Bloated Otto's

[francoistaljard]

Hey guys. I am quite new to the forum and the hobby.

Just over 2 weeks ago my first Otto got bloated just before i went on a week vacation. I left the tank wit a weekender block only to come back last Saturday to find most of my fish dead. Including the Otto.

Last night i noticed that my last otto is also now starting to bloat.
I do not have a complete testing kit so can only provide pH levels.
pH: 7.6
Temp: 28*C/82*F

The tank has been running for about 10 months now. And I've had the ottos for just over a month before the started bloating

I dont do very regular water changes about 50% once a month. I do however top my open tank up weekly with fresh water and vacuum the gravel slightly which removes about 10% water.

The tank is 10g with 6 red cherry shrimp and 4 white clouds
The tank is moderately well planted. I do NOT dose Co2 or fertilize.

I have however today started treating the tank with bio-elite heal all which is an anti bacterial anti fungal and anti parasitic treatment.
I also tried feeding peas but he is not interested so the shrimps eventually cleaned up. He is however eating and he is active. But not as active as usual.

What causes this

Ill include a photo.

Thanx guys

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[Akasha72]

Hi and 

 
There's a saying "a fat oto is a happy oto" ... oto's feed almost constantly .. so long as there's a constant supply of food that is. It's possible the oto in the photo is a female and she could be full of eggs aswell as food but it's hard to say for sure.
 
As for the death's ... it possible that the weekender block you added produced a degree of ammonia and nitrite which killed one fish then that dead fish produced more ammonia and nitrite while you were away which created a slippery slope.
 
a 50% water change once a month isn't really enough. It would be better to do 50% every 2 weeks  

 

[cooledwhip]

Hi and 

 
There's a saying "a fat oto is a happy oto" ... oto's feed almost constantly .. so long as there's a constant supply of food that is. It's possible the oto in the photo is a female and she could be full of eggs aswell as food but it's hard to say for sure.
 
As for the death's ... it possible that the weekender block you added produced a degree of ammonia and nitrite which killed one fish then that dead fish produced more ammonia and nitrite while you were away which created a slippery slope.
 
a 50% water change once a month isn't really enough. It would be better to do 50% every 2 weeks  

I do 50 every week. Discus breeders say that multiple small water changes a day increase growth and promote super healthy fish.

 

[Akasha72]

whilst it's best to change water every week (and I'd not normally suggest anything otherwise) life often gets in the way - people have busy lives these days. My own tank often goes two weeks but I aim to change a larger amount if it has. It's about finding balance and as the OP has mentioned they don't do regular water changes I am aiming to encourage that he increases this.
 
I'm not here to bash people I'm here to help and to advise

 

[francoistaljard]

Thanx guys. I did a 50% change this morning. But the Otto passed away early afternoon.

My shrimp went crazy when i did the water change. I dont know if this is normal since this is the first time i did a large water change with them in the tank.

Plus my one whit cloud jumped the tank last night. So I'm feeling very discouraged at the moment.


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[Akasha72]

I'm sorry to hear the oto passed away. Oto's can be hard to keep. Getting them feeding is often the first battle, although this wasn't the case with yours obviously.
 
What I would do now is to get a test kit (if you havn't already) The API masterkit seems to the one most readily available. Because you've lost a few fish it would be good to know what is going on. The best place to start is with a full water test -so that's pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Once you've got those figures post them here so we can see if something looks off. 
 
I've not kept shrimp myself but invertebrates are usually the first to let you know if something is off. As the shrimp were enjoying the water change I'd take this as a sign.
 
As for jumping fish - this is the problem with open top tanks. You can get clear perspex tank covers for this reason and so I would be looking to see if you can get one to fit this tank. It'll also help with the evaporation too 

 

[francoistaljard]

Thanx for the advise.

This months budget is a bit tight so ill see to get a test kit next month.

Since my tank is almost empty i am thinking to re scape my tank before adding new inhabitants and add a piece of Mupanie wood i piked up and have had it soaking in my toilet bowl for 2 weeks.
Any suggestions on this?


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[cooledwhip]

Toilet bowl?

 

[francoistaljard]

Lol.... the toilet reservoir at the top. It hold tons of clean water to flush the wood. And our chlorine is not to bad. Will still boil it for an hour or so.


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[Akasha72]

quite a few people put new wood into the toilet cistern ... the other alternative is the water butt ... but yes, boil it too just in case

 

[cowgirluntamed]

For the white clouds, the temperature may be too high for them. Their range is 64 to 79F. The otos top range is 82. Maybe this is causing stress to the fish?