Lost an otto

[mitche8359]

Here we go again.

Bought four ottos over a week ago. All healthy and happy, or so they seemed. Found that one had died tonight. I see two others still swimming and chomping away. Not sure where the fourth might be. I could guess in the pleco since these guys were fairly small. First fish that I lost in a long time. Somehow the three year old instinctively knew that we were going to flush him, maybe from Nemo? First fish I lost since he was born.

Did I read hear recently that ottos would eat cucumber and zuchini? I want to make sure there's enough food for them. I know that snails will get on the cucumber and it's a great way to reduce the snail population so it would be a double bonus.

Same thing happened last time I bought ottos. They were happy for a week or two and then slowly one by one they died off.

My blue ram is back out from hiding under the plant and in his usual territory. I fed flakes and larva but he didn't eat anything.

Water parameters are fine. Ammon 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 PH 7 as of two days ago.

 

[TankGirl]

Nitrate 0?

Otocinclus are a tricky fish and it is not unusual to lose an entire group of them. On explanation I have heard is that they require a steady diet of algae and when they are netted and shipped, and subsequently spend time in an algae-free LFS tank, they lose enzymes in their gut, so that when you get them home, even though you might have algae, they can't digest and they die.

The only thing to do is to purchase specimens that have been at the LFS for a while, because the ones that do survive seem to remain pretty hardy. Even then there is no guarantee. Your pleco is not responsible for killing any, though it is possible it would munch on the remains.

 

[mitche8359]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that's what the nitrate was. I'll recheck the scale to make sure it was 0 but I know it was at the low end of the scale.

Yep I knew that ottos were the type that either made it or didn't and I knew what to expect cause the same thing happened last time, but I really thought this time would be different. Really been keeping up the tank of late.

Not so sure about the pleco. I've read that they do tend to have an appetitie for fresh meat once in a while when they are larger and mine is getting close to being larger. He might not have gone after a fish intentionally, but I doubt he'd give it a second thought if he had a fish in his mouth. Like you said he might have also just scavenged the bottom. Ah now that I think about it, I do recall yesterday seeing something that looked like flesh but couldn't make out anything more. That might have been the fourth.

Tank has a lot of algea on the plants and some on the sides, the remaining two seem to want to clean the vals more than anything. I occcassionally see an otto on the side of the tank but not for long. Maybe its the wrong type of algae.

 

[Menagerie]

Another problem with fish shipping, is they are not fed and TG is right, they may not be getting proper food in the LFS. If you have SAE and plecos, I am surprised that you have an algae problem. If the nitrates are 0, that means the plants (or algae) is taking up all the nitrates. Are the plants new--it looks like it from your sig--okay, that would explain the algae problem. Are the SAEs and the pleco eating any algae? They will take the easy way out and eay left over flake food first

 

[vega]

I purchase both my current otto that been lfs for few weeks. They very healthy and been 3 months in my tank.

I doubt the NO3=0. I am also looking for a NO3 test kit that can test 0-15ppm as most i found in market is 0-40 ppm which quite hard to tell the NO3 level if the NO3 is >14ppm

 

[mitche8359]

I redid the Nitrate test last night. It is a kit that reads 0-40 and once again it read at 0. The plants are not new, well the vals are, but the rest have been around for a couple years. I recently removed a lot of anacharis which is the cause of the alge growth. Probably reduced the plants in the tank by half. I originally put the anacharis into the tank to get rid of the algae, which it did, but got tired of pruning and replanting. I expected an algae bloom, which did occur. The SAEs are several years old and eat flakes more than algae, The ottos are eating algae and I haven't seen one try flake food. I'm not sure the SAEs are eating algae any more and have considered replacing them or at least getting a couple new ones.

 

[mitche8359]

Great news! The third otto is still alive. Not sure where he was, but he's there now.

 

[TankGirl]

What a relief! When I moved and took down my big tank I discovered cory cats that I thought had long ago perished - I had not seen them in months. That's always a great surprise

 

[mitche8359]

Months is a long time. When I was in the process of moving back from college one year, I had my usual trio of an angel, red tailed shark and goldfish. All were several years old. I had a large bucket for the move, which was about 40 minutes drive. Pizza box served as a cover. When I got home, the angel was missing. Looked all in the car, everywhere, not to be found. No clue what happened to the fish.

 

[TankGirl]

That's bizarre, Tom! In my case, the tank is so heavily planted and has deep caves so I was really not sure what I would find when I took the tank apart, LOL! I was surprised they corys did not come out at night - just incredibly timid. Nowadays I see much more of them.

 

[mitche8359]

the tank is so heavily planted and has deep caves so I was really not sure what I would find when I took the tank apart

Ah to have such a heavily planted tank! I guess it's easy for them to hide. My tank is lightly planted and sometimes its hard for me to find the ram or an otto.

 

[dud]

Just wanted to say hello to another oto owner... Hope your other otos make it Tom!

 

[mitche8359]

Been keeping an eye on em. So far so good.... Only problem is they refuse to clean the glass.