# Dead platy! Now otos are dying. Plz help!



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

hi guys,


I have a low tech 180l planted tank and it has been cycled for 5 weeks. Last Sunday, we went to shop and we bought

5 platy
4 Otto
4 zebra danios
2 bamboo shrimp

Everything got on really well until yesterday. I found a trace of nitrate in water test, so I did a 40% water change. This morning I got a call from wife and she found one of platy is lying dead.

What could be wrong? What shall I do for the rest of fish?


Just remember something else, bought a tunze nanostream to bring more flow to bamboo shrimp, they seems love it and danios love it too. Last night was first night I left it on for whole night ( it was running pretty much whole day as well), could it be too much flow for platy? I didn't see them playing in the high flow as the other ones.  

Many thx


Kai


----------



## roadmaster (30 May 2017)

What did water test's indicate for ammonia,nitrites?
Both of these values need to read zero and nitrates between 10 and 40 ppm.
Would want water conditioner such as PRIME to use with each water change.
If I did not have test kit for ammonia and nitrites,I might would perform daily small water change for a week.
Not uncommon to lose a recently purchased  fish or two but if all fishes begin to become sickly,then water quality or lack thereof is primary concern, hence the suggested daily small water change and perhaps once a day or every other day feeding's by one person only.
Hope some of this helps.


----------



## dean (30 May 2017)

Depends on how you cycled your tank? 
Some people think just having a tank set up for a month before adding fish is cycling ! 

Stress is the main factor in fish losses 

What could of caused enough stress for it to die ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

dean said:


> Depends on how you cycled your tank?
> Some people think just having a tank set up for a month before adding fish is cycling !
> 
> Stress is the main factor in fish losses
> ...




I have quite lots of easy growing plants growing in my tank for 5 weeks. I have also tested the water with ammonia, nitrate and nitrite periodly. I noticed the spike in nitrate and nitrite during the cycle. Because of plants, I thought I won't notice as much spike as non-planted tanks. Even last night, before I change water, to be honest, the nitrate was quiet small amount. If stress, can it be the high flow generated by nanostream? 

I am going to test water when I get back. 

Thx for all suggestions


----------



## dean (30 May 2017)

So have you used a substrate that leaches ammonia or added ammonia to the tank 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

dean said:


> So have you used a substrate that leaches ammonia or added ammonia to the tank
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Nope, substrate is tetra complete and capped with black sands. No ammonia was added during the cycle. Just overdosed the plant food.


----------



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

I think the Otos are dying too. They are just lying around and not active at all. I just tested the water. Nitrate is 0.25 ppm. Shall I do water change???

I have an unopened bottle of tetra saftestart, shall I use that?


----------



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

Picture of oto


----------



## dean (30 May 2017)

You have not cycled your filter 
Yes use the safe start 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ks198 (30 May 2017)

dean said:


> You have not cycled your filter
> Yes use the safe start
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Change water first? If so, what %?


----------



## dean (30 May 2017)

Yes 25-50% 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Ks198 (31 May 2017)

Thx for all the suggestions. I did a 40% water change and put safe star in. I tested the water this morning. The nitrate are gone; however one of oto is not moving much at all. It just rests in a pepper. Could it because lack of oxygen?

Thx

Kai


----------



## Konsa (31 May 2017)

Hki
The otos are not very active fish and are quite fragile when first introduced to new aquarium. Its a new tank setup and there for not very stable atm.The best U can do is to keep on top of the water changes  one big 50% per week or 2 20% is up to U.Try not too feed too much(once per day or even every other day) as the bacteria is not established well to cope with much  waste.Dont flap about Nitrate in the water.Normaly folks on here keep it 20-30 ppm  plus the tests readings are widely influenced by many other things and thats why very inaccurate.
Just need time for the tank to mature.Try not to mess about with the tank too much(moving things and disturbing the substrate ) and stress the fish even more.
Will be good to increase surface agitation or add an air stone as U really want high oxygen levels in the beginning  to speed up the bacteria buildup 
All the best
Regards Konsa


----------



## Ks198 (1 Jun 2017)

Konsa said:


> Hki
> The otos are not very active fish and are quite fragile when first introduced to new aquarium. Its a new tank setup and there for not very stable atm.The best U can do is to keep on top of the water changes  one big 50% per week or 2 20% is up to U.Try not too feed too much(once per day or even every other day) as the bacteria is not established well to cope with much  waste.Dont flap about Nitrate in the water.Normaly folks on here keep it 20-30 ppm  plus the tests readings are widely influenced by many other things and thats why very inaccurate.
> Just need time for the tank to mature.Try not to mess about with the tank too much(moving things and disturbing the substrate ) and stress the fish even more.
> Will be good to increase surface agitation or add an air stone as U really want high oxygen levels in the beginning  to speed up the bacteria buildup
> ...


 Thx a lot! In terms of feeding, I only feed fish every two days, but oto never eat flakes. So I tried different vegetables and only cucumber they seems interested. I leave cucumber there for 24 hrs, I don't know how much they eat, but platy on the hand are consistently eating. They just eat everything anything. While the oto is staving, platy is over fed.

In terms of oxygen, my tank is moderately planted, do you think air bump is required?


----------



## shrimpy1 (1 Jun 2017)

As far as I can see you have not mentioned what type of filtration you have. Are you sure you have adequate filtration - as far as I know the tunze is just a water mover which should not be really required in a low energy tank with adequate filtration.


----------



## Ks198 (1 Jun 2017)

shrimpy1 said:


> As far as I can see you have not mentioned what type of filtration you have. Are you sure you have adequate filtration - as far as I know the tunze is just a water mover which should not be really required in a low energy tank with adequate filtration.



Thx for your question.

i have a TetraTec EX800 Plus External Filter. Actually the night before fish died, I opened the filter and washed the media in the tank water. I changed the white cotton media to a new one as well. Could that be impacted? 

I am really not sure about tunze, it is quite powerful thing. While the bamboo shrimp and danios are definitely enjoyed it, really not sure if platy or oto likes it. It makes poos and other things floating in water.


----------



## GPaul (1 Jun 2017)

your tank might not be cycled fully, cut the fish food and do not add any more fishes, until these guys get stablized. Partial water changes and either add seachem stability or tetra safe


----------



## Ks198 (1 Jun 2017)

So nobody think the high water flow could cause any stress for fish??


----------



## roadmaster (1 Jun 2017)

Not for fishes mentioned thus far.
Oto's and danios enjoy cool water with good flow.
Platy's also like cooler water and flow would not bother them.
Too much food .too often resulting in non zero ammonia and nitrite reading's would be bigger threat than good flow.


----------



## Ks198 (2 Jun 2017)

One of Oto is definitely dying. It sucks on the glass near to the top. Not eating at all.

Just a general question regarding oto, how are you guys feeding them? I tried algae wafer, cucumber, pepper and a few other vegetables. Oto never interested, whereas platy is almost like everything, nonstop eating and pooing. Oto seems only like eat brown algae on the plants, but most of them are gone now. Do I have to find a way to introduce brown algae?

Thx


----------



## Konsa (2 Jun 2017)

Hi
Like I said they a quite fragile when first introduced in the tank.It may be eating boifilm from the glass.The fact that you cant see anything doesn't mean there is nothing for it to eat there.I usually dont wipw my back glass for them to eat from.You may try some algae wafer hikari have a good one and mine eat them.They need time to get used and start accepting different  foods.May try to leave the veggies longer.Mine didn't touch the cucumber first 24 to 36 hours I put it in. But I dont give them anymore anyway.New redmoor wood when introdused to tank gets coverded in film and slime.They love it.Try putting few (one)small ones if U want but may stain the water brown.Try blanched courgette  too if you want.If they have problem with oxygen they will take air from the surface  now and then.What temperature U have in tank?
Regards  Konsa


----------



## Ks198 (2 Jun 2017)

Konsa said:


> Hi
> Like I said they a quite fragile when first introduced in the tank.It may be eating boifilm from the glass.The fact that you cant see anything doesn't mean there is nothing for it to eat there.I usually dont wipw my back glass for them to eat from.You may try some algae wafer hikari have a good one and mine eat them.They need time to get used and start accepting different  foods.May try to leave the veggies longer.Mine didn't touch the cucumber first 24 to 36 hours I put it in. But I dont give them anymore anyway.New redmoor wood when introdused to tank gets coverded in film and slime.They love it.Try putting few (one)small ones if U want but may stain the water brown.Try blanched courgette  too if you want.If they have problem with oxygen they will take air from the surface  now and then.What temperature U have in tank?
> Regards  Konsa


 Thx I will try. 25 c I have


----------



## Iain mlaren (2 Jun 2017)

I have recently put 3 in my tank 2 of them swim about almost playing while the other lays around on the floor at times. I keep thinking hes about to die but seems to carry on. So yours might be the same. Just give it time.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


----------



## Ks198 (2 Jun 2017)

Just a quick update. After daily water changes, seems the fish are much happier, except one oto. It stuck on glass near on the top and it doesn't move much at all. His belly looks much smaller than others. It's actually really sad to watch him suffer like that. Not sure if anything can be done. I read somewhere if the bacteria in their somatic died, even if they eat, it won't be able to digest. 

On the good side, we discovered 4 fish fry in the tank. It must got in when we bought the fish somehow. They are all growing bigger each day. Kids were sad to see fish dying, but also excited to see baby fish.


----------



## zozo (3 Jun 2017)

Ks198 said:


> It sucks on the glass near to the top. Not eating at all.


As long as it sucks on whatever also the glass it is eating  It eats off the biofilm on the glass.. Tho it might seem clean to you but there is a lot going on on there you wont see.

But as said, Oto's are delicate fish.. They are know to be difficult for a start and very sensitive to stress.. The moving and change from one environment to another can cause to much stress and they can die. It happens to a lot and it's unfortunately quite common a part of the group will not survive the first 6 weeks after introduction. There is not much other you can do than cross your fingers and wait it out.. Also i good thing to ask the LFS for how long they have been in, if the arrived the previous week it best to wait a few weeks longer and go back to see what is still available, buy only the active ones. Freshly arrived they are commonly way to stressed out to be moved again.

For the rest, if the tank is mature enough it can provide sufficient food for a small group of Oto's.. I had about a 7 of them and they even didn't tough the food i offered.. They were veruy happy with the algae (aufwuchs) and biofilm the tank provided by itself.


----------



## Ks198 (4 Jun 2017)

So I came home tonight and that Oto is died now. The other three seems happy. The water parameter is all good, no sign of nitrate. I did a 15% water change anyway just to give some freshness.

Thx for all your advise.


----------

