Hi all,
Been a long time. My apologies… Today is the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Year of the Ox! To all my Chinese readers, have a great year ahead and may health, wealth and prosperity follow you! Cheers!
Now back to this very interesting topic. I have been getting a lot of questions as to why this problem happens. What is droopy eye anyway? Well it is a condition where one of the arowana’s eye looks like it is going to drop out. The eye juts out as if always looking down. It does somehow look abit unsightly sometimes and I can see the disappointment in the hobbyist voice and emails when they ask me for help.
Ok there is good news and bad news here! 
Good news is this is a cosmetic problem and your arowana will not die from it ok!
Ok the bad news is… I’ll be frank with you.. I really don’t think there is a cure once it has set it! I have seen a book where they did an operation on an arowana with this condition but I’m not sure how successful the operation was.
I will tell you what I think are the probable causes and cure but I will say this, no one has been able to truly ascertain the cause and cure for sure!
CAUSE :
1) When you feed your arowana too much fatty food like beef heart, goldfish, etc, fatty deposits can build up in the eyes. But some people have thrown cold water at this theory because it cannot explain why the fatty deposits only appears on the upper eye portion causing the eye to look down.
2) Arowanas are surface feeders and they usually chase their prey in the water looking around. Hobbyist have this habit of throwing their food into the tank and letting them sink to the bottom. (This is especially the case for non-live food which 80% of the hobbyist feed their arowanas.) The arowanas will then spend alot of their time looking down to search for the food. When this becomes a habit, they get what we can term ‘lazy eyes’. This causes them to look down all the time and over time, their eyes become permanently like that… hence droppy eyes!
CURE :
1) Throw the affected arowanas in a pond for a few months for the eyes to readjust back to as they were before! This is not always a plausible option as not everyone has access to a pond!
2) Surgery to correct the problem. As I said, I’m not sure whether this really cures the problem.
3) There was another ‘solution’ where people said to cover up the whole tank to block off light to the tank for a period of time! I really don’t know how this one works and if anyone knows, do let me know!
As you can see, I really don’t know any cure that is 100% guaranteed to work.
BUT this much I’m sure of! My arowanas until today has never had droopy eye syndrome! My 5 beautiful golden arowanas are in perfect condition!
Firstly I want to say this… ‘PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE HERE!’
From experience, this is my take on the cause of the droppy eye syndrome. TO ME, I believe it is caused by CAUSE 2) which I explained above. We cannot simply throw the food into the tank and let them sink to the bottom and expect the arowanas to always pick it from the bottom of the tank. We must feed it piece by piece. What I do is drop the non-live food one at a time into the tank so that my arowanas eat from the top! This way they will always be looking up like in their natural habitat! I have been doing this for years and I never had this problem with my fish.
I used to feed my arowanas alot of goldfish before as well but this has not caused any problems so I kinda rule out the fatty food argument. But again this has not been proven beyond a doubt so I can only speak from my experience!
Anyway I hope you have gain some insight into this problem and hopefully be able to prevent it if it has not hit you already. Cheers and take care.
Tags: arowana, droppy eye, arowanas
I can correct it by surgery… well done in many cases with no complication
Dear Stephen: A Very Happy New Year to you and your family.
Many thanks for your article on the droopy eyes problem, but many owners too have the same cause. Mine too has a droopy eye – not very much but had to live with it. I fed my arrowana with mainly live foods until now from young. The aquarium guy says it is a very common problem but to retify it is to put the arrowana into a poly tank for some time and let it adjusts itself to its correct position. I am not too sure but will not take such a procedure as my arrowana is penicky about shifting places. As it is I have to live with it.
i wish you a very happy and fruitfull new year..i do have one doubt..i got a bichir in the same tank with my aro..if the food doesnt sink how will my bichir eat??
Dear Steve,
Wishing u and ur family, a very happy & a Prosperous new year!!!
of all the reading i came across, there are some info like:
they say the reflection on the bottom of the aquarium made the arowana want to look down…
put sand/stonds/decorations to cover the bottom surface…
put ping pong ball floating on the water to let the arowana stay at it?
Hi Steven,
I totally agree with you in terms of scenario 2 (The Arowana looks at the bottom for some reason, may it be for food or at a reflection etc) being the more likely cause of drop eye. I think all possible measures should be taken to train your arowana, not to focus on the bottom but instead, focus on the surface area by adding a substrate so that it doesn?t get distracted by its own reflection and more importantly, by adopting a long term feeding habit by which the food, be it, live, fresh, dried or frozen should be always fed from top, one by one if possible. What I do is hold the food at the surface level so that the arowana comes to the food and accepts it from the surface and don?t feed the next portion till it has finished what it already has in its mouth. This way you don?t have to worry about food falling to the bottom. It?s very simple, the arowana develops a habit of looking to the surface instead of the bottom when looking for food as it rightly should, since it?s the natural way that arowanas feed. As well as, you form a closer bond by hand feeding your precious fish. By adapting to this method the arowana is almost oblivious to what?s going on at the bottom since it?s almost always focused on the surface hence eradicating the main cause for drop eye.
I wish you a happy & prosperous Chinese new year!
This is an interesting article but I am lucky enough that my arowana do not have this problem. I simply have a tank bottom lay with tiles instead of stone/sand to prevent any reflection. I also feed my arowana with live food like frogs one at a time so it can chase and eat them while on top. Maybe all this normal daiy pratice I have been using prevent droop eyes… Or I simply lucky..
Kung Hei Fat Choi! I agree with your explanation about bottom reflection and sinking food. luckily, mine has no drooping eye
Hi Steven,
I have done some reacharch on this and there is also a theory going aroung that when the tank is at a high lever, the droopy eye syndrome occurs. I have 2 tanks, one at ground level and one a little higher. My arowana in the higher tank has one droopy eye and the one at the ground level is absolutely perfect.
The bottom tank is not visible by the arowana in the top tank as it is covered with a layer of pebbels and stones. I also feed my arowana mainly dried shrimps which float I nthe water and on occasions with goldfish.
greetings steven and happy new year also i currently have 5 different asian aros and like you i follow the same feeding syle so far i have no problems with drop eye so in my experience your theory is sound another explanation i have heard and read thru the years is when turning on your aquarium light turn on a room light first for 5 to 10 mins as the sudden influx of bright light coming from darkness will make the aro look down until the eyes adjust i have been practicing this also thank you for this informative article and best regards to you and your family
Hi Steven,
I wish you and and all Readers, a Healthy and Prosperous Lunar New Year.
I have no droppy eye problem as yet with my 2 aros, red and rtg. Maybe they are still young (2.5 and 3 years old). This has been a concern for me as well. I keep looking out for the slightest symptom cause my friend’s 2 years old aro has droppy eye.
I do practice as you mentioned…feeding 1 live food at a time. Sometimes though, the food sinks to the bottom. Good thing is that my 2 aros do not have the habit of picking up the live food sank to the bottom. I have 2 “Cleaners” (Parrot Fish)in each Tank to clean up after them. It became a habit through time.
Also, very often I stand up to look at them from the side of the tank near the surface. This way, they keep moving their eyes upwards to look at me. I move little side ways now and then, and their eyes follow me moving side to side while looking upwards. Like you mentioned, prevention is better then cure, I do the best to my own imagination to prevent them developing droppy eyes. In think if that happens to my aros, I will be extremely disappointed. Just to share… cheers…er Steven, do you know from your experience, whether there is such a thing as after certain no. of years old the aro will be risk free of droppy eye?
Hai Steven,
I’m just started very deeply the interest in breeding the arowana. Since to get the natural pool is very difficult, I think to breed in a big tank about w4′x L8′x d4′. My question how many male/females . I need your advice.thank u
Nantarika,
Would be good if you could share a video on how you do this. I think the readers would be fascinated!
How many have you done? Where are you based anyway?
Steven
Titus,
If you have a bottom feader, then it is fine..
If you don’t, you will have to remove them with a net.
Steven
Macho,
I don’t think this is the problem. My tank has no substrate at all at the bottom but my 5 gold arowanas are fine.
Steven
Zafi,
Well said!
Steven
Sudhir,
Interesting theory but my tank stands about 2 feet above ground level and no problem with it.
Steven
Tiger,
Another interesting theory. This one is plausible. Thanks for sharing…
Steven
Edwin,
They can get anytime… so 2-3 years is old enough for it to develop. Good question though on when they would risk free of droppy eye syndrome. To be frank, I don’t really know but I would say there would never be a risk free period and we must be forever vigilant.
Steven
Nutman,
It is not so easy to breed asian arowanas. It does not mean that you put a male and female together and they will breed. It is not so simple unfortunately.
Please read my article on breeding arowanas here.
Steven
Hi Steve,
Thank your for the sharing. I too tend to believe that scenerio 2 may be more likely to cause the droopy problem.
However, in spite of my ensuring that my aros eat from the top of the tank, I still have one with a slight droopy eye problem. I believe that it could be because of my dog walking around the tank causing the aro to look downward as the tank is higher.
Here is also wishing you and your family a very Happy and Prosperous 2009!
Best Regards …..Stephen
happy new year to you steve!
im so grateful on your article..and found out it so helpful.any way i havent experience those dropy eyes on my arwas,,coz i feed them little by little for amusement..
lastly ,
keep up the good work!!
giovanni
I think its impossible for the aro to see its own reflection at the bottom of the tank. We may see it from the outside due to the refraction of light but when the aro is in the tank, what they see would only be the piece of white styrofoam and not their reflection…
Having said tat, I do hope my chilli red aro does not have droopy eyes too.
Is it true that if feeding with super worms to aro after long periods the chances for the aro to develop drop eye is quite great reason due to the high protein in the super worms.
Divert a little from droppy eye…I just came home and noticed that my red aro gills starting to flip over alittle….Help… how to help my aro to recover back or prevent it from deteriorating further…Thanks
My Arowana has stop eating for four months and I have tried changing his diet and frequent water change but to no avail.
Please advice as he is very thin now.Help
thanks for your sharing me too having the similar experiences
Steven Loh,
I don’t think so.. Never heard of protein causing droopy eyes.
Steven
Edwin,
‘Bad’ water can cause this condition. Change the water..
Steven
Beng Thian,
When you say ‘not eating’.. do you mean not eating AT ALL or eating but very little?
Steven
Hello and Happy OX year.
Mine its not exactly droopy eyes…
its more like there is no eyes….
it seems to have droped inwards at times: I do not have a lamp on this tank-so i believe its not the light source.The arowana is almost 15cm now: I worry that this would be permanent – the feed now is actually dried feed pellets.
Please advise.
Wow nicely written article. With cure number 2 that could be expensive. Is Droopy Eye Fatal?
So you should throw in the food only when the Arowana is looking and not throw in so much. To think about it that is actually good advice for most tropical fish.
hello:
me on the subject of “eyes”–seems like the black pupil have ‘dropped’ …theres no eye-balls….’help….!!!!
am really concern as if its really blind….
and then:there its there again….????
please ….anyone….help….!!!!!!
Chanfreddy,
I’ve not heard of this condition before. This could be a defect if it really is the case. Anyone else can help?
Steven
James,
It is not fatal… It’s just a cosmetic issue.
Steven
I am now testing lighting backgrounds and seems to have improve .At leaset the eyeballs are visible.
Seems like it’ll react to BLUE light or warm yello light: but with daylight flourscent: it shows.
Strange: will moiitor and update: thanks….
one other issue-i have since supplied a bunch of small live fishes: these occupy the top section while the arowana stays low: also feeding is slow now: it do not seem to eat as much…..any other diets to suggest,…??
Chanfreddy,
I think there’s no need to worry as long as they are eating.
Steven
Dear Steven
they are still not eatinng and am really worried: pls provide post so i can forward u some pix.
hi Steven ,
how u doin … hope ! everything is good at ur end …
i have got this problem with my Arowana Barbel , looks like one is in good shape but the other seems to have some kind of fungus on it , it looks like some small growth like extra skin ????? i dont know vat is it ?? it’s not a good sight and its clearly to be seen ..
please let me know vat to do ..
i regularly change water in 3 days and add salt too .i have a Eheim filter too …
Chanfreddy,
Have you changed the water regularly? This should be your first point of engagement always…
Steven
Ragini,
Is it still there?
It could just be some loose skin..
Steven
Dear steven / ragini
am most upset and had since pass on to another aquarium for diagnosis.
apparently the diet has decline: i will monitor and let u guys know on status:
many thanks.
hi steven …
ok now that thing is not there (like skin)..i treated with salt ..
but tell me one thing ….the barbels ????
one of the barble is straight and pointy like normal barble
but the other one is a little crooked and thick..
y???
can i do something to treat it ???
Ragini,
Well… not really. Just for argument’s sake, if you try and cut the crooked one, there’s no guarantee that it’ll grow back straight anyway!
Steven
Hi,
How big is your tank, if your tank is less than 5ft length it will cause this problem. Try changing to a bigger tank, if you keep delaying the only way to cure it is by doing a minor surgery, i.e. trim off the the curl tissue which is soft.
Mike
There is another way to cure drop eyes, is by getting some ping pong balls, have them in red colour or so. But i don;t think the colour will do anything and float them in your fish tank.
This method might work or it might not but by theory the ping pong ball would attract the attention of the silver arowana. Give it a shot it might or might not work. Good luck
I have 2 silver arowanas i hand feed, 3 shrimp a day, they both have the droopy eye, is this due to an unhealthy fish, someone told me that! I do weekly tank changes . one is in a 300 gallon and one for now is in a 125
Becky,
Not really.. I have seen some very good quality arowanas with droopy eyes as well. But ofcourse it will look better without one.
Steven
how do you tell if your arowana has droopy eye? I know it is kinda a stupid question