Oto with red gills!!! Help!

I did a water change today... and I noticed that one of my three otos has red gills... pink, really. But he definitely didn't have this before!! I tested, everything was fine. I put in a cucumber, did a water change, and treated with Prime..

Anyone have any ideas?

I have to go to work now, but I'll check on him tonight when I get home and see if he looks better.

 

HI Amanda. Here's my random thoughts and suggestions. More will come if I think of more later.

A theory:
- When you say your parameters are fine, what are they? I heard otos were really sensitive to the smallest amounts of organic wastes. I know that an algae wafer can pollute the water really drastically in a matter of hours. Could it be something like that?
- How's his/her breathing? Is it laboured? If so I'd check the temperature. Otos like coolish water - but that wouldn't explain the gill colour.

The stretch:
- We've all had this discussion lately about otos changing colour. Could it be that yours is going through a more transparent phase? As gills are dark pink, you'd see them more if his/her colour is fading.

 

Probably something to just watch for.. i'd do partial water changes every day or 2 if you want to and see if the others show pink/red gills. You got 0 for ammonia, right? how long since the last substrata cleaning?

 

Oh gawd that reminds me that I need to vacuum my oto tank, but I just dont' dare as there's oto fry in there and they really get close to the hose. I tried with a nylon stocking, but one fry got stuck. It was unhurt as I just stopped the vaccuum, but they're practically invisible. I really don't know how am goign to clean that substrate.

 

The stretch... no, I don't think the color thing is part of it.

The oto with the pink gills is actually currently the most active one.

I could just be imagining it, maybe this guy always was a little pinkish and I just never picked up on it.. but the other two aren't at all. I don't know. He/she (I can't tell) has a nice fat belly.

I did a 30% water change today, added prime as well. I vacuumed about half the gravel. I'll check tomorrow. I'll probably take out the colliseum and vacuum all of it if he doesn't look better.

this is what it was this morning...

ammonia 0
nitrate 5
nitrite 0
pH 6.6

 

when we had otos some looked reddish around there, but we found that with some corys or platys.. just depended on the transparency, etc.. and your water chemistry sounds super, the oto sounds happy.. could be that's it's all good in there.

 

So basically, you're saying I'm awesome.

 

So basically, you're saying I'm awesome.

yep, you're my hero!

 

Yay!!

 

So I've been looking. One of them definitely has red gills... the one that is worrying me. I have noticed one of the other ones also has red gills.

I have been looking online. According to otocinclus.com this picture
is of a healthy female. She is red like my fish otos are... so I'm not as worried anymore.

I took out the colliseum today. It collects a lot of poop and food on the back of it because it is basically like stairs. So when I vacuum, I get all the stuff on the gravel but that stuff doesn't seem to come off until I poor new water in and then it goes EVERYWHERE!... So I decided to take it out for an hour, let all that yuckiness settle, then I'll vacuum and hopefully get everything up.

Paramiters were good again today. When I first started this tank, the pH was always in the high 7s. Now, I got a reading of like 6.4 today. I'm just worried when I go back to school, the pH is much higher. I think I'll have to slowly acclimate them by doing part tap water, part bottled.

 

Oh really, you're going to remove the colosseum? That's a shame, it looks great!

Great that you're reassured about the otos. So am I, then, as mine have that too. I think they're just quite a transparent fish at times, hence the red gills (you see through them, and gills are red).

So what made your pH go down do you think? Cleaner water? Because it would be great if I managed to get my pH down. I wonder if it's because of the water not being clean? I do 1/4 PWC at least each time, and I do that at least once weekly, more like twice. But still, those mollies are dirrrrty.

 

lol, I only took out the colliseum for an hour. I just wanted all the waste on the back of it to settle so I could vacuum it up. If I don't do that every two weeks or so, just collects on the back of it and goes EVERYWHERE when I pour the new water in!!

But I came home from work today to a nice clean tank....

I am in the same boat as you though. I leave my light on WAY too long... and I have NO algae!

 

if you can, keep the colliseum wet - it'll have some good bacteria on it.

does your tank have the regular bulb sockets or do you use a FL tube with the 2-pin port? you could get a FL tube that prompts more plant growth.

 

it's the fl tube. what would prompt more growth?

 

Here's some good bulbs for encouraging plant growth:

 

Good, I loooove that colliseum deco or yours.

lol, I only took out the colliseum for an hour. I just wanted all the waste on the back of it to settle so I could vacuum it up. If I don't do that every two weeks or so, just collects on the back of it and goes EVERYWHERE when I pour the new water in!!

But I came home from work today to a nice clean tank....

I am in the same boat as you though. I leave my light on WAY too long... and I have NO algae!

 

Me too! It was pretty much the first thing I picked out. I looked at EVERYTHING. I knew it was huge... (and also like $23) but I liked that it was different... not a castle or a pirate theme...

My plan was to name everyone with roman names, too... but then it just didn't happen!

 

You still could. Hey, is Rome (British-directed big budget TV series about Rome) really big in the US. It's huuuuuuge in Europe and I love it. It would give you loads of roman names!

 

I don't believe i've heard of it.. ???

 

Oh that's funny. It really is a big production so I figured it would have crossed the Atlantic. Here's one for your download list. I must warn you, it's very explicit and violent, though.

 

lol it was publicized here a lot... but I never got to watch it.

 

Oh really? Well if you like a bit of history, then I'd definitely recommend it.

 

lol it was publicized here a lot... but I never got to watch it.

I guess they didn't advertise it during the games, or if so, I forgot about it.