Advice wanted!

[Ingrid]

Hi we are thinking of going on holiday in a few weeks and so we are wondering whether it would be all right to leave the fish for a week and what should we do before we leave so they survive. We at the moment have 6 platys.
All advice is welcome thanks

 

[seangee]

Do a large water change before you go and another one when you get back. If you normally do weekly changes just stick as closely to your routine as possible. Some people recommend feeding extra before you go - but I don't. Assuming your lights are on a timer don't adjust them or your heater. Then enjoy your holiday. Do NOT get a holiday feeding block or try to set up an auto feeder. These typically do a great job of fouling your water and fish will be just fine without food for a week or two.

I'm off for 2 weeks next week and that's exactly what I'll be doing for my 3 tanks. Never had any problems doing this before and don''t expect any now.

 

[Colin_T]

If the tank has cycled, then feed the fish more often for a couple of weeks before you go, and do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate every day or two for a couple of weeks before you go. Then just let the fish go hungry for the time you're away.

You can add some live plants a couple of weeks before you go and increase lighting times by a couple of hours a day to encourage algae on the glass.

Don't add anything else to the tank (especially not fish) for a couple of weeks before you go otherwise you risk the fish contracting a disease while you are away.

 

[Mongo75]

If you find a "fish sitter" measure out individual servings for them to feed with. Use one of those daily pill dispensers. They can also be a backup should you suffer a power failure or some other disaster. At least they can make sure your filters come back on line, or contact you for help.

 

[FishGuest5123]

If you find a "fish sitter" measure out individual servings for them to feed with. Use one of those daily pill dispensers. They can also be a backup should you suffer a power failure or some other disaster. At least they can make sure your filters come back on line, or contact you for help.

I keep my food in pill boxes for our sitter. This year she called me twice saying that a filter was making a strange noise. Both were my Aqua Clear filters which leads me to believe we had a power failure. All other tanks were fine. I just told her to unplug the filter. Fortunately, both of those tanks have 2 filters in them. Made me think though. Perhaps I should at least keep a back up sponge filter in each tank.

 

[Fishmanic]

I have hob filters on 3 of my tanks and also a sponge filter in all of them. The aquaclears often don't restart after a water change unless I reprime them. And sometimes the impeller gets stuck after a wc and I then have to use an ice pick to push against the impeller to get it unstuck. The sponge filters give peace of mind in that I know if the aquaclears malfunction the biological bacteria will not be depleted.

 

[Mongo75]

I keep my food in pill boxes for our sitter. This year she called me twice saying that a filter was making a strange noise. Both were my Aqua Clear filters which leads me to believe we had a power failure. All other tanks were fine. I just told her to unplug the filter. Fortunately, both of those tanks have 2 filters in them. Made me think though. Perhaps I should at least keep a back up sponge filter in each tank.

Since hopping back into fish keeping just last month, I've thought about getting an UPS just for my filter(s), but it's so rare that we lose power, that it's hard to justify. Instead, I bought the ATI Hydro 3 sponge filter. A couple weeks to get it seeded, and it's ready to go, or to be moved to a QT tank if needed.

 

[AquaBarb]

I keep my food in pill boxes for our sitter. This year she called me twice saying that a filter was making a strange noise. Both were my Aqua Clear filters which leads me to believe we had a power failure. All other tanks were fine. I just told her to unplug the filter. Fortunately, both of those tanks have 2 filters in them. Made me think though. Perhaps I should at least keep a back up sponge filter in each tank.

Ive just used the pill box method.

Worked a treat