Post-Vacation Crisis!

[newbie_zak]

I got my tank fairly recently (late oct, i think). I finally got it cycled (fish in cycle) and all my amm and nitrite readings were at 0, nitrates a bit high around 10 or 20ppm, growing some algae as a result. This was around the beginning of Dec it was cycled i think...

-I have a 10 gal tank, marina slim off the back filter, keep the tank around 80 deg F and have no live plants (but several fake and a couple of resin? plastic? things for fish to hide in)

I cycled with a dalmation molly, a swordtail (or maybe its a red/orange platy) and a penguin fish...I gave the penguin fish away in hopes it would find a home with tetra mates so it could school...once tank was cycled I bought 5 neon tetra.

Had tested randomly once cycled to make sure everything was still 0 once new tetra were added and everything was going well, everyone seemed happy.

Then I went on vacation for a week. I left my father-in-law instructions to feed the fish only what they can eat totally in 2 min and told him (since he was only coming every other day) that feeding them every 2 days like that would be fine. He seriously overfed them. I think at least 2 or 3 teaspoons of flake food in that week. When I came home I saw what he had done and immediately changed 90% of the water and tried to net out as much food as I could...there was still a ton of food in the tank. I took water readings and had 20 or 40 nitrate ppm, .25 ammonia and 0 nitrites.

Did this destroy my cycle? The next day (earlier today) I did another 25% WC trying to get out more settled food and netted out yet more food and did more readings...they are the same, still .25 amm, 0 nit and 20ppm nitrates...Ph used to be around 8 and now it looks a bit lower at 7.5 maybe but I'm concerned about the ammonina...it is just from all the dang food in there still?

Can I do 4 or 5 90% WCs in a day to get all that debris our of my tank without destroying whatever good bacteria I may have left?

And everyone but the molly seems to be doing ok...the molly's top fin looks a bit ragged, I wish I could get y'all a pic but I can't. but his tail fin and other little fins look ok. He seems to be breathing hard (gills pumping pretty fast) and the platy is chasing him a lot...he is hiding by the filter or just hangning out there for some reason...i've never seen the molly act like this before.

any advice you guys have would be most welcome...I'm too new at this to really know how serious this problem is but I'm trying to get all this food out asap

 

[sheffieldlad]

I got my tank fairly recently (late oct, i think). I finally got it cycled (fish in cycle) and all my amm and nitrite readings were at 0, nitrates a bit high around 10 or 20ppm, growing some algae as a result. This was around the beginning of Dec it was cycled i think...

-I have a 10 gal tank, marina slim off the back filter, keep the tank around 80 deg F and have no live plants (but several fake and a couple of resin? plastic? things for fish to hide in)

I cycled with a dalmation molly, a swordtail (or maybe its a red/orange platy) and a penguin fish...I gave the penguin fish away in hopes it would find a home with tetra mates so it could school...once tank was cycled I bought 5 neon tetra.

Had tested randomly once cycled to make sure everything was still 0 once new tetra were added and everything was going well, everyone seemed happy.

Then I went on vacation for a week. I left my father-in-law instructions to feed the fish only what they can eat totally in 2 min and told him (since he was only coming every other day) that feeding them every 2 days like that would be fine. He seriously overfed them. I think at least 2 or 3 teaspoons of flake food in that week. When I came home I saw what he had done and immediately changed 90% of the water and tried to net out as much food as I could...there was still a ton of food in the tank. I took water readings and had 20 or 40 nitrate ppm, .25 ammonia and 0 nitrites.

Did this destroy my cycle? The next day (earlier today) I did another 25% WC trying to get out more settled food and netted out yet more food and did more readings...they are the same, still .25 amm, 0 nit and 20ppm nitrates...Ph used to be around 8 and now it looks a bit lower at 7.5 maybe but I'm concerned about the ammonina...it is just from all the dang food in there still?

Can I do 4 or 5 90% WCs in a day to get all that debris our of my tank without destroying whatever good bacteria I may have left?

And everyone but the molly seems to be doing ok...the molly's top fin looks a bit ragged, I wish I could get y'all a pic but I can't. but his tail fin and other little fins look ok. He seems to be breathing hard (gills pumping pretty fast) and the platy is chasing him a lot...he is hiding by the filter or just hangning out there for some reason...i've never seen the molly act like this before.

any advice you guys have would be most welcome...I'm too new at this to really know how serious this problem is but I'm trying to get all this food out asap

get a substrate vaccum or start syphoning out water with some airline and use the end of the airline to vaccum the food from the substrate/plants.

 

[newbie_zak]

I think your talking about a gravel vac...I should have mentioned that earlier. I do have a gravel vac, I netted out a ton of food and then used the gravel vac to do the 90% water change. I didn't even mean to change that much water at once it is just SO much food I kept trying to vacuum out more gravel and when I realized I only had a inch or 2 of water in the tank I stopped but there is still a lot food settled in the gravel.

Do you think I should remove my fish (unfortunately I don't have a second tank) and clean everything well or keep trying to vacuum out food everyday by doing a WC (with gravel vac of course)?

 

[ShinySideUp]

I know this doesn't help with your present problem but in future do as I do and leave only the amount of food that you think can be consumed in a week (or whatever your holiday is) that way if your well-meaning but fish-ignorant carer decides they need all the food at once that damage will still not be very great. I did that with my neighbour only to come home and find that not all the food had been used but then better that than your present predicament.

 

[sheffieldlad]

I think your talking about a gravel vac...I should have mentioned that earlier. I do have a gravel vac, I netted out a ton of food and then used the gravel vac to do the 90% water change. I didn't even mean to change that much water at once it is just SO much food I kept trying to vacuum out more gravel and when I realized I only had a inch or 2 of water in the tank I stopped but there is still a lot food settled in the gravel.

Do you think I should remove my fish (unfortunately I don't have a second tank) and clean everything well or keep trying to vacuum out food everyday by doing a WC (with gravel vac of course)?

Use the vac to get as much food out each time you change the water.
I don't see a need to remove the fish.
Just do regular water changes removing as much uneaten food as possible.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

The good thing is the extra food provided for some extra ammonia and may have increased your biological filter. It didn't destroy it. I wuold fast your fish if they are bloated though.

 

[Cricketfish]

This happened to me once too. Lots of siphoning with the vacuum.

I bought one of those weekly pill containers at the local drug store. The little plastic ones that say Mon Tue Wed etc. on little boxes. I put in just the right amount of flakes for each day in each little box. That way my sister won't overfeed the fish. I also explained that she has to sit there and watch them and make sure they eat it before giving them more tomorrow!

 

[newbie_zak]

thank you guys for your advice... my molly's fin is still looking ragged but i think it's getting better with treatment and i think i've got all the extra food out. my molly is still acting weird though... it bobbles around when it swims sometimes and has it's tail curled to the side. It seems to hang out on the bottom of the tank and breathe heavy a lot. and i think it may have gotten smaller...either that or the orange fish got significantly bigger. they used to be the same size. does this seem odd to you guys?

 

[KrystaK]

The molly is stressed out. With it's fins tucked in it will seem smaller, and he probably stopped eating due to how uncomfortable he was with all the food while the other guy pigged out.
I had two guppies once that my friend gave me, I went on vacation and my dad over fed them so much that they died

But anyways, I'd fast them for a few days and think about getting a fin rot treatment (I recently had 3 guppies die due to fin rot - they developed it the day after I got them and each died in consecutive day, I didn't think it would advance as fast as it did, but it did )

I'd also suggest adding a little bit of aquarium salt, Molly's are brackish fish and do better in slightly salty water, it would probably just make him a little bit happier

 

[snake007]

Mollies can live happily in freshwater.

 

[newbie_zak]

i had heard that about the saltwater but I also have 5 neon tetra and the lfs guy said they don't do well at all with the brackish water so not to add salt. I have been using melafix for the fin rot and his fin does look a little better but still chewed up a bit...but it's only the 3rd day i've added medicine. I feel like it must be sick or something because he looks so little and the orange fish keeps chasing him around the tank. I'm so bummed because that molly has always been my fav...and now he hangs out on the bottom of the tank and hardly moves. and when he is up and swimming the darn swordtail chases him and he hides on top of the filter motor or in the hidey barrels in there. I'm gonna keep treating and doing WC and hope he gets better. He also seems to spit a lot of food out

Is there something else I could maybe feed that'll help him get healthy? I've been feeding them flakes and thinking about getting little shrimp or something but i've heard they can carry diseases into your tank. what do you all think?