aquatoid

Thank you for the input everyone. I did not try to medicate this issue, just medicated the actually diagnosed chilodonella in the tank. The oto is still doing what otos do, seemingly not affected by whatever the dark spot is. Definitely good to know about this oto spawning stuff. To me it just seemed like something out of the ordinary, so must be wrong. Next water change I will make a cooler one, to see if something magical happens with it. To my knowledge the otos have never procreated in my tank, but I would welcome it happily. Although I'm not sure whether any of the eggs would be able to survive the army of snails I have in the tank. There are some thick bushes of anubias nana in the tank for the babies to take cover in, should there be any that hatch. The cories I have have been spawning again this week, but then again it seems they do it every other week... One or two of the eggs and eventually babies have made it to adulthood, so maybe some otos will too. With this experience I've added some Seachem Garlic Guard and Sera Bactopur Direct to my arsenal just in case something actually goes wrong in the future. Additionally it seems even the Bactopur Direct is getting pulled from shops due to some EU directive, so I though I'd get some while I can.

I have tried getting a better photo, but no luck. The trap was a bust, no oto ventured inside despite their favorite goodies being in it. I put their regular feeding platform with some food on it to see if I can at least get a good photo of it. At night the fish was displaying the spot very nicely but good luck using a flash on an aquarium, or seeing anything in a photo in the dark. The spot seemed smaller today with no medication given so far. It actually seems fainter too. It's entirely possible I have panicked for nothing, and it's the green food somehow showing through. But this still isn't something I have ever noticed before, and I've been feeding the Repashy for over a year now. I got some new images, and will try to get something from an angle below and behind. At least to me it seems I'm now more capable of taking less of a potato pictures. The photos don't obviously show 100% what it looks live. It's almost as if there is a translucent surface still there. And the angle makes a lot of difference too. The strip on top of the dark area to me seems like scales. So is there pineconing going on, and you can see this dark area because you see what is under the scales? Is the bump on the back between the head and the fin normal, or is that also scales standing up a bit? On the whole the fish does not look like a pinecone. It is very chubby, it still eats, so maybe me feeding the fish to get it to pose for photos is harmful here. Additionally, on the angle of the fish being gravid, I'm not ruling it out as I have no experience of it with otos, but this then brings another possible issue to mind. I have lost some kuhlii loaches due to there having been issues with the eggs. One could see them being fat and see the coloration of the eggs through their sides. Basically the fish won't/can't lay the eggs, and they won't for some reason be dissolved and this causes deadly issues. Hope the new photos and gifs look clear enough.

Yes, the black spot. The spot seemed recessed, as if there is a gash or a rupture. I will try to see if I can get a better look and a photo if the fish ever co-operates again. Would you mind elaborating on this gravidity theory? I know the photo is bad and can mislead, but how did that idea come to you? Maracyn is something I have never been able to find here. I've looked for it due to Cory recommending it in several videos along the years, but it feels like it's a thing for USA only. I did some searching, and metronidazole is a medication one needs a prescription to get here. While searching I noticed a familiar name on the list, Flagyl, which has metronidazole as the active ingredient. I remember using it sometime in the past, and did find an old package. And I really mean old, sadly it has expired in 2014... Seems Bactopur Direct is my best choice at this point, but even getting that would take some days.

I'm from Finland. For some reason some items on Amazon.de are limited from being delivered here, despite EU supposedly being a unifying factor in legislation. Actually to that point, one of the shops here stated that import of Sera Bactopur Direct has been halted due to a EU directive... Some shops still seem to have some older stock left though. https://www.sera.de/us/product/freshwater-aquarium/sera-baktopur-direct/

I did some searches of MetroPlex and Focus and neither of these seem to be on stock or even listed at the best aquarium sources I am aware of in my city. Nor do they come up in searches for my country when doing a basic search. For internal bacterial infections one of the sources recommended Sera Bactopur Direct, is this comparable? Even with that the availability is really iffy. Amazon.de won't even ship it to my country for some odd reason.

I have built a trap in order to not have to uproot the entire aquarium to catch one fish, that might be more harm to the rest of the inhabitants and the afflicted oto itself. I hope the repashy inside a soda bottle is enough to lure it in. The oto is visible, showing the top side so no photo opportunities have arisen, but it's hanging out in the protection of the massive amazon sword plant I have in the tank. Actually it's a double plant since it decided to replicate itself at some point. There is no way I can get any net near the oto while it is there. Is it advisable to dose in Esha 2000 at this point to try to minimize risk of bacterial infection?

I'll just quote this bit here, since the salt might be an issue due to other inhabitants in the tank. Unless I manage to isolate the fish of course. As I've understood corys and hoplo cats and kuhlii loaches (and other fish with no scales) don't really like salt that much. I have no idea on the levels though, so I can't tell whether the level suggested would be harmful to them.

Problem is catching the fish to isolate it, the tank isn't super big, but the floorprint is abnormally large for the volume, 150cm x 70cm or 59in x 27,5in, with a ton of vegetation and rocks and driftwood. I will try though, and also will try to get some better photos if possible. I have Esha 2000 available that I could use pre-emptively for the bacterial issues. According to the list on Esha's homepage the meds are safe to use together too.

I just noticed something odd on the largest (a bit shy of 4 cm or 1,5 in long) of my otos, almost like a rupture behind the stomach area. The fish is behaving seemingly normally, but something is clearly wrong. It is a chubby oto, always on time for dinner, and it's also one of my oldest, a couple of years old. I did initially have issues with some otos dying off after I got them, but this one had no problems. In general I noticed improved survival chances of new otos when I started giving them Repashy super green and soilent green in addition to what they find naturally in the tank. I noticed this on the 3rd day of treating the tank with Esha Exit for chilodonella that was diagnosed on one of my silvertip tetras, but presumably all the tank has it. Looking at the photos there might seem to be a bit of pineconing of the scale, but I can't really tell from looking at the fish with naked eye, so the potato quality of the photo might be playing tricks there. Could otos burst from eating too much? Could this be reaction to medication or the parasites? Also, what to do to give the little guy the best chance to survive and recover from this? As an added note, I have a sort of a hanging food platform where I put the Repashy foods for the otos, otherwise they would be swarmed by malaysian trumpet snails in seconds. Sometimes I've seen my hoplo cats visiting the platform to hoover up whatever they can. And my male hoplo can sometimes be a bit feisty, but usually this only is with the females of the same species. But the oto might have been collateral damage to his visit too. Pure speculation here, but the otos aren't the brightest of fish sometimes, they freeze rather than run away. pH 6,6-6,8 Nitrates 25 Hardness 5 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0 KH/Buffer 3 Water Temperature 24-26 C, 75-79 F

I went through the thread you have on medication and diseases, and on the Levamisole part there was no mention of what to do after dosing. eSHa advices for a 50% water change after 24 hours of dosing, and cleaning the filters and gravel to get rid of at least some of the eggs and dead worms. They also advised for that 2 week period between treatments. The fish and snails seem perfectly fine, one of my hoplo cats is even trying to build a bubble nest once again. So I believe 3 treatments with 1 week between them would be fine for my fish. But what is your take on the water change and clean-up? Should the medication be in the system longer, or should I indeed taper it off with a 50% water change? For that matter, is the medication even active at this point, or is the water change also related to the eggs and potential pollutants coming from dead worms and potentially snails and other lower animals? Didn't think to ask eSHa in my emails, maybe I should send them a new one now that I think of it...

When it comes to ethics and euthanasia, I usually ask myself what the animal would want. They tend to try to avoid capture if possible, and all harm if possible. To me their intentions are clear. I think these decisions to end a life (often) come from a position that as a higher being obviously humans know better what to do. So we want to alleviate suffering, including our own suffering caused by the suffering of a pet. If you have access to medicine, why not try to treat the shrimp in the separate holding tank? Give it a best chance of surviving. If it doesn't make it, you tried, and the end result is the same as with euthanasia. But with euthanasia, there is no hope of survival at all.

Thank you for the tip. As long as the fish seem like they can take it, I have no problem to add another course. I just want to get rid of these parasites for good and my fish to be healthy and happy.

Due to limited availability of meds here on the fringes of Europe, I ended up choosing eSHa -ndx. According to the manufacturer (they replied quickly to my email query, which is always a nice sign in my opinion) it shouldn't cause any problems to armored catfish, so I dosed it today, and hope for the worms to be gone. Naturally another dose in two weeks time for the potential newly hatched worms. None of the fish seem to behave in any way different from before, which is a good sign. Fingers crossed.

Originally I thought my silvertips were bullying on of their kind into stress and not eating until it wasted away. They did bully it, and it withdrew and hid away from the rest, not getting as good feeding opportunities. Now having had the fish for about a year, another one of the silvertips is wasting away. This time I have managed to catch and isolate it, along with another one that was exhibiting some odd behavior, seemingly the beginning of wasting away and withdrawing. Oddly enough the fish that was only starting to show the signs of something being wrong ended up worse after isolation. Maybe the stress of being captured and lifted out (it was an easy catch, no chasing, just scooping it out) was too much and the fish just lay on the bottom of the isolation unit and has later died. Water parameters (using a test strip so it's not exactly accurate): NO3 25 NO2 0 GH 6 KH 6 CL2 0 pH 6,8 - 7,0 (I have a CO2 system and monitoring system that automatically opens the valve to adjust the pH) Temp 22,3 - 23,5 degrees C or 71,6 - 73,4 F (I have a Fluval heater that shows the temperature at the back (hotter), and the other reading is from the temperature sensor of the CO2 computer near the electrode at the front) Overall the symptoms I have been able to catalogue are isolation, emaciation, stringy poo hanging from the fish, dragging their tail when swimming, swimming near the surface, not being able to swallow food (the really skinny ones still went for the food, they just spat it out almost immediately) and lack of appetite (before isolation) on the one fish that died after isolation. In addition to the fish that clearly have been sick, it appears some of the silvertips are not growing even nearly as well as others. After about a year some are over twice the size of others. Which could also be something to do with parasites leeching away nutrients. The tank is fairly large 525 liters (115,5 gallons) by outer measurements, but due to plants and rocks and driftwood the internal volume is a fair bit less. As far as I can tell, invertebrates and armored catfish and loaches tend to react negatively to parasite medication. I'm not that attached to the snails in the tank sentimentally, but obviously I'd like to avoid killing them if possible. Also there is the dread of about 10 billion malaysian trumpet snails rotting and polluting the water in the tank. I also have some cories and 3 albino spotted hoplos in the tank, and those I definitely don't want to lose. I also have a 15+ years old kuhlii loach I'd like to keep among the living. Now, what to do? Fritz ParaCleanse doesn't appear to be available in my country. Esha -ndx is generally well recommended but might be harmful to the armored catfish. I could always just treat the sick fish separately, but that is just putting out fires instead of actually improving the conditions of the fish that most likely are all already affected by the parasites. On that topic, is it species related or should I assume all fish irrespective of species are infected? Sorry if this is a bit of a mess, I tried to give all the relevant info I could think of. I'll give more if needed, obviously. The image is very much out of focus but I just couldn't get the camera to focus on the small fish that kept moving. As far as I can tell the skin is fine and healthy, It's more of an indication of behavior and overall wasted condition. Seems I can't add the gif to this post, I keep getting an 'unknown error' notification. So I attached a blurry still from a blurry video instead... The color on the image is off, the fish is silvery in real life.

That thing hasn't changed, one of the things I can be certain of. The aquarium is the brightest light in the room in fact.