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otocinclus disease

muggie

New Member
Joined
26 Mar 2022
Messages
9
Location
london
my otto head is red a blood colour
its on its own but only until the shop gets stock
40 litres
2 platys
and its a new tank 10-11 weeks old
I went on holiday for a week and came back to find this
i put in a piece of courgette in for the week
 
Hi there,
It's not looking good for your otto unfortunately. They are very sensitive to being moved & having different water parameters.
Ottos really need a mature tank, one which has been running for at least six months & has plenty of healthy plants growing.
You haven't mentioned any plants, bogwood or botanicals like dead leaves etc?
Sadly, if he hasn't died already, you are likely to lose him. I've never had one respond well to treatment, by the time they show symptoms it's usually too late.
Sorry for being negative but it will give you chance to look at your tank & find things to change & turn it into 'otto heaven' before buying any more!
Perhaps you could post photos of your tank so other people can chime in with ideas.
A slice of courgette is suitable food for them but it wouldn't last a week, it would rot after a few days & potentially pollute the water which may be what happened. A water change would be advisable too.
 
+1 to the above. I've kept probably 50+ otos over 4 tanks over the years. They really don't do well in new tanks at all, even if there's plenty of algae and you feed them vegetables. I think there's something missing from immature tanks that isn't food related, though no one really understands what that could be. For example, tank A, 12 months old - added half a dozen, all still alive after several months. Tank B, 3 months old - added half a dozen at the same time, all were dead after several months. Same food, same water source, just different age of tank.

I've found 30% weekly water changes seem to be the sweet spot for keeping them alive. Also as an aside, O. macrospilus seems to be more hardy than O. vittatus, I've never been able to keep O. vittatus alive for very long.
 
I have plants I think it might be getting better I've had the tank with water for 4 months 1 or 2 with fish in it. the rest cycling etc. but it looks better
 
Hoping the little guy recovers. 👍🏻
Keep doing small water changes every few days in case the courgette you left in there over your holiday has polluted the water.
Mine like baby spinach leaves. I pour over boiling water to wilt them then put a couple of leaves in a food clip attached to the glass by a sucker.
The ottos get so excited they're whizzing all over the tank until each finds a place to feed!
 
Hi @muggie Could you post a picture of the Oto's?

I currently have Otocinclus in both my tanks and had them in many, many tanks in the past (always been one of my favorites) and never the seen the redness you describe before.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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I've seen it in shop ones where they've had a new batch & just plonked them in a fresh tank of water.
The redness seems confined to the head area round the gills & mouth so I figured water parameters, ammonia intolerance possibly?
Most of the batch seemed highly stressed also & weren't feeding.
 
Purchased 7 last friday, all ok so far, the shop had been feeding on Repashy, so I purchased some (just in case), my tank had plenty of bio film, and a Java fern with some dusty brown algae
Following drip acclimatising, for 45mins, they were introduced, and were immediately on the lookout for food
Today after dropping in a few spirulina wafers (for the L200’s and L027’s, i saw one of the oto’s having a good munch
I believe, that with any sensitive fish, the most important issue is where it’s purchased from, this dictates the condition of the fish, i know for a fact that mine had been in the shop for weeks, all looked heathy and active
Early days yet and 🤞🤞
F20416E1-EFBA-4040-8277-BF120C59D489.jpeg
 
I believe, that with any sensitive fish, the most important issue is where it’s purchased from, this dictates the condition of the fish,
Absolutely!
And particularly with Otocinclus, because if they go through a period of not being properly fed they are unlikely to recover.
 
Hi @muggie Could you post a picture of the Oto's?

I currently have Otocinclus in both my tanks and had them in many, many tanks in the past (always been one of my favorites) and never the seen the redness you describe before.

Cheers,
Michael
I can't get a photo it looked like bleeding I don't know what it was from it was if all the blood vessels were right on its skin
 
Purchased 7 last friday, all ok so far, the shop had been feeding on Repashy, so I purchased some (just in case), my tank had plenty of bio film, and a Java fern with some dusty brown algae
Following drip acclimatising, for 45mins, they were introduced, and were immediately on the lookout for food
Today after dropping in a few spirulina wafers (for the L200’s and L027’s, i saw one of the oto’s having a good munch
I believe, that with any sensitive fish, the most important issue is where it’s purchased from, this dictates the condition of the fish, i know for a fact that mine had been in the shop for weeks, all looked heathy and active
Early days yet and 🤞🤞
View attachment 187539
Is that otocinclus cocama? The zebra oto? I've been looking for some for ages
 
Yes, Cocama
Purchased from Tropco, Hadlow,
I have purchased other fish from them previously, well woth a visit if you are local
 
As a follow up, I have purchased a few more (the last few) Cocama, that the shop had, as i wanted a larger group, this has paid off, in that the last remaining traces of algae have now gone, all oto’s are looking good, the additional fish have caused a change in behaviour, they move around in small groups now, rather than singly or in pairs
 
As a follow up, I have purchased a few more (the last few) Cocama, that the shop had.
Can I ask a cheeky question? What did you pay for them. The only place around here locally that had stocked some was asking £12.50 a fish :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:. While I was expecting to pay a premium for O. cocama, £9 a fish was a little more than I was expecting, considering I want 15-18 of them!!
 
Can I ask a cheeky question? What did you pay for them. The only place around here locally that had stocked some was asking £12.50 a fish :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:. While I was expecting to pay a premium for O. cocama, £9 a fish was a little more than I was expecting, considering I want 15-18 of them!!
Well, I paid more than that, so i would say that if they are a good size and healthy, £12.50 isn’t bad
If you think thats bad, try keeping Tropheus, Ilangi (if you ever see real ones) will be north of £40.00 each (at v small size), you will need at least 15, to keep them from tearing each other to pieces
Most decent quality F1 tropheus will be more than 20 each, even 3-4cm
I bought the Cocama from tropco, their “Dwarf “ oto’s, are cheap enough
The cocama, i don’t think get imported very often, i guess that’s why they are so pricey
 
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