Oto with swollen body

This little guy has got a swollen body, comes out of the same tank as my Gourami.
Also found a dead krib and oto on Friday.

Something is lurking, but dont know what.

 

Hi Gilbert,

Sorry to hear about the problems. When did you acquire these fishes, I mean are they relatively new additions or have you had them for longer. I also assume that this is not the large tank that you have got and in which you improved the filtration? What is the filtration on this tank?

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Had these for just over a month.

They are in my smaller 80L community tank.

The Filtration is an aquaclear 30 HOB.

 

Gilbert,

If you were to describe the dimensions of this filter, what would that be and what filter medium to you have in it.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Is this Otto in the same tank as the gourami which you previously mentioned looked bloated as well?

 

It contains a 12 x 4 x 5 cm sponge
A small sache of purigen, the standard size sealed size you get.
A small sache of ammonia, about the size of a bar of soap.
and about 3/4 a cup of ceramic.


I do a 15 - 20% change once a week.

Yup.

Except she seems to be recovering, athough she is still a bit swollen

 

If you have a number of fishes showing these enlarged bellies, which one refers to as dropsy, one must suspect and internal infection with bacteria which may be Aeromonas or the such-like. This is highly contagious which would explain why initially you only had a gourami showing this and now the Ottos. If this is the tank where the swimbladder problem gourami came from, then this is definitely the same problem. This requires some antibacterial treatment, which you could investigate at Panorama. However, the root cause is inadequate filtration as this causes just slightly elevated ammonia levels and this causes the fishes to be stressed and then more susceptible to infection. I do not use these overflow type filters as I find that the capacity for filtration material is on the low side. You could improve matters with a simple corner filter, which would aerate the water as well, but I leave this choice with you.

Kind regards.

Dirk

 

Thanks Dirk

I will probably look at a canister then.

 

Sorry, I seem to be sending bad news every time I communicate with you, hope we can get this to improve!

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

on the aquaclear's, you can also add filterwool to the "input" chamber, i found that helps catch ALOT of stuff that gets sucked up, that bio-sponge catches and keeps ALOT of dirt and muck in it too, if you have an extra filter running in the water, then its easier to clean out some of the aquaclear media, without having to lose too much bacterial growth

 

Thanks Ferryman, will use that as a stop gap.

Thanks Dirk

None of your replies are bad news.

All useful info.

 

OK, got a little Fluval 305 on it now.

That should solve the odd problem....