Tetra holiday block fish and shrimp death

[Dexter576]

Hi. I hope you can help.

Back in July I brought a tetra holiday block, one of the ones in a tin that you pop out and it lasts upto two weeks, I've used it many times before with no issues but this time when I woke in the morning ready to set off for my holiday my fishes had all died except two and all my shrimps were dead as well the water was cloudy and awful looking, I took the block out only to then notice that it had a white type lard on it? I'd never noticed or seen it before on previous uses.

Since then I've been back and forth in contact with tetra who have said they will send me £36 for replacement fish, but I've spoken to a man in an aquatics store who tells me that it sounds like my block was so very long out of date and even tho I was stamped 03/2020 tetra are only stamping till 2019, how do I find out if his is correct? As they didn't comment when I asked?
Such a sad time and I've been really upset about it.
Thanks for reading. I'll spare you the photos but it was horrible .

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid there's not much we can do to help. Experienced aquarists generally wouldn't recommend the use of holiday blocks; they very often cause pollution issues, as you've seen.

Healthy, adult fish, in a planted tank, can go without food for around two weeks. Occasional visits from a friend or family member adding a measured portion of food, once or twice a week (best option), or an automatic feeder (worst option; I'd rather leave the fish unfed than trust one of these, tbh) are both better than holiday blocks.