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I found one of my Otos upside down bloated, i went out and got some epsom salt and by the time I got home she was dead,I noticed what could be eggs coming out of her ,I have been trying to condition them over the last couple of weeks feeding them brine shrimp and Rapashy bacter Ae ect ,anyone know what could of caused this,can they get egg bound and die ?

Hi Deca,

Sorry for your loss. Those do look like eggs. You found them hanging out of her? That is sad. I confess I haven't had much experience with otos. Do you think the food was the right food for an oto? I ask because I don't know. Also, what were the tank conditions?

Regards,
Eric

Tank conditions are soft ro water,tds 130ppm,temp 22 degrees, planted and driftwood PH 6.5 KH 0-1, I put an air stone in and they like staying right above it in the current, Ammonia 0,Nitrite 0,nitrate sometimes gets up around 30-40 ppm then I will do a small water change drip the water back in slowly, as water changes to big or to quick has caused a couple to die,

As for the food I don't feed bloodworms more than twice a week, and from my research the other foods I feed are what others have fed and they had some success, atleast for spawning but most are not able to raise the fry to adult, I read time and time again Otocinclus fry dieing off one by one over the first two weeks ,which know one knows why as yet

I don't see anything wrong with those numbers. And I presume you have a group of these otos, the rest of which are doing okay.

A lot of people find big dead female Loricariids and assume they were egg bound, and yet there's another (often indeterminate) cause of death. But with eggs coming out of its vent, I think being egg bound is a reasonable explanation for her demise.

Sorry,
Eric

bekateen wrote: ↑15 Aug 2023, 14:36 I don't see anything wrong with those numbers. And I presume you have a group of these otos, the rest of which are doing okay.

A lot of people find big dead female Loricariids and assume they were egg bound, and yet there's another (often indeterminate) cause of death. But with eggs coming out of its vent, I think being egg bound is a reasonable explanation for her demise.

Sorry,
Eric

Yes the other 7 are doing fine ,healthy and active, I disturb them as little as possible because they are so timid soon as i walk in the room they dart away and hide

Two more gravid ones aren't looking good today,one looks to have white spot also,I've done a small water change and dosed Esha Exit

There is a really old post where someone said they lost a lot of otos feeding them frozen bloodworms. And their description of symptoms looks like your latest picture. I don't know if that's general digestive blockage/problems or specific to the food.
https://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/vie ... 15#p160615

Thanks I will check it out,I was thinking if it was the wrong food or to much food then why was it only the gravid females that died,but I've scrapped the breeding project for now and have stopped feeding them frozen foods !

I am having a similar problem with my Otocinclus macrospilus. It appears some of my group of 7 have gone gravid and I lost two. There seems to be two more so I am wondering any advice to help with breeding. There are 3 more that seem to be males based on body shape. I also have 5 guppies in the 10 gallon tank and it is planted with Anubias plants and has a piece of driftwood. PH is around 8, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5-10 nitrates. Thank you in advance