White spot on Otto cats head?

Hello everyone. I notice one of my Otto cats has the white spot on his head am wondering if anyone has ever seen it before and can tell me what it is. Thanks

 

Still concerned. He does seem to be acting okay just would really like to identify the problem.

 

Still concerned. He does seem to be acting okay just would really like to identify the problem.

Looks like columnaris, or 'saddleback disease' to me. It's a bacterial infection. Treatment of choice is kanamycin (kanaplex) and nitrofurazone (furan 2).
Kanaplex Orally:
"Feed the medicated food mix (recipe below) every day until the infection clears or up to 1 week. This medicated food can be refrigerated or frozen between feedings.
1 scoop KanaPlex1 scoop Focus™1 tbsp food (preferably pellets or frozen food)A few drops of water if using a dry foodTo enhance palatability use with GarlicGuard™ or Entice™.
+
Furan 2 dosed as directed on label.
After Treating
When the treatment period is over, KanaPlex™/Furan 2 can easily be removed using activated filter carbon..."
Or,
If feeding kanaplex isn't possible you can try this:
Day 1: Use recommended dosage for both KanaPlex & Furan-2
Day 2: Use recommended dosage for Furan-2 only
Day 3: 25% Water change and use recommended dosage for both KanaPlex & Furan-2
Day 4: Use recommended dosage for Furan-2 only
Day 5: 25% Water change and use recommended dosage for both KanaPlex & Furan-2
48 hours after treatment do 50% water change and add activated carbon to filter.
NOTE: Do large water change before beginning treatment.
Remove all carbon from filter before starting treatment.

 

Is it contagious to the other fish in the tank?

 

Is it contagious to the other fish in the tank?

It can be. But if you treat the whole tank it's unlikely. You can move the oto to a smaller hospital tank with filter and heater to treat. Be sure to keep a close eye on water parameters if you do.

 

In this tank we have our guppy and platy fry along with shrimp and snails. Will these medications cause problems to these smaller fish?

 

In this tank we have our guppy and platy fry along with shrimp and snails. Will these medications cause problems to these smaller fish?

Furan 2 may not be safe for invertebrates. I'd suggest a hospital tank in that case. Furan will also damage any live plants.
Check your water parameters in the tank the oto is in. Poor water conditions can make fish more susceptable to columnaris.

 

Let's ask some other pros opinions though. They may have better ideas:
A201
86 ssinit
jmaldo
Can you help? Disease/treatment isn't my forte.

 

If the white growth is fuzzy & cotton-like, the problem is likely an abrasion w/ fungus attached. If that's the case, no worries. Clean water & time should clear it up.
If the patch is a white or gray, smooth skin discoloration then the problem is likely Saddleback aka Columnaris. In that situation, remove the infected fish asap. Treat as noted above, or euthanize.
The longer a fish harbors Columnaris the more virulent the strain becomes. The disease is commonly spread by tank mates grazing on an infected corpse. No need to nuke the tank with meds at this point.

 

Thanks everyone. It does seem to be fuzzy and it has been on him for about a week or so. I’m going to recheck him after work and plan a good water change for tonight.

 

If fuzzy it’s probably a scrape. It almost looks like another Otto was eating the slime off of him. I would still move him into another tank to observe. See if he heals in the qt tank with new water and maybe a bit of aquarium salt.

 

i was just feeding my fish and noticed a white spot on one of my otos. I am not sure when it appeared. It’s like a white patch and there are two small white kind of bumps in the white patch. I have had the Oto for probably around six weeks now so I thought it would be past the time where it could be carrying diseases from when it was caught or from the store. I’m not sure if this has been caused by the heat where I live where sometimes the water has gotten to 31 degrees Celsius for one day but I soon learnt ways to deal with that and it has been cooler with the temperature around 24 in the tank. I also have seen a large bug with six legs flying around near the tank but it keeps disappearing before I can try shoo it outside. I’m putting some zucchini in the tank now as my otos love it and hopefully the added protein to what hey normally eat will help in some way. Please let me know if there’s any other information you need. I have attached some pictures of the white spot below.

 

Kind of hard to see from the pic. Look into columnaris, fish lice, and fungal infections, looks like one of those 3. The spots are too large to be ich. Fungal infections and columnaris (bacterial) can occur when a fish is injured or stressed and is attributed to poor water quality.

 

Kind of hard to see from the pic. Look into columnaris, fish lice, and fungal infections, looks like one of those 3. The spots are too large to be ich. Fungal infections and columnaris (bacterial) can occur when a fish is injured or stressed and is attributed to poor water quality.

Hi I’m not sure I this helps but I took another photo of my Oto. Do you know anything I can do to help him recover? It’s sort of fuzzy I’m not sure if that means anything. Thank you so much for your help.

 

if its fuzzy it probably got injured and now has a fungal growth over the wound. this is a tough one because otos are sensitive to most medications. i would personally quarantine him with good clean water and lots of natural tannins

 

if its fuzzy it probably got injured and now has a fungal growth over the wound. this is a tough one because otos are sensitive to most medications. i would personally quarantine him with good clean water and lots of natural tannins

I don’t have another tank only the one should I do a 30% water change tomorrow and just keep the water cool and plenty of food and hope for the best. I am not sure what you mean by tannins. Do you know any common ways that otos can get this sort of injury so I can try make my tank more suitable for them?

 

I don’t have another tank only the one should I do a 30% water change tomorrow and just keep the water cool and plenty of food and hope for the best. I am not sure what you mean by tannins. Do you know any common ways that otos can get this sort of injury so I can try make my tank more suitable for them?

The most important thing is water quality, and of course, the tank being cycled. I assume this tank is old since you have Otto cats, so I think the tank should be well established. Do you know your parameters? Old tanks can sometimes have spikes if old pockets of detritus are stirred or if your filter begins to lose efficiency. If the case is the filter, you’ll sooner see the affects of inadequate oxygen levels.

Normally injured fish will heal on their own. Injuries can happen if a fish is bullied, but sometimes infections can happen regardless of injury when a fish is stressed. Fungus is always present in your tank and will only infect a fish once the fish is stressed. Fungal infections can also be secondary infections if a fish is weakened by another disease. Rotting plant matter may encourage the presence of fungus in your tank.

Tannins are a chemical released by driftwoods, almond leaves, and a few other things. They have been known to help fish heal external infections.

 

Hi Fishiemum,
I read your profile.
I share your climate.
Its always important to try and match the temperature of new water when replacing. In this heat it’s ok to add water slightly cooler. Only one or two degrees centigrade cooler.
Tropical fish can handle 30 degrees centigrade but the heat limits the oxygen available. Add an air stone if you are in the warmer parts of Australia.

Most importantly .
The tank needs to grow two colonies of bacteria.
This bacteria eats ammonia and nitrites. It then poops nitrates.
Unless you added an ammonia source for a month before you got any fish the tank is not cycled.
Its not really possible to cycle a tank successfully with bottled bacteria.

Do a partial temperature matched conditioned water change soon.
Researching the nitrogen cycle is not a five minute job.
Chucking some water out and in is.

Sorry you had this start in the hobby.

Fly

 

The most important thing is water quality, and of course, the tank being cycled. I assume this tank is old since you have Otto cats, so I think the tank should be well established. Do you know your parameters? Old tanks can sometimes have spikes if old pockets of detritus are stirred or if your filter begins to lose efficiency. If the case is the filter, you’ll sooner see the affects of inadequate oxygen levels.

Normally injured fish will heal on their own. Injuries can happen if a fish is bullied, but sometimes infections can happen regardless of injury when a fish is stressed. Fungus is always present in your tank and will only infect a fish once the fish is stressed. Fungal infections can also be secondary infections if a fish is weakened by another disease. Rotting plant matter may encourage the presence of fungus in your tank.

Tannins are a chemical released by driftwoods, almond leaves, and a few other things. They have been known to help fish heal external infections.

I have some driftwood so hopefully that should help and my tank is around 3 months old. The white spot hasn’t gotten any smaller but the oto seems normal in activity. I do have quite a lot of plants so I will try to get rid of some of the dead bits. Thank you for your help.

 

I have some driftwood so hopefully that should help and my tank is around 3 months old. The white spot hasn’t gotten any smaller but the oto seems normal in activity. I do have quite a lot of plants so I will try to get rid of some of the dead bits. Thank you for your help.

In this case your tank may actually not be fully cycled or may have an inadequate cycle.. how did you cycle the tank? What are your parameters? Sometimes when you cycle a tank it can have some beneficial bacteria but not enough to support fish. I would get a test kit and test the water frequently, then you can see what’s going on.

If the tank is 3 months old then it’s not old enough to naturally have food the Otto, so it’s good they’re responding well to supplements. Keep doing what you’re doing with diet, if that’s what’s keeping them well fed.

If he’s acting frantic it could be irritation from the fungus. He may try rubbing against surfaces or flashing

 

It is now been about four days since I noticed the fuzz on my Oto and I just checked and it seems so have gotten much worse. I really don’t know what to do. Is there any treatments I could just try. The patch looks bigger and worse and there is a small white patch on his head now as well. I have read other people saying their otos have not survived this or that is may be columnaris. Do you think that could be what my Oto has and what can I do to treat it. The rest of my fish seem fine as well as the other Oto. Please let me know anything I can try because I’m scared it’s getting worse. I can’t see that well but I think the skin is kind of rotting away in the white spot.

 

To the best of my knowledge there are no medications available in Australia that might have helped in the early stages .
Only fresh clean water is our option, along with Indian almond leaf and other tannins including rooibos tea .
In future a fully cycled established tank with an ample supply of algae may help? Certainly a stress free environment.However the stressful days and weeks leading up to our purchase we have little control over.
With this species ( Ottos) those sold in chain stores its unlikely they are breed in captivity. They do not learn to eat man made dry food easily. They need a stomach full of a special bacteria that only comes from a diet of large amounts of algae.
Sorry you had to find all this out so early in the hobby Fishiemum . They are actually quite a difficult species to keep alive in a tank less than 6 months old.

 

To the best of my knowledge there are no medications available in Australia that might have helped in the early stages .
Only fresh clean water is our option, along with Indian almond leaf and other tannins including rooibos tea .View attachment 751988In future a fully cycled established tank with an ample supply of algae may help? Certainly a stress free environment.However the stressful days and weeks leading up to our purchase we have little control over.
With this species ( Ottos) those sold in chain stores its unlikely they are breed in captivity. They do not learn to eat man made dry food easily. They need a stomach full of a special bacteria that only comes from a diet of large amounts of algae.
Sorry you had to find all this out so early in the hobby Fishiemum . They are actually quite a difficult species to keep alive in a tank less than 6 months old.

Would it be helpful to do a waterchange more often such as twice a week instead od once or do more water as I usually do about a third. Should I also always make sure there’s some food available such as zucchini always in their tank or would that contribute to poor water quality. I have also been using a chemical to help the plants in the aquarium grow and stay green. Should I stop using that for a while? Thank you so much for all your help. Also is there any things I should be testing specifically I currently test for ph and ammonia. My ammonia is very close to zero and I will be doing a water change later today and my ph is around 6.5.

 

If you have time to mix up small quantities of water every day in order to have an exact temperature match that is better. (25% ish)
I hope the tone of my last reply has forewarned you of what I feel is an inevitable sad end for this little guy.Sorry.

I think 24 hours is the absolute maximum for zucchini at tropical temperatures in my tanks. 12 hours might be better ( safer ) advice .

There are a number of Australian medications with Malachite green and Acrflavine as the active ingredients that might help a fungal disease IF applied early enough on day one or two.

It may be a good idea to have some on hand in case any other fish show signs. By all means add this or one of the other brands to all change water. I have never saved a fish with it.

 

Sadly my Oto did pass away last night. I just wanted to know if my other remaining Oto could be mentally impacted by this as he hasn’t been eating and has been very scared of since the death of my other Oto. He used to stay on the glass when I came up and did not care in the slightest but now when I move he swims around erratically. He also frequently sits around the spot I found my other Oto lying dead this morning. I really don’t know what to do as this is the second death of a friend this Oto has been through and while I do want to buy another one so he’s not lonely I wanted to know if he would be harmed by the possible death of another friend or if he would try to attack a new addition. I also wanted to know if he will go back to eating soon or if there is anything else I can do.

 

Sorry to hear of the loss. It’s never east losing a fish.

I can only say what is bounced around on the internet as “ fact” . I have no idea if it’s true.
It is often written that in the wild this species is a social species that should be kept in groups of 5.

Many people don’t need 5 algae eaters or don’t have a tank big enough to grow enough algae for 5 and have them in smaller numbers. Many people have trouble keeping them alive.
They are one of the most peaceful fish there is and would not attack a newcomer. I don’t think adding another would result in a better or different outcome.

I believe part of the problem is / was the age of the tank.
At 3 months old the tank might be cycled but I don’t see a post of the tanks water parameters just before your routine water change.