Red Belly Oto Cat????

Hi,

Can someone please look at these pics and tell me what's going on with my oto? Last week he blew up and looked like he was going to explode. Since then he's gone down in size a little and matches the description I keep running across on the internet stating that a healthy and happy oto's stomach should look like he swallowed a pearl. Check.

But now today I noticed some red coloring below his stomach that I know for a fact was never there. I watch my fish for at least an hour almost everyday. Yes I have a life but it calms me haha. The red coloring "spot" has gotten smaller from when I first saw it to the time I could get a pic, but this little guy has put me through quite a few scares so I just thought I would ask. Look between the stomach and tail fin in the pic.

Helpful facts:

1. Both of my otos have nice size bellies and are active
2. Only one blew up and looked like he was going to explode (the fish in question about the red belly)
3. I just planted water wisteria in the tank today (he didn't have a red belly before today)
4. I've had them for almost a month and have not had to feed them. I tried feeding algae wafers once but they refused it. They're getting pretty full, and fat, from whatever they're eating in the tank off the glass and ornaments
5. I put a new ornament of a fairly large size in the aquarium today but of course rinsed it in hot water thoroughly before putting in like always
6. My tank was cycled when I first put them in the tank but I've purchased a new filter about 2 weeks ago. So having to cycle again. I know otos aren't a fish to cycle with but mine have been pretty hardy so far.


Anyone have any ideas? I don't want to go to my tank one day and find this little guy dead. What should I do to help the poor dude, or chick? Not sure if it's male or female. Thanks in advance.

The pic on the left was his balloon last week, and on the right is his red belly. Symptoms?

 

How are you cycling the tank? And if I may ask, did you transfer media from your old filter to the new one?

What are your current water parameters?

 

Ok. Dumb newbie moment lol. I'm not sure what you're asking when it comes to how I'm cycling the tank. I've heard of doing it with fish and without fish. But to attempt to answer, there's 4 white clouds and 2 otos in there. I feed the white clouds every other day like I was told to do at the LFS I bought them from. I change the water 10 to 25% once a week. Every time I change the water I add beneficial bacteria and without needing to be said water conditioner also. I always make sure not to overdose.

No I didn't add any of the material from the old filter to the new one. But I never took the fish out of the tank and didn't do a water change until a few days later. I just simply replaced the filter. Is that still ok? A good amount of the good stuff was still left in the tank then right?

My water parameters I believe are ok. I know it's a total fail not knowing them exactly but I was told I didn't need to check them much since I'm cycling the tank, and since the fish I have in the tank, including the otos, are pretty durable. I did have it checked a couple of weeks though at a pet store with the test strips, and I was told all my levels were perfect but that my ph was slightly high and there was nothing I could do about it at this time since the tank is cycling.

Hope that helps . Is how I'm cycling the tank turning his stomach red?

 

I'd have to say that when you're cycling a tank is the most important time to be testing your water. Pick up an API master liquid test kit. It's one of the best uses of $20 in this hobby.

 

Otos are the opposite of durable in most peoples experience! What Eric and JB said and read up on the nitrogen cycle <--here

 

@Eric that's what I was initially going to purchase but the employee at petco advised me otherwise. This is why I only deal with an experienced LFS now. I was actually going to purchase it tomorrow. Thanks for that.

@TheBettaBar I'm realizing that now after reading posts and doing more research. Now I feel bad the poor little guys are in the tank. The LFS I purchased them from (who I no longer deal with) won't take them back. And I'll re-read on the nitrogen cycle. Thanks so much for the link.

Really important though: does anyone know the actual reason his stomach is red? It's the same today as it was last night when I took the pic 24 hours ago. But he, or she, is still as active as he's or she's ever been, still eating, and still with a nice size stomach Should I just not worry?....I'm mainly concerned because the other oto in the tank is eating just as much, if not more, and gets a big stomach but not as big as the one in question; and has never had a red stomach like the one I'm concerned about. I could understand if it were both. But all of these things are just happening to the one.........

 

Without knowing your exact water parameters, no one will be able to guess what's turning your oto's belly red. It looks like it could be a bacterial infection. Poor water conditions make fish more susceptible to infections like this.

First off, read up on the nitrogen cycle. Since you have extremely sensitive fish in the tank, I would suggest getting some Tetra Safestart. Do a large water change to get your ammonia down, then add the appropriate amount of TSS. Then do nothing for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, test your water parameters and perform a water change accordingly. If you removed the filter and didn't transfer any media to your new one, chances are your tank is going through a mini-cycle. Not enough bacteria lives in the substrate and decor to keep a tank cycled. Most of it resides in the filter media.

 

I'll go buy a master test kit tomorrow but based on the the test strips I had already purchased: ph and alkalinity are way too high at 8.5 and 300, hardness is about 75, nitrites are 0 for sure, nitrates are between 0 and 20 (looked closer to 0 but I want to be absolutely sure and it had too much color to be 0 but not enough to be 20, so let's call it 20 to be safe), and it didn't tell me how to detect ammonia (a 6th thing) based on the 5 color pads so I'm not sure. I do vacuum the gravel every time I do a water change (once a week) so hopefully that helps. How big of a water change is a large water change? 50%? And I add the instructed dosage of API stresszyme every time I change the water. Does this supplement for the TSS?

The otos were suggested to me initially to eradicate an algae problem in my 5 gallon betta tank but the betta kept attacking them, so I put them in my 15g. I had no idea they were so sensitive. Thanks for the water parameter suggestion. I was told at first not to worry about it because of how hardy the white clouds are, which were the only fish in my tank when I was told that. I don't want to seem like a complete newbie. I did a least a little research at first.