# Pregnant? IP? or just morbidly OBESE Otocinclus?



## Tekka (Nov 6, 2009)

Wow I bought these guys about 6 days ago and my brown algae plague is GONE GONE GONE and I have to thank these guys for doing an amazing job. They even manage to clean all the diatoms off the leaves on all my plants.

I was looking around my tank today when I found ths guy... WOW what a fat sucker

I googled fat Otos and found that a fat Oto was a happy Oto but this guy is just HUGE.

He is a bit slow and seem to be unable to attach to the glass for long before sliding off. He is still eating though as i see him trying to suck off the little amount of diatoms still left on a cople of leaves...

Is this thing Pregnant? full of worms? or just really really fat?

Sorry I couldn't get a better picture I had to use my iphone since he was resting on my Mini Elite CO2 diffuser and didn;t have enough time to setup my SLR...


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## Tekka (Nov 6, 2009)

Did more research and suspect its a bad case of Dropsy so i setup a hospital tank and transfer this guy there, he was easy to catch since he could barely move, guess im taking thisguy back to petsmart tomorrow...


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Wow! Poor little guy!


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## Bryeman (Aug 24, 2009)

I've lost 3 Otos this week and never lose fish. All of the ones I've lost looked like that, but I swear mine were even "more fat" and I could see eggs. Do Oto's die after spawning their eggs out? I have no fish gasping for air or anything like that, and the rest of the fish look healthy and very happy. I can see small round things through their skin (on the super fat ones), so if those aren't eggs, then I'm very surprised.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Tekka said:


> Did more research and suspect its a bad case of Dropsy so i setup a hospital tank and transfer this guy there, he was easy to catch since he could barely move, guess im taking thisguy back to petsmart tomorrow...


Did they take it back?


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## Bryeman (Aug 24, 2009)

Bryeman said:


> I've lost 3 Otos this week and never lose fish. All of the ones I've lost looked like that, but I swear mine were even "more fat" and I could see eggs. Do Oto's die after spawning their eggs out? I have no fish gasping for air or anything like that, and the rest of the fish look healthy and very happy. I can see small round things through their skin (on the super fat ones), so if those aren't eggs, then I'm very surprised.


Just lost another Oto! Never seen anything like this. I won't go into detail, but it was a female with eggs (unless there's a disease that produces round, egg like appearance) and it wouldn't or couldn't spawn, and basically died due to that. Anyone ever heard of this?


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Fatness in fish:
Eggs. Especially if you are seeing eggs through the skin. Female fish can have problems getting rid of the eggs. The condition is called Egg Bound. If there is no male in the tank it is very likely that females can develop the eggs, but not get rid of them. Some females can re-absorb the eggs, but many die. 

Tumor: Grows slowly. Might be anywhere on the fish. If it is among the internal organs the lump may be more or less symmetrical, but if it is in the muscle tissue it might be anywhere on the fish, one side or the other, top or bottom. 

Eating too much: Plump fish, to the point of not being able to move, but will slim down as he digests the food. 

Constipation: This can be treated with epsom salt bath. Prevention is better, feed roughage such as peas and Daphnia frequently. 

Mycobacteriosis: The diagnosis is to disect the fish and see the lumps on the internal organs, the symptoms vary, but among live bearers (Guppies, Platies...) the females may look so big they are ready to deliver, but stay that way for a lot longer than a regular pregnancy. A hollow belly is another possible symptom (yes, it can go either way, which is why external symptoms are not definitive for diagnosis) Another symptom is more difficult to figure out, but the fish with Mycobacteriosis is stressed, and may get other diseases more easily, and may ultimately die of something else. 

Dropsy: The fish may show symptoms in several ways. The eyes may pop, the fish may be swollen in just the abdomen, or the whole fish may be swollen with scales sticking out looking like a pine cone. Tricky to treat because dropsy is not in itself a disease, the actual problem may be a bacterial infection or some other problem.


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## Bryeman (Aug 24, 2009)

Diana K said:


> Fatness in fish:
> Eggs. Especially if you are seeing eggs through the skin. Female fish can have problems getting rid of the eggs. The condition is called Egg Bound. If there is no male in the tank it is very likely that females can develop the eggs, but not get rid of them. Some females can re-absorb the eggs, but many die.
> 
> Tumor: Grows slowly. Might be anywhere on the fish. If it is among the internal organs the lump may be more or less symmetrical, but if it is in the muscle tissue it might be anywhere on the fish, one side or the other, top or bottom.
> ...


Mine have the egg issue. I have males (I think) and are likely the only ones left alive out of my Otos. Very sad, but don't know what I can do. I'm going to wait a few weeks to make sure nothing else is happening and then think about getting a bunch more for my 125g. Maybe I had way too many females versus males, but I surely can't tell them apart!


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