Oh No! 3 Dead Oto's

schoch79

Small Fish
Oct 13, 2006
45
0
0
#1
I just checked my tank and all 3 of my oto's are dead. This is the same tank that my GBR's are breeding in and they have bred well several times so the water is apparently in good condition. The ammonia and nitrite is at 0 and the nitrate is around 10 ppm. The GH and KH are reading at soft (5-6 and 3-4 respectively), the PH is 7.0-7.2. Everything seems to be in check but suddenly all three die off. Does anyone have any clue as to why? I started with 1 and it didn't clean the algae good enough so I got 2 more. Then the tank stayed clean. I would think if they died of starvation that 1-2 would die but not all three. Please help me. Oh yeah, the rams are in wonderful condition and I have never seen them pick on the oto's at all so I don't think that is it either.
 

Lonewolfblue

Superstar Fish
Jun 5, 2006
1,283
8
0
57
Wenatchee, WA
www.nw-wolf.com
#2
It could be that the oto's were already in bad condition. The best way to tell if the oto's are healthy before buying is if they are nice and fat. I've never had any die myself, and I always tell the lfs gal to fish out only the fattest ones. If they are not fat, they most likely have problems.

Also, if the tank is not planted, there may not be enough algae. It's always good to add an extra algae wafer or 2 so they don't go hungry.
 

Last edited:
Sep 11, 2005
749
1
0
49
Philadelphia
www.myspace.com
#4
Otos just die sometimes. It really doesn't have to be a factor of them lacking food, havingbad water parameters, etc. Some of my ine have been alive for several years and others die after days, weeks, months...and not because of any knowable reason.

Thing is lots of fish do this. Life is not a sure and guaranteed thing for anyone.
 

Dec 23, 2005
961
4
0
Wisconsin
#5
I have had 2 of the 3 I bought for almost 8 months now. The first one died right away with me knowing what really happened. When that one died I thought they didn't have enough food so I put a slice of cucumber in there. Now, they are still healthy and alive. You can check out the link in my sig for more info on Otos.