Huge hurdle

[GoneFishing]

So I woke up this morning.... one of the Ottos I got yesterday for my 10g died.. a few hours later I see another one dead.. so 2 of 3 are gone.. ran water test..
pH 8.0ish little less
Ammo 0ppm
NitrIte 0ppm
NitrAte 40-80ppm

So first thought, do a 50% water change.. so that is complied with. .Now I'm just sitting here waiting, watching.. hoping I can keep the 3rd alive. The betta seems to be doing great.. Was weird cause yesterday when I tested the water my NitrAte was 20-40 ppm.. where did the small spike come from? Maybe I added to much yesterday, added 8 westeria 1 anubis nana a betta and 3 Ottos.. My guess is I did way to much in one day and it's just taking time for things to level out.. Any other thoughts and opinions?

 

[Shadowraven]

I don't think I would call that a small spike. Nitrates should never be allowed to rise above 50 ppm at the most and I suggest that you try to keep them below 15 ppm if possible. Nitrate poisoning is a chief contributor to many of our aquarium fish ailments. It is quite capable of killing your fish all by itself.

The 50% PWC is a good place to start, but you may need to change more, depending on how your waters parameters are looking right now. Just make sure that you condition the water first and that the temperature is in line with the temperature of the water in the tank. You don't want to add temperature shock to the problems you already have. You may also need to watch for pH shock as well if the tap water and tank water are radially different.

High nitrates usually means that you have do a more thorough job when vacuuming the substrate. You should probably also be doing at least 30% PWC weekly when you vacuum. That should correct your problem with the nitrates.

 

[siva]

How long was the tank established before adding the Oto's?

Oto cats are generally considered suitable for 20 gals and up. They are quite sensitive, and the problem with stocking them in a 10 gal is that you want a group of no less than 3, yet you never want to stock more than 1 per 5 gals. Ideally your tank would be established for atleast 6 months before adding the Oto's. If adding 3 oto's to a 10 gal it would need to be very covered in algae to be able to support them. Some, if not most, are very picky eaters and won't accept supplements. You should offer a high quality algae wafer and blanched zucchini on a regular basis, but not all will accept these foods. If your tanks does not have enough algae to support them and they will not accept the supplements you have offered, you can take some stones and place them in a bowl of tank water in your window. Once they are covered with algae, add them to the tank. If I were keeping oto's in a 10 gal, I would always have this process going.

I would do back to back water changes until your nitrates are under 20, and then maintain a schedule that keeps them there. If the one oto left doesn't make it, I would skip them for your 10 gal. If he does make it for some time, I would add one friend for him, and make sure you are supplementing properly and again, keeping those nitrates from exceeding 20.

 

[Shadowraven]

How long was the tank established before adding the Oto's?

Oto cats are generally considered suitable for 20 gals and up. They are quite sensitive, and the problem with stocking them in a 10 gal is that you want a group of no less than 3, yet you never want to stock more than 1 per 5 gals. Ideally your tank would be established for atleast 6 months before adding the Oto's. If adding 3 oto's to a 10 gal it would need to be very covered in algae to be able to support them. Some, if not most, are very picky eaters and won't accept supplements. You should offer a high quality algae wafer and blanched zucchini on a regular basis, but not all will accept these foods. If your tanks does not have enough algae to support them and they will not accept the supplements you have offered, you can take some stones and place them in a bowl of tank water in your window. Once they are covered with algae, add them to the tank. If I were keeping oto's in a 10 gal, I would always have this process going.

I would do back to back water changes until your nitrates are under 20, and then maintain a schedule that keeps them there. If the one oto left doesn't make it, I would skip them for your 10 gal. If he does make it for some time, I would add one friend for him, and make sure you are supplementing properly and again, keeping those nitrates from exceeding 20.

Ditto

 

[GoneFishing]

Well went to the airport to pick my daughters up, when we got home she saw the third Otto... Dead.. so yea I have never had issues like this. The tank has been cycles been up about 2-2.5 months.. I knew ottos needed room but when I mentioned the stock list in another thread, no one had any objections to the ottos. They even said to add 3 not 2.

 

[siva]

I'm so sorry to hear that I disagree with those who advised you that way. Also after a couple months set up, unless the tank was getting a lot of sun, there's just no way it would have enough algae for them. It's not actually about them needing "room", what they need is algae. Or another veggie matter that they will eat.

 

[GoneFishing]

Yea they didn't want anything to do with the algae wafer I dropped in the tank

 

[siva]

Well I just read your first post again and realized you just got them yesterday. They certainly didn't die of starvation then. How did you acclimate them?

 

[GoneFishing]

Drip line for an hour.. same method for betta and gouarmis and all the other fish I have.. not sure what the issue was..

 

[siva]

If you didn't already toss 'em I'd take them in a for a refund if you can.

 

[GoneFishing]

Yea.. oh I should say, they were a petsmart purchase, I'm going tomorrow to get a refund

 

[GoneFishing]

WTF!!! Ok lost the 3 ottos.. now... My betta has begun his fatal journey! My levels test good, tanks been up for 2 months (cycled) wtf is going on!?!?

 

[siva]

Oh man..Is betta as new as well? What symptoms is it showing?

 

[GoneFishing]

Yea betta was bought on sunday.. He is dead now, was having slow deep gill movements. He would also float nose down, on his side, on the bottom on his side.. idk.. his gills are showing no movement.. saddens me to see my new fish suffer for unknown reasons.

 

[siva]

Ok well this may just be unrelated and coincidental. Your nitrates were too high, but certainly not to the extent that I would expect all your fish to be quickly killed off from it. It sounds like the betta could have been suffering from some swim bladder disease. Do you see a little bloated section of his tummy? It may be hard to tell now that he's passed...

 

[siva]

Here's a good pic of a pretty bad SBD


I see bettas at my Petco and Walmart afflicted with this every time I look at them.

 

[GoneFishing]

Yea he kinda looked like that.. but what would cause my other fish to die too? It is just a huge fuzzy situation that happened over the last 3 days.

 

[siva]

Well the bettas commonly get SBD due to poor water conditions and poor diet..both of which they are usually subject to before we get them home..being kept in those tiny cups w/o proper water changes and being fed diets of too much protein..usually freeze dried bloodworms which can cause them to bloat anyway. Then the oto's, well they could have already been dying of starvation by the time you got them. Or maybe they were just bad stock. Maybe they were a new shipment and were damaged in shipping. It's hard to say. I would gravel vac the heck outta the tank and do a couple large water changes before adding more fish, just to be sure.

 

[GoneFishing]

Ok so went back to the lfs.. turns out they got the bettas Friday.. I got him Sunday. The ottos could have been starved, were in a clean tank at petsmart..

 

[GoneFishing]

Ok I have been doing some thinking, I still have high nitrates... Could my liquid plant fert be a source? I'm not sure what extra things happen with the liquid ferts.