what's my oto got? with photo

roby · Post by **roby** » 28 Oct 2003, 23:48

hi
today I bought home 2 oto's to keep the other 2 company. after I put them in the tank I noticed that one of them has 2 lumps or cysts a bit under the mouth. he's okay, eats and swims fine.

what could it be?

MackIntheBox · Post by **MackIntheBox** » 28 Oct 2003, 23:58

thats just the female, looks like you need to ind her a bra..

hehe, seriously though, that looke like some type of infection (just a guess) hope someone can tell you what that is... are they quarantined? if not I would do that ASAP, get it away from the other fish so they can get infected as well until you determine exactly what that is.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 29 Oct 2003, 00:10

They look like encysted digenetic fluke larvae.

magnum4 · Post by **magnum4** » 29 Oct 2003, 00:30

They look like encysted digenetic fluke larvae.

I also agree the picture is probably a metacercaria cyst, and there is not a lot you can do transmission to the others is not possible, and the two you show will not cause much problems for the little otto.

There is also an outside chance that it is a nodular infection so if you want to play safe you can quarantine the fish for 2 months.

roby · Post by **roby** » 29 Oct 2003, 09:21

what should i treat the fish with?

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 29 Oct 2003, 12:04

roby wrote:what should i treat the fish with?

Nothing, if they are what we think they are. They are stable, and as long as they are not impinging on the branchial cavity they will do no harm and will probably eventually disappear (though this may take a long time).
They are not infectious, unless you keep a pet Kingfisher....
These are a stage in a parasite where the final stage is in something like a larger fish, or more likely a fish-eating bird. The parasite simply encysts and waits for the fish to get eaten by something where it then gets a free ride into the digestive system of the final host. If this doesn't happen the larvae eventually dies and the immune system of the fish deals with it. The black spot disease sometimes seen in wild fish is a similar thing.

roby · Post by **roby** » 29 Oct 2003, 13:22

ok. thanks alot everyone