Helpfull Daughter! Over-feeding Disaster

[whitbarrow]

Help,This morning My Daughter fed our fish a complete 30g container of mid-water/bottom feeding food.I changed about 50% of water,cleaned the gravel and filter but the fish have started dying.Do you think it is down to my cleaning or just over-eating?.The fish seem to now be more at the top of the water now.What should I do with the remaining fish apart from not feed them for a few days!! Any help would be great .Thanks

 

[Corleone]

The gasping might be from nitrite levels in the water. The problem with overfeeding isn't as much the fish eating too much as uneaten food rotting, which releases ammonia. When you overfeed by this much, the biofilter can't keep up, and you get an ammonia spike, which leads to elevated ammonia and nitrite levels.

How did you clean the filter, also? Sometimes excessive filter cleaning can kill some of the beneficial bacteria and cause a mini-cycle, which isn't what you want at this point. Done incorrectly (washing it in tap water, for example), the beneficial bacteria can be wiped out entirely, meaning an entirely new cycle.

Test your water stats and do regular gravel cleaning and water changes - hopefully you'll be able to control the ammonia and nitrite, and eventually get enough of the food out of the gravel to settle things down.

Other useful information you could post (just in case you have a secondary problem causing the gasping, which does happen sometimes):

Tank size?
Stock?
How long has it been set up?
How did you cycle it?
Water stats: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and what kit do you test with?

 

[whitbarrow]

The gasping might be from nitrite levels in the water. The problem with overfeeding isn't as much the fish eating too much as uneaten food rotting, which releases ammonia. When you overfeed by this much, the biofilter can't keep up, and you get an ammonia spike, which leads to elevated ammonia and nitrite levels.

How did you clean the filter, also? Sometimes excessive filter cleaning can kill some of the beneficial bacteria and cause a mini-cycle, which isn't what you want at this point. Done incorrectly (washing it in tap water, for example), the beneficial bacteria can be wiped out entirely, meaning an entirely new cycle.

Test your water stats and do regular gravel cleaning and water changes - hopefully you'll be able to control the ammonia and nitrite, and eventually get enough of the food out of the gravel to settle things down.

Other useful information you could post (just in case you have a secondary problem causing the gasping, which does happen sometimes):

Tank size?
Stock?
How long has it been set up?
How did you cycle it?
Water stats: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and what kit do you test with?

Thanks very much for your reply,I think I have cleaned the filter too much as you said .I have a 30 liter tank ,It has been set up for almost 3 years and was looking in fantastic shape with a mixture of bottom feeders, a silver shark (now dead) a couple of tropical shrimps and a clown loach and kholi loaches. I have tested the water and the ammonia level is sky high, I will pop down to the local shop in the morning but feel more will be dead by then,Any other help would be great.Thanks

 

[raptorrex]

The gasping might be from nitrite levels in the water. The problem with overfeeding isn't as much the fish eating too much as uneaten food rotting, which releases ammonia. When you overfeed by this much, the biofilter can't keep up, and you get an ammonia spike, which leads to elevated ammonia and nitrite levels.

How did you clean the filter, also? Sometimes excessive filter cleaning can kill some of the beneficial bacteria and cause a mini-cycle, which isn't what you want at this point. Done incorrectly (washing it in tap water, for example), the beneficial bacteria can be wiped out entirely, meaning an entirely new cycle.

Test your water stats and do regular gravel cleaning and water changes - hopefully you'll be able to control the ammonia and nitrite, and eventually get enough of the food out of the gravel to settle things down.

Other useful information you could post (just in case you have a secondary problem causing the gasping, which does happen sometimes):

Tank size?
Stock?
How long has it been set up?
How did you cycle it?
Water stats: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and what kit do you test with?

Thanks very much for your reply,I think I have cleaned the filter too much as you said .I have a 30 liter tank ,It has been set up for almost 3 years and was looking in fantastic shape with a mixture of bottom feeders, a silver shark (now dead) a couple of tropical shrimps and a clown loach and kholi loaches. I have tested the water and the ammonia level is sky high, I will pop down to the local shop in the morning but feel more will be dead by then,Any other help would be great.Thanks

dont wait, do 50% water changes for the next day or so. keep an eye on the ammonia. and give the gravel a good clean too. i would also let your tank settle down again, before considering new additions.

 

[helterskelter]

Ye water changes 50% now and every day till the ammonia id gone and the fish are lookinf better.... Only do 50% if the ammonia is at stipid levels, once it going down do around 20-25% at the most. once setteled then go back to once a week water changes

 

[whitbarrow]

Ye water changes 50% now and every day till the ammonia id gone and the fish are lookinf better.... Only do 50% if the ammonia is at stipid levels, once it going down do around 20-25% at the most. once setteled then go back to once a week water changes

Thanks very much and will do a 50% water change for the next few days and test it each time and just hope the other fish pull through.Great help straight away ,Thanks i'm glad i found this site

 

[raptorrex]

keep us up to date on your progress!

 

[whitbarrow]

keep us up to date on your progress!

Thanks very much,Will do on progress, Should I be doing anything with the fish that are still alive?, I have only 1 tank so cannot move them anywhere,It's sad watching them go after 3 years of looking after them and them looking so healthy and getting bigger.

 

[Tolak]

If they have been that healthy for so long I wouldn't feed for about a week. Less food means less waste (ammonia) produced. Vac the gravel daily along with the water changes. If the filter flow seems a bit slow after a few days give the media a gentle rinse in old tank or other dechlorinated water. You want to get the best mechanical filtration out of your gear without sacrificing any bio filtration, so just rinse enough to remove loose debris. Nitrifying bacteria do adhere pretty securely, the biggest thing is avoiding chlorine or chloramine in tap water.

If you have been doing regular water changes changing more than 50% daily won't hurt if the ammonia level is really rising. I do large water changes on many tanks on a regular basis, especially fry tanks. As a regular practice I change at least 50% if I'm going to be changing water, fresh water is the best and cheapest preventative medicine there is.

I had a young nephew do the same thing to me many years ago, a couple of ounces of flake in a 10 gallon. I used a net on the floating food, large water changes, filter cleaning and gravel vacs for a week, and still lost a few long term residents.

 

[whitbarrow]

If they have been that healthy for so long I wouldn't feed for about a week. Less food means less waste (ammonia) produced. Vac the gravel daily along with the water changes. If the filter flow seems a bit slow after a few days give the media a gentle rinse in old tank or other dechlorinated water. You want to get the best mechanical filtration out of your gear without sacrificing any bio filtration, so just rinse enough to remove loose debris. Nitrifying bacteria do adhere pretty securely, the biggest thing is avoiding chlorine or chloramine in tap water.

If you have been doing regular water changes changing more than 50% daily won't hurt if the ammonia level is really rising. I do large water changes on many tanks on a regular basis, especially fry tanks. As a regular practice I change at least 50% if I'm going to be changing water, fresh water is the best and cheapest preventative medicine there is.

I had a young nephew do the same thing to me many years ago, a couple of ounces of flake in a 10 gallon. I used a net on the floating food, large water changes, filter cleaning and gravel vacs for a week, and still lost a few long term residents.

Thanks for the tips, I will use Your advise. After 3 years of having no problems I should count myself lucky and hope the bigger fish survive.

 

[helterskelter]

If they have been that healthy for so long I wouldn't feed for about a week. Less food means less waste (ammonia) produced. Vac the gravel daily along with the water changes. If the filter flow seems a bit slow after a few days give the media a gentle rinse in old tank or other dechlorinated water.

Very good points Tolak and I should of said them as these are the first thing you do when this sort of thing happens, esp as I do this sort of thing for a living as well.

 

[whitbarrow]

If they have been that healthy for so long I wouldn't feed for about a week. Less food means less waste (ammonia) produced. Vac the gravel daily along with the water changes. If the filter flow seems a bit slow after a few days give the media a gentle rinse in old tank or other dechlorinated water.

Very good points Tolak and I should of said them as these are the first thing you do when this sort of thing happens, esp as I do this sort of thing for a living as well.

thanks for the tips, after another 50% change fish left seem alot happier although I know still work to be done!.It seemed the smaller fish could not survive the disaster and a couple of the older ones too.I am going to buy a better gravel cleaner today and have a chat to my local shop.Although upsetting ,I am pleased to have found this site and great help given