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RE: Otocinclus HELP FIN MOVEMENTS

David Lass — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:33:26 GMT

Yes, the high hardness probably got to the oto. All of them come from the wild, and they really don't like water as hard as yours. I'm surprised your lfs sold it to you.

RE: Otocinclus HELP FIN MOVEMENTS

FattFishy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:08:06 GMT

well... it died

10:22 June 23, 2008...

Its belly was round and convex. I gave it algae wafers, it had enough algae by the tank itself. It wasn't that skinny... I think the parameters got to it.

I have another oto, but it's larger, well-fed, and not skinny.

It started swimming everywhere, like outbreaks. Suddenly it would get a little haywire and swimming up, down, circular, in very scary movements, and it didn't have a general direction. I still have no idea why/how it died and I would like to know just to prevent another one.

RE: Otocinclus HELP FIN MOVEMENTS

Hailey — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:57:58 GMT

It could be the hardness and pH finally getting to it...a month is not long enough to gauge if it is fine with the water parameters. Many otos are wild caught from what I understand, and they tend to need soft, acidic water like in the wild. It may also be starvation though...do you have lots of brown and/or green algae for it to eat? They can't eat all types of algae, so they can still starve with algae in the tank. Try feeding it algae wafers and a little nori (dry seaweed sheets for wrapping sushi, found in any grocery store selling sushi products) in a veggie clip just in case. Also, can you describe the symptoms better? What is going on with its fins and swimming? Does it look skinny? The belly should be smooth and slightly rounded, not concave at all.

Otocinclus HELP FIN MOVEMENTS

FattFishy — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:07:39 GMT

I've had an otocinclus affinis for about a month and it seems just great until now. Before the awkward swimming, it had a nice pointed caudal fin. I've done a water change today and the parameters are:

ammonia, nitrite, nitrate: 0

hardness: 300 (it was fine in this water the whole time)

pH: 7.8

Should I treat it with a tissue healing medicine?

Please respond soon, I don't want to lose another one.