Beta And Two Otto Catfish Died

[ccook]

Ok, I had two otto catfish and a male betta in a 10 gallon tank and have lived there peacefully for the last year. I have seen the betta nip at the ottos a couple of times, but then will leave them alone when the otto swims away (there are also a lot of places for them to hide). This morning I found my betta lying on the bottom of the tank dead and my two ottos with what looks like their stomachs eaten out. There was also a white film around the mouth and gills of the betta.

Is it possible that my betta went on a killing spree and killed both of the ottos in one night and then died himself? The betta has been normally not been aggressive toward the ottos so I find it weird that it would kill them both at the same time. Also are the ottos poisonous and could be the cause of why the betta also died?

 

[GuppyDude]

ok, explodeing ottos i cannot explain, though i myself have exploding guppies. My best guess would be somthing seriously wrong with the water. When was the last time you did a water change, was it recent? you may have not dechlorinated the water, or purhaps some cleaning product was accidently introduced into the system.

 

[ccook]

Thanks for the reply. I did a water change about week before that (actually added water due to evaporation), I dechlorinated the water and added the stress coat like I usually do. Could it take a week for the fish to become sick due to the chlorine or whatever else could have gotten in the water when I added it, because I can not think of anything that could have gotten into the water since then?

 

[Ravenwing]

Did you do any cleaning outside the tanks? Like with any aerosol cans? Fabreeze, etc??? If you treated all of the water the fish were in with conditioner, that probably wans't the issue....

But any air born stuff can get onto the surface level of the water...

-Ravenwing

 

[starrynightxxi]

hmm.. a definate mystery. may have been some internal bacteria killed them, sometimes this stuff can kick in so fast you don't even notice it until it's to late. the white stuff around the mouth and gills probably grew there just since the betta died as fish begin todecompose pretty quickly.

 

[Liberty802]

my guess would be that the ottos died of some sort of disease, and the betta possibly munched on the dead fish (gross yes, but fish do it) and then caught whatever they had himself. Its just a thought...