, according to his behavior, this fish was fully adjusted to his new home prior to the spaz. I had him eating out of my hand on a daily basis and he got "excited" when I approached the tank by swimming vigorously into the glass at the point that I was approaching. Now as I have stated he is hypersensitive to me approaching the tank, laying down on the sand keeping his attention focused on me.

It seems as if he has lost all his memory of being in this tank and that someone approaching the tank means food. I am most curious to see if he infact just lost his memory or these are just the intial symptoms of a more serious, possibly fatal, issue.

Wish him luck!

 

[Bderick67]

He is injured and stressed from the injury. Best thing you can do is leave him alone for a few days. He will either get better or worse, there is nothing that you can do right now.

 

[T@nkbuster]

Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

[Exile]

I have noticed that one of his eyes is beginning to drop, supporting the DE trauma theory. Perhaps this slight change in angle of his eye is disorienting him and causing a significant amount of stress.

Slightly annoys me that he is developing it at his small size but I suppose it was some what inevitable with time and growth.

 

[solara]

What you can do is cover half bottom of the tank and don't let too much light shine into the tank. The purpose is to let it calm down for couple of days, sometime weeks. In this case, i would leave some feeders in there so that you don't have to come close to the tank and might stress him more. Also the live food will encourage them to swim more. A lot of silver arow will have drop eyes but the best we can do is to create attraction on the top of the tank but you will have to make sure the top is completely covered. In addition, i would add more salt and stress relief for it too. GL to you.

 

[Exile]

Just did a 60% WC. Added stress coat and more salt... He was laying on the bottom today without anyone in the room, which I've never seen him do prior to his "spaz". Hes been swimming since I refilled the tank. He just ate some silversides as well.

I don't want to leave the lights off... when the lights go out my knifefish starts swimming around. The knifefish sometimes swims up to the arowana in the dark and makes him jump. Hes probably responsible for my aro's injury.. I'll be getting rid of the knifefish next week for more than this reason alone.

There is a definite "personality" change since his head trauma. I really liked the way he was before, acted much like my Angelfish do when you approach the tank...getting excited wanting to be fed. Now hes just a skittish fella who runs into walls and lays on the sand. This all could change, I don't know...only time will tell.
I suppose I am grateful hes still alive and eating good.

I will be leaving Wednesday to go out of state till Sunday, going to have a buddy watching the house. He will feed my fish but unfortunately doesn't have the experience to give an accurate assessment of my arowana while I'm away.

Sure would be nice to return to my arowana back to his normal self though!!!