Was away for a week....

[Mikeyboy123]

I was on vacation for a week and asked a neighbour to feed the fish for me.

I returned to what you can see in the attached pic. The stuff that looks like sand in the foreground is a mass of rotting algae wafers. The water had a foul smell to it and there were bubbles coming up from the substrate underneath. The mini internal filter was so clogged up there was just the slightest trickle turning over, and this was with just coarse sponge - I had the foresight to remove the fine filter pad I usually use as the final filtration stage, otherwise I am sure the filter would have clogged completely.

Amazingly, my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels were all zero and the tank inhabitants seemed okay. I think the fact that the tank is pretty heavily planted has saved the situation. I've done a big water change with a thorough gravel vac and put some Polyfilter in the filter, will do more big water changes and gravel vacs over coming days.

My neighbour has looked after the tank previously and it was fine last time, so god knows what he was thinking putting so many algae wafers in there.

I suppose it's one of the hazards of the hobby where we need to find someone to look after things if we are not there. Will ask someone else next time.

 

[Essjay]

For next time, buy one or more of those pill boxes with a compartment for every day of the week. Put a day's food into each compartment then all they have to do is empty one compartment a day. Hide the food tubs so they can't add any extra.

Was it actually the neighbour who put food in the tank or did they take someone else (a child perhaps?) with them, who could have decided to feed extra?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

That will take some serious substrate hoovering, sponge wringing and fasting for the next 4-5 days

 

[outofwater]

Great job on the plants, I guess they did save the tank. Have you ever considered or used an automated feeder? I avoid asking anyone for this exact reason, you never know if/when things will go sideways. Earlier this year I went away and was thinking of an automated feeder, then decided on those vacation feeder tablets, and they worked ok, the fish ate some, not all of them, but they were all healthy, the water was clean, and it didn't turn out like I thought it would (I thought they'd starve if they didn't go for the tablets).

 

[Beastije]

For next time, if you leave for a week, dont feed the fish. Everything except very tiny fry will survive week without food easily. Larger fish survive 2 weeks easily too. One can feed a bit more in preparation for the vacation time in the week before.
Too many fishtanks have been killed by members of family/neighbors overfeeding and automated feeders malfunctioning and dumping too large loads.
Hungry fish is better than poisoned and dead fish from rotting food.

 

[Mikeyboy123]

For next time, buy one or more of those pill boxes with a compartment for every day of the week. Put a day's food into each compartment then all they have to do is empty one compartment a day. Hide the food tubs so they can't add any extra.

Was it actually the neighbour who put food in the tank or did they take someone else (a child perhaps?) with them, who could have decided to feed extra?

Good idea

 

[Mikeyboy123]

Great job on the plants, I guess they did save the tank. Have you ever considered or used an automated feeder? I avoid asking anyone for this exact reason, you never know if/when things will go sideways. Earlier this year I went away and was thinking of an automated feeder, then decided on those vacation feeder tablets, and they worked ok, the fish ate some, not all of them, but they were all healthy, the water was clean, and it didn't turn out like I thought it would (I thought they'd starve if they didn't go for the tablets).

An automated feeder wouldn't really work. I'm only keeping 8 chilli rasboras and the amount of food they need is so tiny that any autofeeder would be overkill. I know that you can adjust the serving size but the amount of food these guys require is miniscule. I have also had problems lately with fish jumping through very small gaps around the lid, so I wouldn't want to have any (and I mean even a few mm) gaps such as an auto feeder would require.

What vacation feeder tablets did you use? The ones I've seen look pretty poor to me but always open to new ideas.

 

[Mikeyboy123]

For next time, if you leave for a week, dont feed the fish. Everything except very tiny fry will survive week without food easily. Larger fish survive 2 weeks easily too. One can feed a bit more in preparation for the vacation time in the week before.
Too many fishtanks have been killed by members of family/neighbors overfeeding and automated feeders malfunctioning and dumping too large loads.
Hungry fish is better than poisoned and dead fish from rotting food.

I did think about just leaving them but chickened out. I guess they'd probably be okay on reflection. Still, I'm away for two weeks in August, so will have to come up with a plan for that.

I repeatedly expressed to my neighbour that only tiny amounts were needed and I broke the vast majority of the algae wafers into six pieces and told him to put two small pieces in every other day. That's what I do, and the shrimp always seem to finish it off over night and then they have a day without food to just pick their way through the tank. No different to what I told my neighbour last time and he did as i asked, but this time he has even rummaged in the tub for one of the few remaining whole algae wafers that I didn't break up, as I could see one that wasn't broken up and it was a whole wafer. He is getting on a bit so maybe he just didn't take it all in or forgot. He's a great neighbour so I don't want to dwell on it. The important thing is that the shrimp and fish are okay.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

if this happened to me I'd strangle that neighbor.

(I am not encouraging violence, I may even yell at that person)

 

[Beastije]

I did think about just leaving them but chickened out. I guess they'd probably be okay on reflection. Still, I'm away for two weeks in August, so will have to come up with a plan for that.

I would be even more worried in august, higher temp, lower oxygenation and abundance of food is a killer combo. Though not sure what "higher temp" are like in London

I would consider one of the weekend blocks only, the small gell one, shrimp may feed on it too, nothing too large. As I said, better to have hungry fish than dead ones. Though with the small rasboras, I lost few every vacation I took, because micro feeders need food more often than normal mouth sized fish. On plus size if one of your fish dies, the shrimp wont go hungry I guess?

You can grow a algae covered rock in advance and place it in the tank before leaving, that will take care of the shrimp anyway.

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

For next time, buy one or more of those pill boxes with a compartment for every day of the week. Put a day's food into each compartment then all they have to do is empty one compartment a day. Hide the food tubs so they can't add any extra.

Was it actually the neighbour who put food in the tank or did they take someone else (a child perhaps?) with them, who could have decided to feed extra?

This method works well. I even label which tank they go to and never have had any issues with anyone who has fed them while on vacation. It might be 9 containers but it keeps everything sorted, plus I can vary what they are fed day to day while away.

 

[Back in the fold]

Fish can go a really long time without being fed. You will never find anybody that has the smarts to take care of fish properly that has never had fish of their own. I guess you know this now.

 

[outofwater]

What vacation feeder tablets did you use? The ones I've seen look pretty poor to me but always open to new ideas.

I keep cories, an otto, snails and a few neon tetras in one tank, and a dwarf gourami with a nerite snail in another. I used betta vacation feeder on both and they visibly had nibbled on it.

as a "backup" I had also bought and placed some other "vacation food" from tropical (comes in a round metal tin) and I would've bet they all would've gone for that first (based on presentation), but nah, virtually untouched on both tanks and a freaking mess when I did the post trip cleanup.. so, I'm sticking with betta vacation feeder from "pro balance". It's some unassuming white blocks, but as I said, both tanks showed signs of thr fish at least having nibbled decent portions of it.

 

[Naughts]

some unassuming white blocks,

The white blocks are calcium. I don't recommend them. If your pH is 7 they should dissolve steadily during your holiday. If it is below 7 they will dissolve quickly, too quickly and it will pollute the tank. Above 7 and they will dissolve slowly or not at all.
I don't feed fish when I'm on holiday. When I go away I feed the fish well beforehand and do a water change before I go. When I get back the water is pristine and the fish are healthy. This would not work for fry though.