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Hi All,

I have an oto who has been very happy in my 12g tank for the past 4 weeks with plenty of algae, but recently i noticed his belly has been starting to inflate slightly and he isnt as active at night (his gills are moving rapidly too). I've tested the water and it is pristine. Ammo 0, Nitrite 0 , Nitrate trace. I then went ahead and tried to diagnose the problem and thought perhaps it is initial symptoms of an internal bacterial infection causing dropsy. So i purchased Mardel's Maracyn 2 and have been dosing him in a hospital tank for the past 2 days. This morning, i noticed his belly was still the same size and gills moving rapidly, however he just sits on the bottom of the tank and doesnt flinch. Has anyone experienced this with otos and do you know what the problem is? This is my first oto and i really want him to live. I have put in so much effort into ensuring his health and happiness.

Hi, I'm not an expert, and I don't know about the distended belly, but maybe the fast breathing is a sign of stress. I have never kept otos, but I always thought that they lived in groups. Good luck!

Picture would definitely help here. It can well be that it's female and that it's also well fed. My oldest oto female was very "fat" this spring and I thought she's about to spawn or die. She was also breathing more frequently. But then, she was spawning for like a month and her belly got slowly to normal size in the end and she now looks as before. She'll be four years old soon I think. What is the size of your oto?

couple of suggestions: this could be just a case of indigestion, it could have eaten something like a high protein foodstuff, blue-green algae(bag) or some other thing it just can't digest. I don't remember but there may be a med that could induce diarrhea? Or it may just pass on its own with time; I've had this happen. I would keep the temp and dissolved oxygen up. my 2 cent. good luck