Overfed, sick or pregnant???

[bzbee]

Hi folks, I've been trying to condition a bunch of Endlers on Hikari Micro Pellets and Tubifex worms for the past two weeks. The Endlers share a 10G low light planted tank with 6 Otocinclus catfish. Right after my last water change on Friday, I noticed that one of the Otos was very much plumper than the week before. All of them are well fed in general, and I like to make sure that they always have full round bellies, but this Oto was so full that it could only rest on an incline because of the huge belly that got in the way. I haven't had much luck finding otocinclus breeding logs and pictures online beyond mention that the spawning behavior is similar to Corydoras catfish. Most breedings seem to occur by accident with the appearance of fry being the only indicator of breeding. Does anyone have experience breeding them, or have any opinions on the photos I'm attaching? Specifically, is this an overfed oto, a very sick oto or a very pregnant female? Thanks!

 

[Jchillin]

Oto's are egg layers so I doubt if the Oto would be pregnant in the traditional sense. Looks a little more like bloat. That Hikari must really be some good stuff.

 

[Darb21]

I've got an Oto that keeps getting fatter and fatter too. Mine's body is now noticably wider than his head. I'm not sure whats up with mine either. Looks bloated bigtime, but he's acting totally normal and continues to chew on the algae wafers that I throw in there for the Corys....

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Zagz]

Looks like either bloat or beginning of dropsy to me. Maybe cut back on feedings a bit and see if that helps.

 

[bzbee]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll isolate this guy and cut back on feedings. I usually feed the fish every other day and not on Sundays, and even then only enough for the Endlers. I have seen the Otos nibble at the micro pellets, but usually they get a slice of blanched zucchini. Could one of the moderators please move this post to the disease forum, or should I post again there? Thanks again!

 

[Zagz]

Moved to unhealthy fish.

 

[Menagerie]

The only thing I can think of is to increase the amount of veggies to all the fish in place of a regular feeding. I can’t tell if the fish are simply fat, in which case definitely lighten the food load, or if they are eating to the point of bloating themselves. The last thing anyone wants is for a fish to have a blockage. There is an article on serving many varieties of veggies to your fish in the articles section.

 

[bzbee]

Unfortunately, the Oto didn't survive the move to my QT/HT. I'm not sure if it was the bloat or the the move that killed it. Thanks for everyone's advice. Should I be concerned about the other fish developing bloat too? Perhaps I should just move the Otos. I'm about to start a 29G planted in any case so they wouldn't have to share the tank with the Endlers then.

 

[Menagerie]

Depending on what caused the bloating (if that was the cause), it probably isn't contagious. I would not move the ottos until the other tank is established--at least a few weeks, best a month or two.

I need to admit that I'm a dork--with the two different pics, I thought I was looking at two different fish You should be fine feeding every other day and I would throw in veggies for one of the feedings. Keep a close eye on this tank for awhile to make sure it was a one-fish-only problem and keep us updated!

 

[Kilgore]

I know I am a little late on this one, but I have five otos and they all looked like that (to varying degrees) within two weeks of being moved to my tank. From I what hear many young otos die when they are introduced to new tanks because they have been previously starved to some degree and either the combination of starvation and stress is too much, or because they feast on the algae in an established tank and develop a blockage. Same thing when people have been starved, you have to reintroduce food slowly.

That said, mine was a new tank so there wasn't much algae, and I think by the time it grew they had been sated with algae pellets. Then, there was a brown algae explosion, and they went crazy. None died, though, probably because they had not been too underfed before. The funny thing is that when they were "starving" right after I brought them home, they would come out and compete with the cories and others for the pellets. Now that there is algae for them to eat, though, they hang out in the Val reeds and we never see them.

I have a feeling that your otos went whole hog on the pellets and it may have been too much. Was there much algae in that tank to begin with? Was the oto new, or exceptionally old? Just trying to determine why one died and none of the others did.

 

[bzbee]

Hi there, I didn't notice this post till now. The 6 (now 5) otos have been in the tank for about 6 months or so. The one change that I did make recently was to start feeding Hikari Micro Pellets and Tubifex Worms to condition my Endlers (that incidentally gave birth only to have the fry all eaten up by the parents:<), and my guess is that the Micro Pellets were too tempting for the Otos to resist because I do see them nibbling on them all the time. I never saw the Otos nibbling at the Tubifex Worms, although I have read that it can cause bloat, so that might be the culprit. Not sure why only 1 was affected. Probably it was the greediest of the lot that tried eating Tubifex Worms! It's a low light tank (1.5WPG), so dosing Flourish at weekly water changes take care of nutrient deficiencies for the most part. I dose Flourish Excel regularly and don't get much algae beyond some actually rather nice looking green algae growing on a coconut shell. Both otos and snails keep the algae in check, so I've left it alone.

 

[Kilgore]

Bzbee,

It sounds like your other otos are doing fine now and that is the important thing. It's so frustrating to lose a fish and not know why. For that matter, it's frustrating even when you know why!

I'll have to remember that about the Hikari Micro Pellets - sounds like they are pretty good eating. As for bloat, I have read that you can take frozen (or fresh, I suppose) peas and pop them out of their little shells - each individual pea, that is - and feed them to your otos and other veggie eaters. My cories and guppies love them. It supposedly gets things moving, if you know what I mean.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has otos that look like that, so maybe someone will notice this post and reply.