Betta Eye Problem, & Otocinclus sel. f'   02/06/09 I bought my Betta about a year ago. He is housed in a 10 gallon planted tank that he shares with 4 Otos. I keep the temp at 78. The tank has medium lighting (2 x 13 watt spiral CFLs) that is set for 10 hours a day. I use a sponge filter and do weekly water changes of 20%. For food he gets Betta pellets with occasional freeze dried blood worms and brine shrimp mixed in (all Hikari products). He occasionally munches on Oto algae wafers but spits most of it out. The problem: My Betta has one white spot on each eye. The spots have been there about a week, unchanged. The spots are opaque and on the lower half of the eye. His eyes are not cloudy and the spots are defined, not cottony, and it looks like they are on of the lens of his eye. He does not show any sign of distress. He's eating normal, normal behavior, normal eyesight it seems. The water parameters are all good, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5. Last PWC 20% on Sunday. When viewed under a magnifying glass, I can see no swelling, redness, or movement of a parasite. Do fish get cataracts? Could this be early signs of blindness? I have attached a picture in the hope that it will help you diagnose the problem. Thank you for taking the time to read my email. Heidi <Hello Heidi. Firstly, well done on keeping your Betta in a heated, filtered aquarium of reasonable size! If only everyone did that, there'd be a darn sight fewer sick Bettas in the world. Now, do fish get cataracts? If we simply mean, can the clear parts of the eye get damaged or turn opaque, then the answer is yes. There are two main reasons. The first is physical damage. If a fish bumps into something, or repeatedly jumps out and hits the hood, is handled in a rough net, or is molested by some other fish in the aquarium, the front of the eye can get damaged, and the net result is the equivalent of scarring. Dead white tissue forms a lump at the front, obscuring vision. The second reason is infection, where the damage is caused by bacteria or a parasite (e.g., Eye Fluke). More often than not, this follows on from chronically poor water conditions, with bacteria getting into the fish and causing harm because the fish's immune system has been weakened. Now, I don't think that's the issue here because your tank sounds very good. Otocinclus are much more sensitive to water quality than air-breathing Bettas, so if the Otocinclus are fine, the Betta should be too. (As a side note, I'd not recommend keeping Otocinclus in tanks 10 gallons or smaller precisely because they are so sensitive to water quality.) There are some less common reasons eyes become cloudy. One is malnutrition, specifically a lack of Vitamin A. Again, I don't think that's the issue, since the diet you're offering sounds excellent. Another possibility is chlorine, which will cause this symptom among others if not removed from the water. Assuming you're using a dechlorinator, then this isn't likely. This leaves two possibilities we can't do anything about: genetics and senility. Bettas *are* inbred and genetically quite weak, and there are lots of problems that they get that aren't obvious when young but become more serious as they age. As for senility, wild Bettas are basically annual fish. Since the fancy Bettas sold in shops are about six months of age, your fish may well be a year-and-a-half old already, if not more, if it was sitting in the aquarium shop for a while. So it could be just plain old. Sure, Bettas can live in aquaria for 2, 3 or more years, but anything over a year from purchase and your fish is well past its prime. Can anything be done? Not really; just as in humans, damage to the eye doesn't usually heal without surgical or pharmaceutical intervention, and that's not really viable here. Since fish don't rely on their eyes to anything like the degree humans do, if its vision is impaired, it will manage just fine using its other senses, particularly its "built-in radar" system, its lateral line. The one thing I would keep alert for is how the Otocinclus behave. I have (repeatedly) seen these fish attack injured fish, going for open wounds and grazing on the blood. They may even cause these wounds directly. Personally, I do not consider Otocinclus community fish, and particularly warn against moving them with anything slow, e.g., Angels, Gouramis, or indeed Bettas. Cheers, Neale.> Re: Betta Eye Problem  02/06/09 Neale, Thank you so much for your prompt reply! It seems likely from your description that either genetics or senility is to blame. As I said, he does not seem to be bothered by the condition, but I will certainly keep a close eye on him. I appreciate your advice about the Otos. I was told by a trusted Betta website that Otos would be ok with Bettas. To date, I have not seen them attack my Betta whether he's been sick or healthy. They generally stay away from him, as he likes to chase them away from his territory. However, I will be much more alert to their behavior towards him since I trust your experience in the matter. If I see that they are giving him a hard time in any way, then I will find them a new home. Thanks again, Heidi <Hello Heidi, I'm glad your Otocinclus are behaving themselves. Some do, but some don't, hence my warning. Good luck, Neale.>

Otocinclus
Bob,
I read your article in FAMA re: Otocinclus/S. American sucker mouth catfish..., and purchased 2 at a local pet shop. The salesperson said they were Chinese catfish, but they looked like the Oto pictured in your article. I want them for algae control in a 36 gallon tank with 3 mature Angel fish---2 egg laying females, and one male. I chose them as they seem to be more active than the Pleco species, and because they will make an "active" addition to the tank. Any suggestions...? Thanks. Dale Fox
<Mmmm, suggestions re what? Enjoy them. Maybe give a read over the materials on the Freshwater sub web: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsubwebindex.htm
Bob Fenner>

Cycling, timing, and Endler's
Dear WWMites,
<<Kewl. I'm an official Mite!!>>
Well, thanks to the rest of your site (and I thought I'd read nearly everything before), I've answered my own questions.  Wow, y'all have a lot of stuff for us to read!  I backed out to the home page and found more links to more info a bit farther down.  Unfortunately, the intense absorption of so much info knocked most of the third grade out of my head to make room.  Ah, well, third grade was a bust anyway...  To recap:
We'll get the Otos much later in the process rather than earlier, and our earlier decision on five (one per ten gallons) is apparently a good population.  Also, my bride and I decided we're going to replace several of the silk plants with live plants, both for the beauty and the Otos.
<<Excellent idea :)>>
We'll stick with making larger batches of tweaked water, and go get a cheapy air pump to aerate it (at least overnight) before we use it.  We're also talking about increasing the water changes to 20% a week rather than every two weeks, especially after reading about the sensitivity of Otos and Corys to nasties in the water.
<<It would be a good idea to vacuum your substrate regularly, Corys are prone to bacterial infections of the barbels. Nasty stuff can accumulate in gravel beds, and Corys are always sticking their noses into...it. :P>>
We're going to have to decide which Corydoras to get, since they prefer being with their own.  I'd had the impression that it wouldn't quite do to mix based on genus rather than species.  (Now if I can just convince my wife to go with the paleatus...)
<<My favorite Corys are melanistius melanistius and adolfoi. You can check out pics of any species of Cory cat at www.planetcatfish.com/ Maybe you will both see something inspiring there that you agree on :)>>
As I said in an earlier message, the little speed demon is, indeed, an Endler's.  He's started getting a stronger hint of green on his caudal fin, and a more definite green tinge on his rear half.  We're looking forward to getting a group of them after New Year's.
<<Nice fish. Easy to keep and not a royal pain like so many livebearers can be...Belonesox spring to mind.>>
Again, thanks for the wonderful site, and I hope I haven't chewed up too much of your time.
Glen
<<You are most welcome. Happy Fishing. LOL.
-Gwen>>

Oto <what? Oto parts?>- 6/1/07
Hi Robert,
after days of hunting for Oto's I feel that it can not hurt to send you a mail.
<Hello, Neale here.>
> I am in Shanghai and now have a discus aquarium. In Europe I have always had Oto's in my tanks and have always been  fascinated by their behaviour and rewarded by their gentleness. Clean  plants no algae growth on the leaves etc.
<Yes, they can be excellent algae eaters. But I hesitate to recommend them too widely for a variety of reasons, not least of all the fact they seem to travel poorly and the mortality immediately after import is very high.>
> Plenty of algae (green) on the back wall of the tank but not a problem.
<Your observation of their liking for green algae is spot-on. Otocinclus are ideal for planted aquaria where the background level of algae is low and limited to green algae types. In "unbalanced" aquaria with few/no plants, Otocinclus have no useful impact and in fact often starve to death because they will not eat the brown, hair, and blue-green algae common in such tanks.>
> I have hunted everywhere to try and purchase these fellows here in China
> but have had no success.
<Given you are keeping discus, I would *never* keep Otocinclus with them. I have observed Otocinclus sucking the slime from large, slow fish in my aquaria, and assume that discus would be an obvious target. Other aquarists have observed this, with Otocinclus attacking angels and discus. Far better to choose something a bit large, like one of the "clown" Panaque species (such as Panaque maccus) or even Ancistrus spp.>
> I am hoping that with your knowledge of these fish and your reference to the tiger Oto that has been bred in Asia that you may be able to point me in the right direction to obtain them. I have always had the Otocinclus affini but any
> Oto's would be fine.
<I personally don't know who is importing/trading that variety, but I'm sure if Bob does know, he'll follow up. As a general rule, placing a "special order" with retailers is often the way to go. I've done this many times.>
> I apologise if this mail is out of context as I have no idea how busy you
> are or how much mail you get from your site.
> kindest regards
> john Ramsey
<Good luck, Neale>

How to keep bacteria alive in a fishless tank?  4/24/08
Hello Neale,
<Giuseppe,>
hope you and your tanks are doing well.
<Yep, we're all just fine; thanks for asking!>
I have 2 unrelated questions.
1) I will be on vacation for 2 weeks in June and I was wondering if the good bacteria would starve to death in a tank without fish. By then I will have all my fish in the 46-gal, but I would like to keep the established 10-gal running to try breeding when I'm back. Again my question is whether or not the good bacteria would starve in these 2 weeks or not and what could be a solution. Maybe I should leave 1 or 2 Otocinclus and they would eat the algae in the tank?
<Otocinclus aren't my favourite fish in the trade because their survival record is so poor. But certainly some hardy algae eater, like an Ancistrus or Hemiloricaria whiptail, could be left in the 10 gallon tank for a couple of weeks with a bit of carrot for grazing but otherwise left to fend for himself. Alternatively, just stick a small frozen prawn in the tank and let it rot away. Remove when you get back, obviously. Yet another option would be a plain "holiday block" of the type often sold for Goldfish and the like. These are basically lumps of limestone that dissolve away, releasing flakes of food. Again, the food will rot, producing ammonia. The bacteria couldn't care less where the ammonia comes from.>
2) How should I feed Otocinclus? I used to have 1 in the 10-gal tank and he did great for 1 year without feeding anything. When I moved the fish to the 46-gal it died after a couple of weeks, probably because there was no algae in the tank. When I'll be on vacation for 2 weeks I will use an automatic feeder loaded with flakes or mini pallets, which the Otocinclus wouldn't eat. Do you think the poor guy would starve?
<Otocinclus are very difficult to feed. They almost entirely eat "aufwuchs", the combination of green algae and micro-invertebrates that encrust surfaces in bright, clear waters. They are opportunistic to some degree though -- most notoriously eating the mucous from slow moving fish -- but still, getting enough food into them within a community setting can be very hard. They do best (perhaps only do well) in large tanks with established algae "turfs" on the rocks and plants where they can feed continuously, supplementing that diet with bloodworms, algae wafers, and so on. I'd tend to avoid in favour of hardier, more adaptable Loricariidae, of which there are many.>
Thanks,
Giuseppe
<Cheers, Neale.>