HELP!! My fish-sitter over fed my fish while on vacation!!

[JuliaGoolia]

I went on vacation for 4 days. Before going on vacation I did a series of water changes over the days leading up to it to ensure my levels were dialed in. I had a friend who has had fish before feed my fish while away and gave her instructions on how much to feed them. Well, I just got back and my tank is a disaster! I’m surprised No one has died!

I immediately noticed the tank had a white haze and my fish appeared to have a white “dusty” coating with very little color. (They were clearly very stressed) Then I noticed a ridiculous amount of food on the substrate.

When I tested levels with my master test kit I found my ammonia to be between 0ppm and .25ppm nitrates at 5ppm and nitrite off the charts at the full 5ppm.

I’ve done a 50% water change giving the substrate a really good vacuuming, rinsed the filter bags in one of the buckets of removed water. (It’s a 3 part hob filter) and added some EasyBalance Plus.

My fishies have perked up a bit, have more color and are more active than they were when I got home. The water is MUCH more clear as well. I’m just waiting my 5 min to see what the ammonia and nitrate levels are now.

This is a long 60gal tank. It was set up about 6 weeks ago. I used 30gal of water from the 30gal tank that this one replaced and kept the filter from the 30 gal in the tank for about 4 days when this one got started. The decorations were also transferred from the 30gal.

This tank has 3 Bala Sharks (2 are small ~ 3” and one is approx ~6”) 4 skirt tetras, 5 guppies, a catfish (~3”) and a clown Pleco. I realize this tank is going to need an upgrade again and I’m working on that but for the mean time this is a vast improvement on the 30gal these fish were in when I adopted them.

Results are in.... ammonia looks just slightly greener than 0ppm but not nearly as green as .25ppm. Nitrite looks like it’s down to about 1ppm. Nitrate is somewhere between 0ppm and 5ppm.

Sooo.... what am I missing... what else can I do for my fishies? I had planned on doing another ~10% change everyday maybe more if the levels aren’t dropping.

I really don’t want to lose any of these guys if I can help it.

For future vacations I think I’ll get an automatic fish feeder or use a pill counter to pre portion the food for whoever i have feed my fishies.

 

[Cichlid4life]

I went on vacation for 4 days. Before going on vacation I did a series of water changes over the days leading up to it to ensure my levels were dialed in. I had a friend who has had fish before feed my fish while away and gave her instructions on how much to feed them. Well, I just got back and my tank is a disaster! I’m surprised No one has died!

I immediately noticed the tank had a white haze and my fish appeared to have a white “dusty” coating with very little color. (They were clearly very stressed) Then I noticed a ridiculous amount of food on the substrate.

When I tested levels with my master test kit I found my ammonia to be between 0ppm and .25ppm nitrates at 5ppm and nitrite off the charts at the full 5ppm.

I’ve done a 50% water change giving the substrate a really good vacuuming, rinsed the filter bags in one of the buckets of removed water. (It’s a 3 part hob filter) and added some EasyBalance Plus.

My fishies have perked up a bit, have more color and are more active than they were when I got home. The water is MUCH more clear as well. I’m just waiting my 5 min to see what the ammonia and nitrate levels are now.

This is a long 60gal tank. It was set up about 6 weeks ago. I used 30gal of water from the 30gal tank that this one replaced and kept the filter from the 30 gal in the tank for about 4 days when this one got started. The decorations were also transferred from the 30gal.

This tank has 3 Bala Sharks (2 are small ~ 3” and one is approx ~6”) 4 skirt tetras, 5 guppies, a catfish (~3”) and a clown Pleco. I realize this tank is going to need an upgrade again and I’m working on that but for the mean time this is a vast improvement on the 30gal these fish were in when I adopted them.

Results are in.... ammonia looks just slightly greener than 0ppm but not nearly as green as .25ppm. Nitrite looks like it’s down to about 1ppm. Nitrate is somewhere between 0ppm and 5ppm.

Sooo.... what am I missing... what else can I do for my fishies? I had planned on doing another ~10% change everyday maybe more if the levels aren’t dropping.

I really don’t want to lose any of these guys if I can help it.

For future vacations I think I’ll get an automatic fish feeder or use a pill counter to pre portion the food for whoever i have feed my fishies.

in the future you can just use a ZIPLOC bag to put the total amount of pellets for one day, make as many more as needed, then label each bag, one for each day of your vacation, when the person comes to feed your fish, tell them to use all of those in the one bag that is the present day.

 

[Cichlid4life]

i think you did all the right things, but i bet your food containers have a huge amount of food missing, and i bet you are unhappy about the wasted food.

 

[Essjay]

in the future you can just use a ZIPLOC bag to put the total amount of pellets for one day, make as many more as needed, then label each bag, one for each day of your vacation, when the person comes to feed your fish, tell them to use all of those in the one bag that is the present day.

And hide the food tubs so they can't give them any extra.

Keep on doing water changes and gravel cleans until both ammonia and nitrite get down to zero.

 

[Cichlid4life]

And hide the food tubs so they can't give them any extra.

Keep on doing water changes and gravel cleans until both ammonia and nitrite get down to zero.

the whole part of us having them feed our fish is that we trust them to do it right. And about the ammonia and the nitrites, is your tank almost completely cycled, because if it were to be cycled, the ammonia would go strait down and so would the nitrites, and the nitrates would go up. but if it was not cycled the nitrates and the nitrites can't just come from the ammonia, so it might be in the tap water, but the levels have changed, so i am guessing that you used test strips, which are very well known to be inaccurate.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you are going on holiday for less than 2 weeks, don't bother getting anyone to feed the fish and don't use an automatic fish feeder. Just feed the fish well for a couple of weeks before you go, and do daily 50% water changes for a week leading up to the holiday, then let the fish go hungry. You can put some live plants in the tank a couple of weeks before you go, and increase the lighting to about 16 hours a day. The light will encourage algae and plant growth and the fish can eat that and live off their fat reserves.

Do not add any new fish for a month before you go on holidays. This will prevent possible disease outbreaks occurring just before you go.

Don't add new plants for a couple of weeks beforehand, again to reduce the chance of diseases being introduced to the tank before you go away.

Unlike terrestrial animals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding environment (the water). This means any food they eat is used to grow and move, thus allowing them to go for weeks or even months without any food. So a couple of weeks without food is better than letting someone possibly over feed them.

-----------------------
What to do if you come home and someone has over fed the tank?
Pretty much what you did. Do a big (75%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter materials. Do not feed the tank for a few days. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels over the next week or so.

Your nitrite should go over night and the fish should be fine. If the water is good tomorrow, wait another day before you feed them. Then go back to your normal routine.

 

[JuliaGoolia]

the whole part of us having them feed our fish is that we trust them to do it right. And about the ammonia and the nitrites, is your tank almost completely cycled, because if it were to be cycled, the ammonia would go strait down and so would the nitrites, and the nitrates would go up. but if it was not cycled the nitrates and the nitrites can't just come from the ammonia, so it might be in the tap water, but the levels have changed, so i am guessing that you used test strips, which are very well known to be inaccurate.

As it says in my first post, I used my master test kit not test strips. I have seen myself just how inaccurate those things are.

I had thought that my tank was pretty much there as far as being cycled is concerned however I am concerned that with all the vacuuming I’ve just done that’s probably all messed up.

Just checked the levels and ammonia is at 0. Nitrites is still at 1ppm and nitrates is at 5ppm.

I have tested my tap water and while it is pretty hard and has a high ph the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels were 0 or nearly 0.

 

[JuliaGoolia]

in the future you can just use a ZIPLOC bag to put the total amount of pellets for one day, make as many more as needed, then label each bag, one for each day of your vacation, when the person comes to feed your fish, tell them to use all of those in the one bag that is the present day.

For environmental reasons I prefer to avoid using ziploc bags as much as possible but will definitely pre-portion food for them in the future using a pill counter or some other type of container.

 

[Colin_T]

If you are going to measure out food for people to give to the fish, tell them to feed once every second day and not every day.

 

[JuliaGoolia]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you are going on holiday for less than 2 weeks, don't bother getting anyone to feed the fish and don't use an automatic fish feeder. Just feed the fish well for a couple of weeks before you go, and do daily 50% water changes for a week leading up to the holiday, then let the fish go hungry. You can put some live plants in the tank a couple of weeks before you go, and increase the lighting to about 16 hours a day. The light will encourage algae and plant growth and the fish can eat that and live off their fat reserves.

Do not add any new fish for a month before you go on holidays. This will prevent possible disease outbreaks occurring just before you go.

Don't add new plants for a couple of weeks beforehand, again to reduce the chance of diseases being introduced to the tank before you go away.

Unlike terrestrial animals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding environment (the water). This means any food they eat is used to grow and move, thus allowing them to go for weeks or even months without any food. So a couple of weeks without food is better than letting someone possibly over feed them.

-----------------------
What to do if you come home and someone has over fed the tank?
Pretty much what you did. Do a big (75%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter materials. Do not feed the tank for a few days. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels over the next week or so.

Your nitrite should go over night and the fish should be fine. If the water is good tomorrow, wait another day before you feed them. Then go back to your normal routine.

Thank you for this detailed response. Definitely won’t be getting “help” with my fishies in the future without pre-portioning the food. For shorter trips I’ll definitely just skip feeding as you’ve suggested. I’ve only ever skipped a couple days and though 4 days would be too long. I’m learning so much from this little get away.

 

[JuliaGoolia]

i think you did all the right things, but i bet your food containers have a huge amount of food missing, and i bet you are unhappy about the wasted food.[/QUOT

You’re totally right here. Just flush that money right down the drain! What a waste!!

They did seem to do ok with the Betta fish in my other tank. But that one I specifically said 2 pellets every other day. I was less specific with the bigger tank but did show them how much and which ones wrongly thinking that was enough direction.

This is been quite the learning experience for me.

 

[Cichlid4life]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If you are going on holiday for less than 2 weeks, don't bother getting anyone to feed the fish and don't use an automatic fish feeder. Just feed the fish well for a couple of weeks before you go, and do daily 50% water changes for a week leading up to the holiday, then let the fish go hungry. You can put some live plants in the tank a couple of weeks before you go, and increase the lighting to about 16 hours a day. The light will encourage algae and plant growth and the fish can eat that and live off their fat reserves.

Do not add any new fish for a month before you go on holidays. This will prevent possible disease outbreaks occurring just before you go.

Don't add new plants for a couple of weeks beforehand, again to reduce the chance of diseases being introduced to the tank before you go away.

Unlike terrestrial animals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding environment (the water). This means any food they eat is used to grow and move, thus allowing them to go for weeks or even months without any food. So a couple of weeks without food is better than letting someone possibly over feed them.

-----------------------
What to do if you come home and someone has over fed the tank?
Pretty much what you did. Do a big (75%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter materials. Do not feed the tank for a few days. Monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels over the next week or so.

Your nitrite should go over night and the fish should be fine. If the water is good tomorrow, wait another day before you feed them. Then go back to your normal routine.

Unless you have predator community tanks, those predators will try to eat any other fish they find, my frontosas are with my giant sardine cichlids, but they will snack on one if i don't feed them enough food every day my port acaras i have just recently found that they are eating some of my veil tail cherry barbs, i have to feed them very well too.