Thanks for the help. I'll set my energy about trying to find a suitable home for this critter. I appreciate the ID help.

--Fleur

A student asked me to take in her fish recently. Her family has excessive medical bills for her grandfather, and she had to shut down her tank. I took in her orange platy and a brown plecostomus with a mottled pattern. The store said it wouldn't grow to more than 5" but she couldn't remember what ...

The Farlowella vittata are thin, but they get super long. Will they be alright in a 10 gallon? I know my brother keeps on his water quality. He tests and does regular water changes... I have otos in my 8 gallon, and they're really thriving, but I had my tank well established with mature algae growth ...

My brother has a ten gallon planted fish tank. I'll be visiting him in Northern Virginia next week. His daughter is dying for a catfish, but I am trying to figure out what the best species will be for his tank. At home, in my nano, I have a small shoal of otocinclus. His bioload is low (and likely ...

Well, Thing 2 has passed away. :( Poor little guy. I still have Thing 1, though, but now she is all alone. I am trying to find someone local who will QT her and add her to their shoal, but so far no takers. I would rather not add more otos since I now suspect that my setup is not ideal. Keep your ...

Well, I'll do my w/c and try to get him out of the tank and into a hospital tank. I might just keep the water super clean and see if he improves since treatment doesn't often help. Based on his bloating, he might have some organ stress as well, so odds are antibiotics would just overstress his ...

So, I have been watching the fish since the redness in his gills went away. For two days, I had trouble finding him. This evening, he is on the tank. His gills are not red, but he is completely swolen up. I will pull him from the tank tomorrow morning. *sigh*

Hey, thanks so much for the tips on reducing my tank cycle when I change the substrate! I'll be trying those to keep things healthier for my fishies. What amuses me most about this illness is that it only occurs in one of my fish. Period. Thing 1 simply doesn't have any trouble. The best I can do is ...

This little guy is going to make me crazy! So... I left for my honeymoon on Saturday morning. Thing 2 had redness in his gills and what looked like it might've been an anchor worm or gill fluke swishing in and out when he moved his gills. I didn't medicate since I wouldn't be able to watch them (and ...

Mmm... when mixing economy with ecology, there's always a little give and take. For myself, I prefer captive bred. This is mainly because a breeding population is generally a comfortable population. If they're not breeding, there's something missing from their captive habitat that the would be ...

Thanks racoll. Your words were very comforting. I suspect Jerry was older when I got him. He was a Crowntail with fully developed fins and probably lived in the petstore cup for two weeks (at least) sucking up ammonia and other toxins from the cup of water he called home. My next betta will be from ...

Fleur, How long have you had the otos? Two months. Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I just wish I could start treatment now. I can't really take much gravel from my main tank since it's holding the plants in. :( I might be able to skim a little off the top, but I suspect it might be enough to ...

Thanks! I was hoping I wouldn't need to treat the main tank. I really don't like introducing meds to my planted tank, especially if it means dosing animals that don't need medications. I'm getting married on Friday and am preparing to leave town. I don't have anyone who can medicate or test a ...

I'm so sorry for your loss.

My deepest sympathies, truly.

--D'lyse

I'd sacrifice the net... if you're super careful, you may be able to cut the net off the fish. Another option is to read up on ways to sedate the fish so that you can carefully and gently remove the net -- or keep the fish still while you try to cut it free. I don't know much about particulars for ...

~~this is reposted due to an error with my previous user name and a mis-read forum descriptor -- sorry!~~ Hi, I'm brand new to the forum. I have only two Otos in one heavily planted five gallon tank. I do weekly 35% water changes. One of my otos (Thing 2) isn't looking great. It looks like he's got ...