Cloudy eye + Salt?

[joraejay]

My Austrailian Arowana is starting to show signs of cloudy eye. I started introducing beef heart to his diet and I think him not finishing the food may have caused an ammonia spike.

So I did a search on the issue. I did a water change and bumped up the temp to 82 degrees. It also said to add salt to the tank. I wanted to know what kind of salt (table salt or the aquarium salt that comes in the blue box at petco) and what quantities do I put in a 100 gallon tank?

Also, it said to change water every 3 days till the problem is resolved. Do I add salt every time I change water?

Thank you.

 

[Chaitika]

I would not use table salt because of the iodine factor, and the fact that many table salts contain anti-caking agents. Some people do use table salt and some people will use only aquarium salt. I use water softener salt, but it's 99.9% pure. Again some water softener salts contain other materials, so you have to be careful. It is certainly the most affordable salt. I pay 3 bucks for 50 pounds.

If I were to use salt for medicinal purposes, I do believe the common recommended dosage found on the net is one tablespoon per five gallons of tank water.

Personally, I wouldn't use salt to resolve a cloudy eye issue. My understanding of why to add salt is to irritate the fish and create a thicker slime coat, which supposedly improves healing time.

As far as I know, the only thing that cures cloudy eye is time and clean water.

 

[uselessmidget]

I would not use table salt because of the iodine factor, and the fact that many table salts contain anti-caking agents. Some people do use table salt and some people will use only aquarium salt. I use water softener salt, but it's 99.9% pure. Again some water softener salts contain other materials, so you have to be careful. It is certainly the most affordable salt. I pay 3 bucks for 50 pounds.

If I were to use salt for medicinal purposes, I do believe the common recommended dosage found on the net is one tablespoon per five gallons of tank water.

Personally, I wouldn't use salt to resolve a cloudy eye issue. My understanding of why to add salt is to irritate the fish and create a thicker slime coat, which supposedly improves healing time.

As far as I know, the only thing that cures cloudy eye is time and clean water.

Agreed, I always use salt every water-change, when my fish become sick I do water-changes without aquarium salt and a little extra API Stress Coat. All my fish have bullet proof armor. lol

 

[joraejay]

Thanks for the respones. I'll stick with no salt and see how it goes.

I also read to change water (1/3 of the tank) every 3 days until cloudy eye is gone? Does this sound right or is that too much?

 

[Chaitika]

Water changes every 3 days would be an excellent routine to stick with permanently! You really should pick up a test kit to verify that there was a spike and that the filtration is re-establishing itself. The large water changes will be good for the fish, especially if the filtration is not stable.

 

[uselessmidget]

Water changes every 3 days would be an excellent routine to stick with permanently! You really should pick up a test kit to verify that there was a spike and that the filtration is re-establishing itself. The large water changes will be good for the fish, especially if the filtration is not stable.

Again I agree with Chaitika on this.
ESPECIALLY a good water test kit!!
I recommend skipping the dip strips and going straight to an API Freshwater Master test kit. Its much nicer/more accurate.
The frequency in which you change the water will greatly effect how clean/healthy the fish are. After all they are floating around in it all day!

Once your fish are nursed back to full health I recommend you use API Stress Coat and Aquarium Salt in your water changes. Its the best setup I have ever used to maintain healthy fish.

Good luck!

 

[arrow]

First thing I would do is stop feeding beef heart, it can really mess up your water quality.
Cloudy eye is caused by bad water quality so it only makes sense.

Search the tank for any uneaten food, do a waterchange and test the water.
If params are still not spot on then do more small quantiy waterchanges till the params are stable.

How big is the arow and what are you running for filtration?
Have you cleaned your filters lately?
If so then perhaps you killed off some bacteria, clean filters using tank water only

 

[joraejay]

I appreciate all the feedback. I do have a test kit. I tested my water last night about 10 hours after I did my water change.

PH: 7.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-20

I know my Nitrates are a little high right now, they are usualy around 5-10. It must be that darn Beef Heart. I only picked it up because I thought it was better protein for the arowana.

My arowana is about 6" and currently in a 100 Gallon tank. I'm running a Fluval 405 and maintaining weekly water changes of 25%. I will be adding another filter next Friday (payday and christmas gift to myself, LOL), hopefully a FX5 or if anyone else has any suggestions on what filter. I like my 405 but I heard the flow rate on the box is rated with no media in the filter at all.

Yesterday I cleaned out my filter pad with tap water but I did not clean any of the rings. I really have to say it's the beef heart because my tank has been up the past year and the water quality was always the same.

 

[arrow]

Your params are fine but perhaps start doing weekly 40% waterchanges instead.
Also if you dont already be sure to do thorough gravel vacs with every waterchange.

Fx5's are great and I would def get one, but be sure to leave your existing 405 on there for at least a month while your new filter seeds builds bacteria.

If things dont get better within the week then I would start a dose of melafix to help things along, but the new waterchange schedual should help.

 

[Chaitika]

All my tanks have at least 2 filters running. That way, I can rotate cleaning them without worrying about killing my filtration. I'd strongly suggest you do the same.