RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 So, I decided to set up a 20 gallon high as a Quarantine tank for my next purchase. I placed a cycled hang on back filter rated at 65 gph and an un cycled Medium sponge filter 4 days prior to buying fish. I placed in 6 Otto's (plenty of larger rocks for them to hide behind) and 2 pea puffers after purchase. Observed them over the evening and late night and didn't notice any aggression going on. I did place one algea wafer into the tank for the Otto's and only saw a few eat it at. I took out the left over after a couple hours. I Started the trio and the next morning 2 otto's were dead. I tested and water still had zero ammonia or nitrites, temp was still 77 and nothing obvious with the fish besides being skinny. I took both the Otto's to the store and they did replace them, but gave me a huge lecture/grief about it. They tested my water as well and was upset that I didn't have any nitrates in my water and acted like I was lying about using cycled media. They told me if anymore died they would refuse to replace them. Am I doing something wrong? These were $5 Otto's so I was under the impression they should have been halfway taken care of before I got them. Do I really have to wait for nitrates to be present in a quarantine tank before adding fish? P.S. the fatter ottos and pea puffers are doing amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 I would send them cory's video about otos, show them that you seriously care for the fish, want to do right by them. I understand the frustration on both sides. Otos might appreciate wood (just a note) and I think the issue you ran into might've been oxygenation. Can you check the fish you have and see if you view a bunch of redness on the oto's gills? The reason I ask, typically you want a 5-10x turnover on the filter. You have the sponge in there and that helps, but because it's a taller tank, I'd recommend adding an airstone opposite the sponge as well. I don't think anything was wrong with your method. Secondly, what was temperature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 10:03 PM, nabokovfan87 said: I would send them cory's video about otos, show them that you seriously care for the fish, want to do right by them. I understand the frustration on both sides. Otos might appreciate wood (just a note) and I think the issue you ran into might've been oxygenation. Can you check the fish you have and see if you view a bunch of redness on the oto's gills? The reason I ask, typically you want a 5-10x turnover on the filter. You have the sponge in there and that helps, but because it's a taller tank, I'd recommend adding an airstone opposite the sponge as well. I don't think anything was wrong with your method. Secondly, what was temperature? 77 degrees. I don't have another airstone, but I have a spare sponge filter i'll toss in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 7:07 PM, RetroFeesh said: 77 degrees. I know some of the fish you have like it around there. Otos might do better a bit cooler. Just a note as well. Might be worth asking the store what temp they recommend and keep them at 🙂 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 10:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said: I know some of the fish you have like it around there. Otos might do better a bit cooler. Just a note as well. Might be worth asking the store what temp they recommend and keep them at 🙂 . Okay, that's a good idea. Are there gills on the bottom below there mouth? That area has been red since I got them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 (edited) On 7/31/2022 at 7:11 PM, RetroFeesh said: That area has been red since I got them. Yep! Very typically this is just "a sign of stress". Double check temps on something like AqAdvisor, potentially try to drop the temp, add that airstone and keep an eye on that. Stressed: Normal: Edited August 1, 2022 by nabokovfan87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 10:13 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Yep! Very typically this is just "a sign of stress". Double check temps on something like AqAdvisor, potentially try to drop the temp, add that airstone and keep an eye on that. kk working on that now. Also there is a decent sized piece of wood in there that they seem to like. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Very cool. Best of luck. If you haven't. Aquarium salt can be your friend as well. Just be sure to use level 1 or 2 with the puffers in there. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 Added second sponge and temperature was reading 75 on my temp gun vs just between 77 and 76 on the basic hang on thermometer in the tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Looks good to me, not red at all. Tannins look awesome too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 11:04 PM, nabokovfan87 said: Looks good to me, not red at all. Tannins look awesome too! I know right? Can't believe that one little piece of wood is making it look so good. Didn't realize aquarium salt is so cheap so ordered a bag. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 On 8/1/2022 at 8:15 AM, Pepere said: I would have found store treatment highly offensive. what difference do nitrates make in the absence of ammonia, nitrites, its not like nitrates are a tonic. perhaps they think you brought in tap water. presumably you have other tanks where this is quarantine tank. Would they be any happier with you bringing water from an established tank? given that Ottos are sort of difficult to rehome anyway given their need for Algae and stores not necessarily having them plumped up.. their behavior would be a giant turn off to me. Yeah, it felt like he was hunting for excuses to not give me more or refund. I get that store owners probably have a lot of hassle from people killing fish out of ignorance, but a fish should last more than 24 hours even in crappy conditions if they’re not already in bad shape IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 Honestly, this is the only LFS with in 100 miles that sell Oto’s which sucks for my local community. It makes me want to research into trying to breed them myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 1, 2022 Author Share Posted August 1, 2022 Update: No new deaths today, but one is lazily sticking to the bottom. I was actually about to take it out thinking it was dead but it moved away from the net. The same day I also bought some Neon tetras for another tank that only had shrimp and started the trio with them too. One of them was found dead when I got home from work. That tank has been up for a month and defiantly cycled. Not liking this pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetroFeesh Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 Two more found dead 😔 The four left do look pretty good so far. Water parameters: 75 degrees, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, 7.2 ph, 2 kh, 2 gh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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