Otocinclus poo...

[larochem595]

Hello,

I recently purchased 2 otocinclus catfish from a chain pet store...
These 2 otos have had long, stringy poo for over a week. I am presently feeding peas (which no one seems to want) and a scant amount of Marineland algae tabs. I highly suspect that the chain pet store was over feeding and only feeding flake foods, which could bind them up but I thought it would have worked it's way out of their system by now...

My other thought is that my tank has been quite full of algae.... These guys have been quite busy making their way around my tank to clean things up. As bizarre as it sounds, could they be over eating on the tank itself??

My last otos lived a solid 6 years and even bred in my tank...never have I dealt with otos overeating...

The good news is that they are active, have nice little bellies,and good color. They are busy doing their usual scrubbing things around the tank so I don't think there's any immediate issues but any thoughts on what I can do to help?? Am willing to post pictures, if needed.


Thank you!

Michelle

 

[Colin_T]

What colour is their poop?
If it's white and stringy, they have an intestinal problem.
If it's coloured (brown, black, green) it's fine.

Otocinclus don't normally take man made foods or fruits/ vegetables. Their primary diet is algae, biofilm (slime on the glass & ornaments), and driftwood.

As long as their bellies aren't sunken in and they don't do stringy white poop, they are fine.

 

[larochem595]

What colour is their poop?
If it's white and stringy, they have an intestinal problem.
If it's coloured (brown, black, green) it's fine.

Otocinclus don't normally take man made foods or fruits/ vegetables. Their primary diet is algae, biofilm (slime on the glass & ornaments), and driftwood.

As long as their bellies aren't sunken in and they don't do stringy white poop, they are fine.

So I attempted to attach some pictures but had a tough time because my camera wanted to focus on the glass.
The poop honestly looked multicolored...it was mostly white with some variation... One of the pictures has a piece of stool floating off of it so you can check that out.
Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

Possibly intestinal worms. If you want to treat them for worms, see info below.

Intestinal Worms like tapeworm and threadworms cause the fish to lose weight, continue eating and swimming normally, and do a stringy white poop. Fish can do this for months and not be too badly affected. In some cases, fish with a bad worm infestation will actually gain weight and get fat and look like a pregnant guppy. This is due to the huge number of worms inside the fish.

You can use Praziquantel to treat tapeworm and gill flukes. And use Levamisole to treat thread/ round worms. If you can't find these medications, look for Flubendazole, which treats both lots of worms.

In the UK look for:
eSHa gdex contains praziquantel that treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
eSHa-ndx contains levamisole and treats thread/ round worms.
NT Labs Anti-fluke and Wormer contains flubendazole.
Kusuri wormer plus (contains flubendazole) - sold mainly for discus, comes as a powder which is quite hard to dose in smaller tanks
Sera nematol (contains emamectin)

Remove carbon from filters before treatment and increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise oxygen levels in the water.

You treat the fish once a week for 4 weeks. The first treatment will kill any worms in the fish. The second, third and forth treatments kill any baby worms that hatch from eggs inside the fish's digestive tract.

Treat every fish tank in the house at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

You do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean 24-48 hours after treatment. Clean the filter 24 hours after treatment too.

Do not use the 2 medications together. If you want to treat both medications in a short space of time, use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish the next time you treat them. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3-4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs. At the end of the treatment you will have healthier fish.

 

[m.j.gomez]

Hello, personally don't own any otocinclus. But I have researched because was trying to decide if I should stock them or bristlenosed plecos(bn's). I booked marked this link Incase I changed my mind. Hopefully this helps you!!!!! http://www.otocinclus.com/intro.html