Otocinclus Issue

Hey all

I’ve got a bit of an unhappy mystery with my planted setup.

I added 6 Otos quite early on in the setup, say 2 months ago, after parameters stabilised. I’ve lost 3 to date over the past week.

I’ve also lost an Ember Tetra but this was clearly a case of trauma inflicted by what I suspect to be my Apisto (it’s the only fish big enough to take a bite out of the tetra).

Back to the Otos. They do appear to have bloated bellies. According to my research this is either due to parasites or due to starvation.




I added some cucumber to the feeding regimen of granules and algae wafers after the loss of the first Oto. I’ve also allowed some hair algae to grow on one pane to add to their menu options. The losses continue.

All parameters have remained stable and where they should be, all the other fish are doing well.

Any thoughts on what is causing the issue? Anyone experienced the same before?




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My Otto's look like yours and in the last year I've only lost one with 2 apisto panduro in the tank. I've also been having some deaths that I couldn't explain but after removing my Boesmani Rainbows that ended thankfully.


What other fish are in your tank?

I also noticed the Otto's don't bother with hair algae or bba they do tackle green dust and diatoms

 

The full setup is:
12 (less 1) Ember Tetras
12 Cardinal Tetras
12 Lemon Tetras
6 Kuhli Loaches
6 Danios (trying to get rid of these)
2 Apisto Cacatuoides (paired up)
2 Siamese Algae Eaters
6 (less 3) Otocinclus Macrospilus
2 or 3 Cherry Shrimp (as an experiment)

The last fish (Apistos) were added 4 or more weeks ago and have already laid and lost a batch of eggs 2.5 weeks ago.

I also haven’t observed any signs of bullying or severe territorial behavior from any of my fish to date.


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If the apistos are paired up you most likely are correct. I do find my pair to be quite timid but I've never had breeding take place

 

Another one lost this morning:



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Sorry to hear bud. Maybe test your water as a start, but I would perform a big water change and try and Syphon your substrate a bit.

 

Thanks man.

Did both yesterday. All parameters exactly where they should be, both pre and post water change


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Another one in the process of dying now:





Unable to suction onto the glass and constantly falling down to the gravel.

All the other fish thriving, only the Ottos dying off.


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Would you be open to lowering your co2 levels? Maybe it's lack of oxygen?

 

I find this to be a common issue with Ottos. It's some type of infection in the gut.

I've had Ottos with it in the past and have never been able to treat it successfully.

I doubt it's anything related to your water quality given that the rest of the livestock are doing fine.

It's most likely just poor-quality fish from the store.

 

I’m hesitant given the struggle with BBA as a result of the CO2 shitting off during loadshedding. Also, they’ve been under these conditions for months so it would be unusual for this to suddenly be a problem.

As an aside - I had an incident a few weeks ago where I accidentally upped the bubble rate significantly when I replaced the gas bottle. When I came back to the tank in the afternoon all the fish where swimming at the top. All survived, but it gave me a big scare.

This is fairly consistent with what I’ve read so far. Multiple aquarists have reported having Otto for many months or weeks and then they suddenly start dying off.

Also - Merry Christmas all!


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Merry Christmas to all..

I take back what I said about my apisto.. just caught the male trying to eat a lobster I added yesterday. Managed to move him to the shrimp tank in time to save his life but he's missing limbs.

With regards to the Otto's I've only seen friends have issues with them when newly bought. But you could be correct

 

These were in the tank for a few months, and were looking good right up until the last week. But even so, it seems this sudden death period lasts a few months from purchase.

But such is fishkeeping I suppose


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Eish. Apistos are like that shady friend from childhood… Fun to have around but there’s always something broken or missing after they leave.


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I love that!!! Funny I have a friend in mind now that you said that

 

I had the same problem until I saw one of mine covered in white spots and the same for some of the other fish too. I treated the whole tank for white spot fungus and saved the remaining two fish - the first one died off with no symptoms, the 2nd dying before it died, it developed white spots all over before it kicked the bucket and the rest of the tetras started showing white spots right before it died.

 

What he said.

Supplement their food with wafers and you should be ok. I was struggling with mine not feeding off the algae so I ended up with wafers and they ate off that so I think that helped in some way to keep them fed.

I find that the amount of algae in the tank is not enough to feed them. It's like hoping your horses get fed well on grass only, that's a lie. Horses need a full supplementary diet along with grass and hay and whatever it needs.

 

Any chance you are using an algaecide? When I use flourish excel my ottos hide for months and don’t seem happy - understandably.

 

I have been using Hikari algae wafers for the past 6 weeks but never really saw them feed on or near those. I also added cucumber which I saw them eating every now and then. Sadly this did not stop the deaths.

Not during the time that I was experiencing the deaths. I am about to start with Flourish to clear up a BBA issue.

Sadly I have one left at the moment, who seems to be doing fine right now.