xXInkedPhoenixX

I'm kind of reiterating what others have said and adding a little but: 1. Make sure ALL signs of Ich are gone, Inspect every fin and scale. If so then you're golden. If not I'd treat for Ich first myself. I suppose some might say you could do both but I'd do research myself before doing that- plus I don't like to overload my animals if they don't NEED the medication(s). 2. The wound is not necessarily a bacterial infection- if it is a wound- what the concern is that the would would GET a bacterial infection. that make sense? Your fish very likely flashed enough to have rubbed up against decor. Ich is very uncomfortable for them, the white spots are essentially scabs that are over the eggs of the parasite. Don't we all have scabs that itch on occasion? I know I have. I would be ok with leaving him in there instead of quarantining- the tank is already being treated and I wouldn't want to stress him more- again that's just me. 3. In simple terms the medication likely depleted the air supply. Any time I raise temps and/or add meds I put in an airstone and turn up my pumps (HOB, sponges too). So if you go with a 2nd course of Maracyn or treat for Ich or both, do your fishy friends a favor turn up the aggitation/air. (I remove my snails, cause I like them and don't want them to die from meds). 4. All that being said make sure to keep your water SUPER clean, test test test. If that means you have to do a waterchange before you redose a med, do it. Your fish will thank you for it. If you don't have to medicate, you want to watch your fish's wound- the cleaner the water the better, maybe some aquarium salt to keep the bad infections away and avoid further medications. It may heal perfectly fine without further intervention- but you know your fish and tank go with your gut. If you want to dose maracyn, dose it. 4. Tankmates. I feel like that's a ways off. Make sure you're kosher in your tank first. I think it would be good to replenish the fish that you lost- as you said they are better in groups and it's apparently what you wanted to begin with. Quarantine though! You don't want to go through this again.

Oh I agree with Steph as far as waiting a couple of weeks HOWEVER. Do yourself a favor and have that quarantine/hospital tank cleaned/set up for the new residents. In fact if you have that already set up to go then you can go get your new fish and watch them for a good 2 weeks to a month THEN add them to your 10 gallon and you should have no problem.

Maybe you're changing too much water? They are small tanks. If all the things we're mostly concerned with (nitrites, ammonia) are 0, why change water? Now if the answer is to clean the substrate of food or detrius that bugs you- do a quick sweep (10%) and be done with it. Keep testing on the regular and see if those numbers change. We want a little bit of those 2 bad things so they can be turned into the end product right? As long as it's never detrimental to the fish involved. I'd do the tests BEFORE a water change and change water only if you need to, or if that food they didn't eat this week bugs you that much. 😉

@BriannesFishFam I appreciate the tip but that was one thing I wanted to avoid. I'm hoping this isn't going to be a super regular thing with my Otos. I suspect they did it during the winter when my house is actually warmer than it is now in the summer. I will find out when the time comes. This batch will be traded to the LFS, since I still want to get my hands on some Hillstream Loaches. By the time the Otos breed again (if they do, I'm ok if they don't) I will hopefully have joined the local club and have more access to people in my area with similar water conditions who want to buy or trade fish with me. That's the rough outline anyway.

I 💜 Gandr. He's adorable. I love that he's mischievous too.

Hi Denise T. It looks like a wound to me. Is something new in the tank bullying him? Or maybe the illness they had made him itchy? Was he rubbing up against decor/rocks? Do you know ultimately what illness hit your tank?

Holy moly! Get that kid some lettuce!! 😄

@K-Davis I'm very sorry to hear about the poor betta. 😞 Sadly though we try we cannot save them all. Are you looking for something other than a betta? ...always keep an eye on tankmates after a death. Heck I look at all my fish every day for any physical signs, and count my herds so to speak. Though it's a little tougher for my Otos since during the day they hide and in one of my tanks since they've bred I don't know EXACTLY how many I have anyway! If you want a single fish what about a Dwarf Gourami? The boys can kind of be jerks to some fish I've heard but if they are the only middle dwelling fish it might work well for your tank with just 4 Otos. You could also do a small group of neon tetras, maybe 6 would be manageable?

Many will likely point out that you can't because Nerites live in brackish water and only reproduce there. It is NOT unknown for them to be able to hatch in freshwater tanks but they are larva that we apparently have not figured out how to keep alive after a short period of time. It would have to be moved into a brackish environment but even then they are not likely to survive. So they say. Who knows, someone is always the first.

I'm a personal fan of my red root floaters. I don't use ferts and they do well.

I started doing this because it was good for my Betta fish I had a while ago. I try to do this every Sunday (my aquarium app reminds me, tho I remember) but sometimes I feed anyway. I'm definitely not an over feeder though, I might border on not enough.

@NanoNano, now that's funny. Kids are so literal, I love it.

Just be gentle using the toothbrush. There's also a hydrogen peroxide dip some people talk about to kill off algae on plants but I haven't tried it so can't speak to it myself.

Fishy friends, we are almost to the point where Gens1 and 2 are ready to go. They are SO beautiful in the mornings and evenings when they start to shoal around the corners of the tanks- it's a pretty dance. Video does not capture it well. Picture doesn't do it much justice either but they are gorgeous. I'm gonna miss them terribly when they're gone.

I will try this.

Our family has two GloFish 3 gallon all in one tank, 9"H x 9.5"W x 7"D (in the tank) 9.5" total (that includes the back part of the tank with pump/filtration). I use mine for quarantine, but I started one for my Mum which now houses 2 African Dwarf Frogs and some bladder snails. Comes with a decent light, it's all glass, with a nice curved front.

Hi @Ken D. I say if you're comfortable with the silk plants but want to TRY your hand at plants you can go with the suggestions above- but keep the silk in and mix it. The color that silk or fake plants add give the tank some life- plus we can't disregard the fact that the plants you have already have beneficial bacteria on them too. I mixed real and fake too while my real plants grew in and I like the pop of color here and there that natural plants can't give (lets be real here, mother nature didn't consider ALL colors). I would like to add to the plant possibilities plants that come already on rocks or wood you can find at box stores or glue some anubias or java fern to some of the rocks or wood you already have. I've also had a lot of fun recently with Aponogeton- it almost looks lilke a silk plant and gives the tank some movement.

Hi Stef! I can speak to a couple of things. Question 2: The tennis ball fuzz algae is likely hair algae and no, the Otos won't eat it. I've had issues with it, but since I've balanced my light level/time, amount of plants (lots more) and clean up crew (Otos, Mystery snails and Nerites- Nerites are the ones I notice eat the hair algae) I don't have that issue in my bigger tanks anymore. You may want to consider manually removing as much as you can as the hair algae can get out of control and suffocate some plants. I had to remove and toothbrush a lot of my plants for a while. I know that can be a pain, you can also try and do it "in tank" but can be more difficult. As far as food I'd recommend supplementing the Oto diet. I feed Hikari Algae wafers. I've also recently started with cucumber. Zucchini didn't work for me but does for others. The next veg I want to try is green beans. Question 3: Yes they are indeed fertilizing eggs. Mine are very rarely unattached to each other (I have 1 boy and 2 girls in a tank). Keeping the water level up prevents them from leaving egg sacks but they can also lay on the lid (mine do). It's no big deal, just take it down and you won't have any babies.

😂 I love the enthusiasm! I felt the same way when I saw my first baby Otocinclus, I giggled so much I cried a little- so I get it.

It's so nice to see the underdog endure. 🙂

The appropriate term should be "Fluffy"- she's obviously pooping and eating- looks like my happy Momma Oto

@Guppysnail ah, that's something to consider. I didn't intentionally get 9 Nerites for my one tank but I was out looking for about a half dozen. The LFS I went to sold them in 4 for 10 mode so I figured well I'll just get the 8 then- but then I got a bonus snail. I figure if I have to I have 3 other tanks I could separate out into if need be- so I'll keep an eye out. One of the new ones so far isn't moving much so sadly I might lose it- but I'm keeping an eye on them. 😞

Hi Rhino7, I agree with your thought, seeing that Red Clawed Crabs can spend at least half their time out of water- that is what saved you from losing any. Maybe if they went into the bad water they realized it (because ammonia burns) they spent very little time in it, and what time they did likely most parts protected by their exo. If you're going the brackish route and putting salt in their water that might have helped some.

Hi Sombat. To answer your ultimate question I'm going to say no. I think if you didn't see any movement since your post there weren't any survivors. My understanding with Mystery Snails is that if they aren't ready to be released from the egg sack and are released underwater, they essentially drown. It's one of the methods people use to NOT have snail babies, knocking the sack underwater so the eggs lose their viability. I've found a few good youtube videos from Rachel O'Leary about breeding Mystery snails, if you haven't seen them you might want to check them out. Good luck in your future breeding endeavor, be sure to post if you get some hatchlings.

Hi. Don't give up. I run low tech and I'm sort of a beginner compared to most here. I have to be careful about plants I pick because I run no heater and I don't dose ferts. I've learned my lessons. I've found Anubias and Swords are most reliable for me but they take a very long time to grow. I've scored a couple of times buying full grown plants from the big box stores. More recently I've gotten into other plants. If you want something FAST growing that will block some of the light and look super cool you might try Aponogeton. I was skeptical at first but you can almost watch it grow. If you can get them already starting to sprout or with leaves (I got a set in the "betta buddy" section of my local big box) that's best for near instant gratification but you can also buy them as bulbs. They are beautiful, the lightweight leaves flow with the water and move around. Light is definitely an issue, I run a different brand light but they are as bright as the Nicrew I bet, I actually bought an inline Nicrew light dial style dimmer switch and have dialed back my lights until now in my main tank I have zero algae issues (also thanks to my clean up crew of snails and Otocinclus). I swear the dimmer has been one of the best things I've gotten for my tanks. I recently got some Bacopa myself. I posted on another thread earlier today that I found out typically most of the Bacopa you get is grown out of water. I recently watched a plant video Cory has on youtube about easy plants and Bacopa Caroliniana was one of those plants. He said plant them, then bottom leaves WILL start to melt- but the tops should start new growth (mine did) he then said to cut the tops and plant THOSE and you should be good to go. I left my bottom stems in because they had signs of new growth though the other leaves melted off so I'm just watching those now. The last thing I want to mention. I didn't use enough plant substrate when I started my 20 gallon. I put some of it at the back where I planned to put my plants and then covered the rest of the tank in river pebble- which as you know not great for planting. I've since redesigned the tank (you can see the tank I'm talking about and these plants in my profile under about me, is the first tank)- but I didn't want to redo the whole bottom of my tank so I just got really cool looking pots, put substrate in those and did something that works for me.