Save The Otos

[jpedersen024]

Having some fish issues lately, and I don't know why. Stress? Delayed infection symptoms? Every so often (but fairly rarely... really...) a fish will flick mouth to gill on a leaf or piece of driftwood.. gets a person thinking, even though I've only seen it very few times...

Lately my otocincluses have not been looking good. I lost one. One looks ok, although not very active, and the other I've been fighting to keep. His nostrils are white tinged, and breathing is rapid. Belly is VERY round. Suddenly so. Treated him and a flicking blue ram, and a panda cory with a coppersafe bath one night. Lost the cory shortly after, but honestly it was a last ditch effort anyways. Been treating the tank with melafix the last 7 days. Maybe it's what's kept the oto around this long?

All stats are fine. Perfect, in fact. From ammonia, to nitrates and nitrites, ph, gh, kh, all of it. I test regularly with a master test kit.

Any ideas?

 

[WILDER]

Was they flicking before you added the melafix, His nostrils is it a white greyish patch or does it look fluffy, sounds bacterial with the tummy bloating up, but that can be a sign of internal parasites as well, plus heavy breathing can be a sign of a bacterial infection, what do you feed the fish.

 

[jpedersen024]

Yep. Flicking was before, and after I added the melafix. No fluffiness on the nostrils, although he had a patch of slime/fluff on his back last week that has since disappeared.

Feed them flakes, algae discs, and freeze dried blood worms in that tank..

 

[WILDER]

Does it look like they have been dusted in talc.
Slimey grey to white patches can be bacterial or parasite.
Also parasites can cause bacterial infections, what do you feed the fish that has bloated up.

 

[WILDER]

Is it possible to get a pic up, i would try some peas on the fish that is bloated, but with the heavy breathing not sounding to good.

 

[jpedersen024]

I'll try to get a pic up of one of them. The otos... they eat whatever they can scrounge up out of the options I gave I guess. Plus a ton of algae that's available.... although I've noticed they've not been doing as great a job with that under the circumstances. Not any talc dusting look to them though.

Good news is he looks like he's not breathing quite as hard as before today. I'll take that as a good sign. Quite amazing actually. I was sure he was a gonner long before now!

 

[WILDER]

They need green veg in there diet, sounds like he could be constipated, plus the flicking fish all i can say at a guess which id on't like to do is they might have skin flukes.

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...cincl/106_F.PHP

http/article.dphnet.com/cat-02/flukes1.shtml

 

[Nina]

Just a quick thing to note is that Otos should have a round belly.

If they are concave then you should worry as it means that they have not been eating correctly. This is why many die so early on when you buy them as when they are transferred to the store they do not have enough food during transportation.