Will Dog Food Kill Fish?

[biggles]

The other day, my niece dropped some dog food into our tank and we didn't know it until later after it had expanded and broken apart. We vacuumed up most of it and did a 40% water change. What was remaining seemed to grow mold spores or something on it. We have been trying to clean it out by encouraging it towards the filter. Yesterday morning we found one of our guppies dead and by night another guppy was dead. Today, our simease algea eater looks like he is not long for this world. There are still some pieces of the dog food floating around so we did another 10% water change and tried to coax more to the filter. We also changed the filter.

We have never had fish die like this. Could it be the dog food?

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Changing the filter was the worst possible thing. Dog food is very messy and will rot quickly, making a lot of ammonia. Now that you have changed the filter, you also threw out all the beneficical bacteria. Now all the ammonia in your tank and nitrites will spike killing a good portion of your fish. The dog food wouldn't have hurt your fish very much, what did hurt them was the fact that you paniced and changed the filter. Ask a fellow fish keeper for some mature filter media asap.

 

[biggles]

Changing the filter was the worst possible thing. Dog food is very messy and will rot quickly, making a lot of ammonia. Now that you have changed the filter, you also threw out all the beneficical bacteria. Now all the ammonia in your tank and nitrites will spike killing a good portion of your fish. The dog food wouldn't have hurt your fish very much, what did hurt them was the fact that you paniced and changed the filter. Ask a fellow fish keeper for some mature filter media asap.

Yikes! What about that "stresszyme" stuff that says it puts good bacteria into the tank?

 

[n3ont3tra]

I don't think it's the right kind of bacteria...

 

[merry78]

No, apparently the only thing that will do that is bactinettes tabs (uk) which have to be kept in the fridge at the lfs to work. in the us there is another one but i can't remember it's name...biospira or something? not sure as i am in Aus which as far as i know sells neither. Most people say that any of the other "bacteria in a bottle' type products are worse than useless.
Best bet is to get onto the water changes....like 15% three times daily or something, keep testing your water with liquid test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and go to a bunch of lfs's and tell them what happened, and beg them to give/sell you some of their mature filter media from a healthy tank (ie check the fish in the tank they are giving you the media from for signs of illness that might be transmitted to your tank).
Best of luck, and when in doubt, do a water change. And then another....

 

[biggles]

I don't think it's the right kind of bacteria...

I am fairly new to this so I hope I am not sounding like a complete idiot, but I have the old filter sitting in the sink, should I put that back in?

I just can't stand watching my poor sucker suffer. He is lying peacefully right now but he is breathing very fast. Sometimes he will lye on his side and sometimes he will race around the tank really fast and breath really fast. Normally he just hangs out on the side of the tank and is very calm.

 

[n3ont3tra]

I am fairly new to this so I hope I am not sounding like a complete idiot, but I have the old filter sitting in the sink, should I put that back in?

probably. As long as your sink is semi-clean.

 

[merry78]

yes, put the old filter back in, but......
1. if it has dried out all the bacteria will be dead anyway.
2. if your sink has had washing up liquid/other chemicals in it they may have poisoned your bacteria/may poison your tank.
3. if you have given the filter a 'good' rinse in untreated tapwater to clean out the dog food, the chlorine in the water may have killed the good bacteria.
4. if your fish are dying and you feel you have no other option, go ahead and try it.
water changes!!!
good luck, hope your fish come through.

 

[Tolak]

Do not rinse the media in tap water, the chlorine will kill most or all of the nitrifying bacteria. Rinse it in old tank water, or a bucket of tap water with dechlorinator added.

 

[biggles]

Thank you all for your advise. I put the old filter back in. There was no soap or chemicals in the sink that I know of. We don't have chlorinated water and the filter was still damp...so, hopefully it will be ok. I have included a picture of my algea eater. It is kind of fuzzy.

 

[Lynda B]

It's a good rule of thumb to keep 2 filters in your tank, at all times. We replace one as needed, but always have a mature filter in there. This also came in handy when, due to snails, I had to ditch both of my filters. I was able to take one from my husband's tank and didn't even experience a mini-cycle.

Dog food is not meant to get wet. It does mold very quickly. If it's humid enough in your area, it could actually mold right in the bag.

My primary concern is that your tank is not "child-proof". This is an accident waiting to happen, the worse case scenario being a child falls into the tank.