Otos not responding ...

[glc]

Sorry in advance, if I am in the wrong forum! I recently purchased two Dwarf Otocinclus and was told that they would eat brown diatom algae.

The tank at the lfs had a pH of 8 and my tank is similar, so I thought they would do just fine. Temperature also similar - 73/74. They are housed with some zebra danios but the danios don't bother them at all. Ammonia and Nitrites nil, Nitrates circa 50. They are very listless, lying on top of a plant all the time with clamped fins. They will swim to the glass occasionally and I can see there is a higher rate of gill movement than I think is normal. Neither of them are eating, but they both ate a little the first day, and I have tried algae wafers for them as well. I read that high nitrates might be a problem for these fishes, is this so? I am carrying out regular weekly water changes of 20%, with diluted tap water (tap water nitrates quite high) to keep it under control and have cut down on feeding the other fish. I have a piece of bogwood in the tank as I read they need that but they haven't touched it. None of my other fish are suffering. I would really like to help these little guys.

[Silurus]

Not only are your nitrates high, the pH is also too high for <i>Ortocinclus</i>. You should ry to lower it to about 6.0-6.5.