Spot on my otto

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palcente
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Hi,

one of my Ottos has this spot on her side, she does not hang out with the other three ottos in the tank (apart from when I drop in an algae wafer), but is active and eats...

She's had it for a while, maybe two or three weeks, it does not look fluffy, more solid like an ulcer or a pimple...

Water parameters are stable 25c with no nitrates/nitrites/ammonia, I use domestic water softener and supplement calcium & magnesium with seachem equilibrium powder when I do water changes.

it's a 60cm tank - around 100litres with a large canister filter & co2. There's also 12 harlequin rasboras and around 10 snails in the tank. Everything is breeding in this tank and no other fish show this...

Should I stress the fish and try to take her out? Anyone seen anything similar ?

Many thanks

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https://vimeo.com/545120824
palcente
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I have managed to take few more shots of her and put them in below album

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VPkiHshGxF1rCA3j8
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plankton
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Can I ask what the hardness and ph is of the water, and how old you think they might be?
I've had this with otos as they age, and they only live to about 4 years old.
palcente
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Hey plankton, thanks for showing interest. I got them around 4 weeks ago, I have no idea how old they are. She is quite larger than the rest of the pack, may as well be older. When it comes to the hardness unfortunately I only have paper sticks to measure that. As mentioned previously I am on water softener and the strip shows 20mg/l. I believe this could actually be surprisingly accurate as my tap water should be nil and I dose half tablespoon of seachem equilibrium per 80 litres of water during my weekly water change. According to the label full tablespoon should add 3dGH (50mg/l). My pH - as per water provider - should be around 7.4-7-6 and the stick reads the former. There's co2 running in the tank quite aggressively.

She does not seem to struggle, just hangs around alone.. I saw a male chasing her around today, which may not be ideal... anyways I will observe and update on how she gets on!
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plankton
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The problem with otos is that they are fragile due to being (mainly) caught wild in the soft water rivers in South America.
They get caught and freighted very roughly and there's no clue as to how old they actually are.
Keep the water pristine and do a course of Melafix, which will lower stress.

What sort of water softener does your system use?
palcente
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It's an ion exchange softener.
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plankton
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I'm wondering whether the fact that it changes salts to sodium (based?) may have an effect on fragile fish?
palcente
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Could be, but the other ottos/rasboras are happy & lay eggs.

Last update, sick otto died - I think starved. She stopped eating, her belly collapsed.
She struggled to stay on the glass/plants, eventually started floating spiralling and passed. It looked like the white mark grew bigger towards the end, so could have been be some fungus or bacteria.
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Gingerlove05
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Sorry for your loss :(
To the tune of “the saints go marching in”:
Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful, they’re white Welsh and fluffy! Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!
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plankton
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Sorry you lost it. :(
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