Oto deaths

[f8ldzz]

I know there are ways to naturally lower the ph, but I personally think your LFS is full of crap !!

I agree.
My last batch of 10 oto's are in 7.6 to 7.8 pH water.
My water is naturally 7.6 out of the tap.
All 10 have survived for 4 weeks in my QT tank, and I just recently moved most of them into the 60G.
So the high pH has nothing to do with the oto's dying.

As everyone else said, oto's are notoriously fragile when bringing them home.
I used to buy 2 to 4 of them almost every month, and it never failed that half would die within the first week.

Please don't ask me how my last 10 survived like that, cause I have no idea.

 

[mooman]

I think perhaps these fish might have a problem with the hardness of water not so much the ph. GH has a direct affect on fishes ability to osmoregulate. As these fish come from very soft water, are wild caught, and endure a pretty rough trip, it is not surprising that thier death rate is high. I have noticed better survivability in my tanks where RO water is used to reduce GH. Aside from the deaths that occur almost immediatly with these fish, I have also noticed deaths that occur after several months. I believe this may be due to starvation. These fish do a such a good job on brown algea they soon eat themselves out of house and home. They don't seem to be interested in green algea pellets either.

 

[Clurin]

What is considered high GH? As I said, mine is 8dGH in one tank, and 7dGH in the other. Is this high, low, or middle of the road?

Is distilled water basically the same as RO? I've seen a brand of water people say is normally in their supermarkets which is RO, but I have not seen it (the name escapes me now). I can get bottled distilled water, though.

 

[mooman]

7dgh = about 120 ppm (considered on the moderate side of soft). But this is compared to dgh of 1 and lower in the waters where they come from. Distilled water has no hardness, RO if done properly should also have a hardness close to 0. You can use distilled mixed with tap to produce soft water. "Culligan" water from the grocery store is run through an RO machine.

 

[Clurin]

Okay. For the current tanks, I think I will stick to treated tap for now (treated with Amquel Plus - looking into Prime when that bottle runs out).

For the tank I mentioned in the cichlid forum (apistos, et al), I am thinking I should get an RO system. What are the hardware requirements for it - tub to keep the water and the system itself? Any relatively simple DIY methods that wouldn't put me in the poor house? I know the systems I saw on Big Al's are about $100 or so.

 

[mooman]

I would just stick with apistos that will spawn in your tap water. Then when you become addicted you can drop all that scratch on an RO system. Start with A. cacatuoides. They are a true harem breeder (not all apistos are), they will spawn in your water, and are the most commonly available. Alternately I believe A. borelli will also spawn in water that is harder and more alkaline than most apistos.