Last night while I was editing. What was supposed to be today's video. I?
Heard a lot of splashing from the aquarium
Not your typical splashing something was terribly wrong. I glanced over to the aquarium and
I notice my arowana
Was kind of freaking out a little bit? I couldn't figure out. What was wrong and
I started to monitor him a little bit more closely and clearly he had tried to jump
in the aquarium somehow, I thought he hit his head really bad and
Potentially knocked himself out to a certain extent as he started swimming into the side panels of the aquarium
swimming into everything slowly, but hitting it and then
He got worse and worse Seto started swimming in circles
Laying on the bottom of the aquarium
His condition got worse
By the minute I couldn't figure. What what had happened?
So I went back into some footage and watched the previous
You know a couple of days to see if anything was building up
None of the other fish in the aquarium were exhibiting any issues whatsoever
And the rays are kind of like the first ones that go type of thing
They are the most sensitive in the aquarium if anything is wrong with this tank the rays are going to exhibit signs first
The Arowana Honestly will be the last one. He's that by far the toughest fish in here in terms of hardiness. I
Couldn't find anything on the footage
however
When I walk into this room the streaming cameras shut off, it's an automated thing
So while I had my back to it. I technically didn't see what happened
So I started to try to figure out what might have happened here I
thought
worst Case scenario
The Asian Arowana jumped and broke his back that is kind of what I thought might have happened at first
I did notice a severe dent in back
I did realize that you know while trying to help him
And holding him in the water holding him upright
Trying to get him some bubbles to flow through his gills and whatnot and you know just trying to get a closer inspection of him
That's when I saw his back, and I thought this looks like you might have broken your back, and if that's the case
You'll never heal. You're never going to eat again. I'm going to have to put you down
And I'd released him back into the tank hoping you know maybe he'll get a little bit better
And he kept swimming back to me almost like asking me for help
Every time I would hold him I would let him kind of come up into my hands
I would hold him and he'd hold his mouth open almost like he was screaming for my help I
Was Heartbroken I didn't know what I was going to be able to do as the night went on I realized that
He probably damaged his swim bladder
Now swim bladder disease and different types of Swim swim bladder issues a lot of the times trapped air
Gets in the swim bladder. They can't regulate it and release some or it you
But when that happens they'll float to the surface
The Asian Arowana looks to have possibly damaged his sides
To the point where the swim bladder is probably taking on some fluids, and he can't balance himself
I'm hoping that's what's going on because
That will correct itself in time it could take a few days it could take a few weeks, but ultimately
He's breathing fine. He's responding to touch
and
I have a few options of what I can do here as of right now though
He is kind of moving around the aquarium right now. He's just over here in the corner
every once in a while who moved position and I
Know that this seems really cool to just let him sit in there, but if I move him I could potentially cause further damage
for their stress
And you know potentially even kill him in the condition that he's in for right now at least for the next day or two
Since his condition is slightly improved from last night. You know last night. He was dormant
Wasn't moving at all - today. He is moving around slightly
You know if he makes this progress every day the no time he'll be back to normal
But all I can really do is keep the water clean in here do lots of water changes and keep the other fish fed
Nobody's bothering him whatsoever. He's kind of just resting from position to position
however, if conditions don't improve
I'm going to move him into the house into a smaller hundred gallon aquarium where I can lower the water level
Decrease the pressure on his swim bladder, and you know hope he heals from there ultimately
There's this is literally just a waiting game of waiting for him to heal
And again, I I know this is cruel to look
For him to just kind of like be laying there and and motionless, and you know me just letting that happen
But ultimately like I said moving him is potentially even more dangerous than just you know
Letting him. Lay there, which is heartbreaking to me. This is this is my guy. I have had him for a Few years now
He just turned five years old last what was last month
You know these are some of the things that can happen with big aquariums big fish
big problems and
you know it's heartbreaking at times, but
The end of the day freak accidents can happen and you know that's kind of what happened here
He's been doing so well in this tank. He's been eating. He's adjusted perfectly he gets along with everybody
but Arowana can jump and
you know I think when he jumped he might have landed on the wood it might have sent him into a
sent him into a panic and
That was one of the raise up at the top daily play at the top
Sets him into a panic and he darted around the tank
Just causing more problems for himself. I'm going to bring him up to the panel here. So you guys can get a closer look though
so he is
He is responsive to touch
he relaxes when I'm holding him here and
But he is having a tendency to float up onto his back. So no, I'm hoping
I'm hoping it's a swim bladder issue and nothing to do with his bones
his bones are going to heal like a rib bone would or you know back bones and Vertebrae or
definitely, you know a permanent issue in most cases, so
As you can see he's um he's pretty banged up, but watch this see
And then what happens is when he gets to the bottom there
he
You can sort of swim around. This is heartbreaking for me guys. You know I only decided to show you this this morning because
This 2,000 gallon is clearly a huge part of the gallery eventually you guys are going to see this and wondering what's going on
You know it's you just kind of feel helpless. There's nothing. I could do to immediately fix and just time is going to heal one
You know I'm probably going to end up moving into a tank on his own
But right now. I mean I do feel like this is the best bet for him is to
Keep stress and movements to an absolute minimum
And hope he does all we're all right
There's far more movement in the swimming far more than he did yesterday. That's for sure
So not a huge improvement, and this is quite shocking for you guys to see but last night was far worse
Let's Frank over here
It's interesting to see I think frank knows. They are one is you know stress distressed?
Kind of just staying away from omen
he wants his big big brother to heal up fast and
Then there he goes. I mean he is trying
To write himself and he does this every once in a while, and he's getting better better by the hour
I suspect within a couple of days. He might even be able to Swim upright
But then again there's going to come a point where if I do not see measurable?
improvements
Throughout the day, or you know within the next couple of days. I'm going to have to intervene
and move him to a tank and
Again, I know many of you are saying why don't you do that right now?
just
Too much of a risk and I don't want to take risks unless absolutely necessary
worst Case scenario
He doesn't make it and I don't I don't know how I'd be able to I don't know how I'll handle that I
know that we pay a lot attention to
The other fish and we're excited about the gallery
That's my guy right there
You know I guess one of the things that concerned me the most is the Arc in his back I
That's what's making me feel like it's broken plus. There's a dent in it, but he is missing scales
It's it's difficult to say
You know so I guess only time is going to tell
What's going to happen with them clearly? I'm you know concerned. It was much worse for me last night
I thought the worst you know he got he deteriorated so quickly, but you know
What he was last night compared to right now is almost like a different fish even though you guys are seeing him like this
for the first time
Again give it a short while see how he fares
Ultimately, I don't want this to take away from the excitement and the progress that we're making out here in the gallery
clearly
This is you know pretty devastating
But right now. I think that we should focus on the positive keep moving forward keep an eye on him intervene when needed and
I've been doing this for so long that you know I've had
Successes, I've had failures. I've had problems. I've had you know
freak accidents like this
And it's just a part of this, hobby
And it's the part that sucks I
Can tell you right now this is not the video. I want to make today
I'll do some updates on him clearly not every video could be about him
I'm not going to like every single day show you progress, but what I will do is. I'll post some pictures on Instagram and Facebook
Periodically showing you guys some updates if anything dramatically changes I'll do a video
We'll go from there, but I do know I already know even before I film this video how much you guys would care
you know a lot of you equally - how much I care about them, so
Just in advance. I know it's going to be there. So thank you for the support
I'm going to need it for the next little while