Arowana cloudy eye + popeye. Fungal infection? Help!

[arowanastingray]

My super red arowana had a slight cloudy eye for two weeks. Probably caused by one of my piraiba catfish since the arowana loves to bully them. However, it started getting more cloudy and a bulge in the eye is more apparent. I'm on day 4 of treating it with melafix with no improvement. Does my arowana have a fungal infection on its eye now? Arowana is with 3 black diamond stingrays and two piraiba catfishes that are doing really well. Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 30-40ppm (i do 30-40% water change twice a week)

 

[Rocksor]

Fungal infections are generally bacterial in nature. Melafix (is very weak) will not treat bacterial infections so you need gram negative antibiotics for fish.

 

[1 2many]

You will need to do more water changes. The nitrate level needs to be reduced by 50% or more. Your tanks nitrate is currently between 30-40 ppm it needs to be below 20 ppm. Ideally 10ppm or less. I don’t think you will see significant improvement until this is achieved.

 

[arowanastingray]

You will need to do more water changes. The nitrate level needs to be reduced by 50% or more. Your tanks nitrate is currently between 30-40 ppm it needs to be below 20 ppm. Ideally 10ppm or less. I don’t think you will see significant improvement until this is achieved.

Its difficult to achieve less than 20ppm since my tap already has 20ppm nitrates to begin with. I added a bunch of pothos in my sump to absorb nitrates. Do you have any other ways to lessen nitrates? My tank holds 600 gallons

 

[arowanastingray]

Fungal infections are generally bacterial in nature. Melafix (is very weak) will not treat bacterial infections so you need gram negative antibiotics for fish.

Okay thanks! Do you think the arowana's eye can fully recover from this? Im treating it with kanaplex in my hospital tank now

 

[1 2many]

Its difficult to achieve less than 20ppm since my tap already has 20ppm nitrates to begin with. I added a bunch of pothos in my sump to absorb nitrates. Do you have any other ways to lessen nitrates? My tank holds 600 gallons

If you can maintain 20ppm nitrate that is definitely better than 30-40ppm. 10 ppm or less are optimal conditions but can’t always be accomplished. 30-40ppm is not terrible but in order for a injured/sick fish to recover the easiest they need very little to no waste in the water. Try to keep nitrates as low as possible. If there is room to add more plants I recommend it. If you can afford a RO system you might find it beneficial for your fish. You will have control over water parameters and not worry about the tap.

 

[Michael Alebrtus]

RO system is definitely good to have if your water source is bad to begin with, but it can be costly. It cost more than the tank and arowana combined.

 

[arowanastingray]

RO system is definitely good to have if your water source is bad to begin with, but it can be costly. It cost more than the tank and arowana combined.

Ill definitely look into getting an RO system. Hopefully they aren't too expensive where I'm from. I heard you have to dose the water with minerals if you use RO water? Not sure how true this is.

 

[Michael Alebrtus]

Ill definitely look into getting an RO system. Hopefully they aren't too expensive where I'm from. I heard you have to dose the water with minerals if you use RO water? Not sure how true this is.

I don't think it's necessary to add minerals for arowana since it prefers ph on lower side. If you still want to add some minerals, Im using Bio Aquapura (https://www.tokopedia.com/wateronlineshop/aquapura-bio-alkali-5-in-1-ph-booster-reverse-osmosis). It's a mix of infra red ball, ceramic ball, mineral ball, and other kind of balls. It doesn't raise the ph too much (my ph only 7.0 from 6.5) .

 

[Rocksor]

Ill definitely look into getting an RO system. Hopefully they aren't too expensive where I'm from. I heard you have to dose the water with minerals if you use RO water? Not sure how true this is.

You can't use pure RO for any fish. You do have to add a certain amount of minerals back in. You could also remineralize by mixing your water from tap. But you need to test PH, GH, KH and TDS.