Sad Day

so i came home today at about 730 from work to find my new silver arrowanna half dead in my tank he was nose down tail up on the bottom of the tank barely breathing... i tried holding him and moving him around to get some oxygen through his gills and it seemed to work i even tried to hand feed him some krill and he was trying sooo hard to eat but just didnt have the strength and he finally gave up and let go .... i got it from pet pourri in everett and i dont blame them for him dieing but when my girlfriend called them they pretty much said they wouldnt do anything about it cuz there was no worranty on the fish ... shoot happeneds i just didnt want my fish to die

just thought i would share

How long ago did you get the arowana?
do you know why it die?

i got it about a week ago i think if that... i dont know why it died i had it in my 90 gallon tank with a senagal bichir that is doing great i have absolutly no idea why he died

thats a bummer man..... I dont know much about water parameters for the fish... or water temp. maybe someone that keeps some will have more insight.... whats the water levels at???

well i completly cleaned out the tank and i mean off the stand cleaning the glass by hand when i filled it i through in my chems and let it run without filter elements for about 2 days straight giving it time to filter the chemicals and get the water to the right temp and like i said the senegal is doing excellent so i dont know why the aro didnt do well but it really sucks for a such an amazing fish to go to waste like this

You only waited 2 days before adding him to the tank?

you know what dude your reply is not helpful at all, reading your post makes you sound like your calling me an idiot or something and i dont appreciate it. so unless your trying to say " hey man your really supposed to wait x ammmount of days before your tank is ready " (which would actually be somewhat constructive) ... dont say anything

unfortunatly, there are so many reasons it could of been, unless it was somthing obviouse. then there is no way to tell. i dont think waiting two days is a problem, from my understanding, you need fish to start the cycle. sorry you lost your fish, always sucks.

out of curiousity, what can benifit from waiting more then 24 hours to add say 1 to 3 fish?

JLux, here's a post about cycling your tank. I think that's what regan was asking about the 2 days for - it takes about 30 days to cycle a tank start to finish unless you accelerate it using chemicals or you have a source of beneficial bacteria that you haven't harmed to add to the tank.

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Sounds to me like an ammonia spike.... Had the same problem once.... and it happens to everyone....

Although rinsing out the tank, cleaning the gravel may make it look like the water is sparkling clean, but what youve done is just started a tank cycle all over again by doing it.... (I did something similar myself not too long ago)

Especially when changing your filter media with new stuff after you do a large water change, this causes an ammonia spike because you dont have the neccesary benefitial bacteria in the filter/water, so the fish poop makes ammonia, no bacteria to kill it, fish die... especially more fragile ones like your arrow. bummer, he was probably an expensive fish, but if you brought in a water sample with your fish dead, they wouldnt have returned the money.... cause I am assuming your ammonia/nitrite levels were thru the roof.

Get yourself a test kit, or ilteast test strips to watch your water parameters... this way if you start to see something going out of control, you can do a big water change and maybe save some fish.

good luck, and hopefully in another two weeks you can get another arrow and wont have the same problem.

Sorry for your loss, but I would say it was due to the uncycled tank. 2 days is not nearly long enough to cycle a tank. Some fish are heartier than others, I have always heard Arowana are kind of sensitive. And I don't think regan was trying to call you an idiot, she was just questioning the length of time you waited. Cycling a tank is a complex affair and if it is not done correctly, you get dead fish.

I cycle my tanks with established filters and media, this expedites the bacterial establishment in a tank. I wait a week and test the water daily. I even "feed" the tank to get some ammonia in the mix to keep the good bacteria alive and fed.

The post Larry linked is an excellent resource. I hope it goes better for you next time.

none the less all of the info here has been helpfull and i apologize for getting defensive im just a bit dissapointed with the dead fish so im not in the best mood right now so again sorry regan no hard feelings im going to pick up some more tests tomorrow when i can get away from work and when its ready i hope to find another aro because they are such a cool fish ...as for the pet store i guess there is no warranty on aros there because they are so sensitive it just would have been nice to know that was one of the only fish that didnt have the 15 day warranty i should have been more cautious

We learn through our experiences man. You'll probably never have this happen again. I did it once too - didn't lose the fish, but I had a mini-cycle with juvies in the tank and caught them just in time. I had the good fortune to be home and to see the early signs. I'm sorry you didn't have that chance too.

Wow that sucks!

I started my 100 gallon on a two day cycle. The people at the store said it was enough time(big Chain Store). I had 5 giant danio and a pictus cat. I waited a week and added my dovii and so on and so forth. I think i just got lucky.

Sorry for your loss though.

I have started up 3 tanks now 1 with old substrate and 2 others with new substrate, but all 3 I used tank water from other tanks and I always have extra air powered sponge filters in my tanks for when I need to do this. 2 out of the 3 tanks I put anywhere from 8 to 12 fish in the tanks after 2 days but waited another day before I started feeding them once a day very sparse then a little more each day so the bio load wouldnt be overloaded. One tank I waited 4 days because after the first day I had a ammonia spike so I did water changes for the next 2 days till the spike was done. Havent lost a fish doing it this way.

Well since everyone is probably right about the cause of death being the uncycled tank I will just add a suggestion. Definitely buy the test kit where you add the drops to the test tubes full of tank water. Don't but the strips. The actual kit is way more accurate. Good luck.

I was like dang I'm just asking so I can tell you about cycling.

I would never recommend putting fish in a tank that soon. Even if the fish DO survive you put them through an incredible amount of stress and pain.

Oh I'm sorry I left out a huge detail about when I started my tank. I did use hose water and waited for it to warm up, but when I bought my tank it came with a fluval 405 and the guy said he left water in there for me, "it will be good for my fish" he said. So that's is probably why mine didnt die. I know that doest really help you but just thought i would mention it.

Sorry again.

actually wolf keeper, that is exactly what saved your fish.... having established filter/media in your tank keeps all the needed bacteria to kill the ammonia.... Good thing you used that 405 and didnt change all the stuff in it, or you wouldve had some dead fish

sandnuka wrote:actually wolf keeper, that is exactly what saved your fish.... having established filter/media in your tank keeps all the needed bacteria to kill the ammonia.... Good thing you used that 405 and didnt change all the stuff in it, or you wouldve had some dead fish

yeah he told me to nit change anything yet. So I didn't.

maybe if i transter some water from my established 55 it will help balance my 90? what do ya guys think?

that should help some but you would be better off transferring some media out of the filter on your 55 to your 90 gl that will go a lot farther than just the water (the water holds some bacteria but not as much as what is in the filter material) even if its only half of what you have in the filter not sure what your using i believe HOB's if i remember for a previous thread if thats the case just move the whole filter that probably your easiest option hope it helps

Bacteria collects more on the ornaments/plants/gravel/filtration... So if you take maybe a handful of gravel, one of your plants (if you have any in there), and a "dirty" cartridge, that would probably help more.

I agree with icer711 and regan24 100%.... puttin in water may even cause another ammonia spike because the waste in the other tank will come to your new one, and you wont have any good bacteria yet...... So definetly move a filter over... that will kill your cycle time immediatly...

Good luck

So sorry for the loss.
Keeping arowana's isn't an easy task, as with any high maintainance fishes.
Besides water param. location and setup for any aro. is important.

Some times, it's the fish that isn't strong nor capable to be kept long term.
If you need some advice about aro. hit me up.

well what actually exited me the other night is when i went to feed my senegal i saw what looked like little blades of grass growing between the rocks and then i realized when i had the rocks in wa bucket outside it was below a bird feeder from my neighbores in the apartment above ...so that must be a good sign right? haha

hmm..... well I dont think the bird seed is turning to grass in your tank? Possiblty hair alge?? Even if it was the bird seed growing, it wouldnt have anything to do with your tank being ready.....

But, Its possible your tank is ready cause you still have a live fish in there, and you've been feeding him. Did you get a test kit? like i said, if you dont want to fork over the 32 bucks for a freshwater test kit itleast get some test strips... gotta check the water before you put in an expensive and more difficult fish to keep... make sure PH, hardness, nitrate are all where they should be.

well i know its not grass haha it just looks like grass right now i dont know what it is but its growing fast and im just about to swap filters as well and im kinda strapped for cash right now and cant afford to spend anything on my tanks untill i pay rent ...laaaame

I would not put any fish worth anything over a dollar in your tank until you get some kind of test kit..... as soon as you jump to moderate and difficult fish to keep, the water in your tank has to be specific to the lake there from.... for example my africans from lake tang require higher ph (i put a lil baking soda in) and harder water (epsom salt works great for this).... then my discus require soft water (plants work) and a lower ph (C02, some ph decrease stuff)....

So really important, especially when your spending the big bucks on fish to get some kind of test kit.... I know your not plannin on spending anything on the tank now, but next time your in the pet store buy test stuff first before gettin a fish.

good luck

To be truthful you dont have to be specific to a lake the fish came from, only if it was wild caught or your raising fry. When fish are raised by local breeders or pet stores the fish are already at juvenile or older stage and most of the time there far away from WC and can tolerate water parameters outside there WC relatives. I know for a fact some breeders of tropheus raise fry and there parents in 7.2 to 7.4 PH and they breed like crazy. Sometimes its better to stick with the water parameters you already have for where you live.Adding all those chemicals and additives to the water to get your water to ideal conditions may only cause stress to your fish.If you take the time to acclimate your fish to your water parameters without all the chemicals your fish will only be happier and you also because now you dont have to worry when doing water changes that your water is going to be the same as whats in the tank.

JLux, a lot of fish stores will test the water for you free of charge if you take in a small sample. It would be good to know at least the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings are safe before adding fish. I'm not sure, but I think even the chain pet stores will test for you.

actually now that i think about it your right i think the will test it for you maybe ill tsake some down today if i can get awa for a little bit thanks

Didnt even think of having the LFS test it for ya! thanks... great information!

addictedtofish - I know several people that keep there rift lake fish at lower ph.... I think I wrote this in a thread once... but I went to friends house who was housing africans and SA cichlids in a large tank together... his africans looked really dull in color to me, I asked him what his water parameters were and they were at the high 6's.... thats the way it came out of his tap he said.... anyway, I ended up takin the africans off of his hands and when i put them in higher PH water there color brightened up so much... I mean he couldnt believe they were the same fish when he came over.... so, fish can live in water parameters that are different to there lake, but I have noticed you get a more active, happier, better lookin fish if you make the water same as the lake they come from.

Yeah I agreed with sand I have also brought fish home from LFS stores and sometimes their colors are kinda dull...and once you put them at the right ph their colors will be way brighter and happier fish
so your better off keeping the right water parameters