Tank Super Messy! Help

[Lexizdanov]

   While I was away on a 2 week long trip I asked my family to take care of my tank. I got back and it was a mess!! They overfeed my fish and didn't clean the tank either.
   I did a 25 % water change and cleaned of all the algae I possibly could and it still has algae floating around and fish flakes. What should I do?!?! My water is extremely cloudy and all the pebbles are covered in algae. Any ideas? Also, when I turned on my filter after cleaning my tank it starting pushing even more flakes and algae into my tank and making it even cloudier!
 

 

[Liv15]

you could do a bigger water change and make sure you use a gravel vacuum/siphon, if you don't have one there are really cheap ones on eBay (not sure how good they are though) But try not to stress the fish out with lots of water changes and always dechlorinate the water you put back in the tank.
Also get a large bowl / jug / small bucket, fill it with tank water and rinse the filter in it. This will remove some of the dirt and flakes which could block up your filter.

 

[Ninjouzata]

You can drain the tank, leaving just enough room for the fish to swim upright, then refill. You may want to teach your family why what they did was bad too
Did you test your water?

 

[Ch4rlie]

you could do a bigger water change and make sure you use a gravel vacuum/siphon, if you don't have one there are really cheap ones on eBay (not sure how good they are though) But try not to stress the fish out with lots of water changes and always dechlorinate the water you put back in the tank.Also get a large bowl / jug / small bucket, fill it with tank water and rinse the filter in it. This will remove some of the dirt and flakes which could block up your filter.

IMO don't rinse all of the sponge filter, only about a third of the sponge media. If you rinse all the sponge media you might clean too much beneficial bacteria off and then you might struggle with water parameters for a while.

Do water change as above, dechlorinate water of course, rinse about a third of your filter sponge media in old tank water - NOT with clean tap water. Do water test at least 30 mins of completing the water Change. Hopefully parameters should be within acceptable limits.
That would be a decent start and tomorrow you may need to repeat water change but don't rinse any more filter media.

 

[Skies]

You can drain the tank, leaving just enough room for the fish to swim upright, then refill. You may want to teach your family why what they did was bad too

Did you test your water?

That's what I do when I have to, I had a green algae tank for a while, but got tired of it, I wanted to see my fish! (they were fat and beautimous), so I just siphoned all the water out, left enough for them to swim upright, and refilled, you may have to do another small change after that, but it will take care of most of the problem. Did the same thing recently when I removed my gravel and kicked up a lot of debris. Don't worry about your bacteria, it lives in the filter, changing all of the water won't hurt anything (just be sure to dechlorinate it)... change the water, but don't worry about cleaning your filter media, you only have to clean your filter if you notice impeded performance, and all you have to do is take out your media, very gently caress it, and swish it in dirty tank water after a siphon, don't throw out your media until it's falling apart. Just in case you needed the advice, young padawan.

Live long and prosper! (yes, I am aware that the two quotes I just made came from two different series. LOL in case you were wondering about the level of my nerdometer.. I am a level 9001 nerdbotatron).

 

[Liv15]

Oh yeah I should have said not to rinse the filter media too much

 

[Ninjouzata]

 

You can drain the tank, leaving just enough room for the fish to swim upright, then refill. You may want to teach your family why what they did was bad too

Did you test your water?

That's what I do when I have to, I had a green algae tank for a while, but got tired of it, I wanted to see my fish! (they were fat and beautimous), so I just siphoned all the water out, left enough for them to swim upright, and refilled, you may have to do another small change after that, but it will take care of most of the problem. Did the same thing recently when I removed my gravel and kicked up a lot of debris. Don't worry about your bacteria, it lives in the filter, changing all of the water won't hurt anything (just be sure to dechlorinate it)... change the water, but don't worry about cleaning your filter media, you only have to clean your filter if you notice impeded performance, and all you have to do is take out your media, very gently caress it, and swish it in dirty tank water after a siphon, don't throw out your media until it's falling apart. Just in case you needed the advice, young padawan.

Live long and prosper! (yes, I am aware that the two quotes I just made came from two different series. LOL in case you were wondering about the level of my nerdometer)

 

Indeed I meant to mention in that post that they may need to do another. Thank you!

 

[neutron20]

You can never trust NON AQUARIUM owners to take care of tanks... been there done that. Your better contacting a member from a local fish club to come over and do it haha.
 
do 50 percent water changes with a gravel vaccuum. walmart sells them for $10

 

[Sophie]

Fish would've been better off starved and left alone

 

[mitch70]

when I go away I leave labelled contaiers of feed for the fish clearly marked which days to feed - normally do every other day i.e label mon,wed,fri etc.
That way you know they not been overfed. or as Sophie said above don't feed them they can probably go 2 weeks and be fine

 

[Lexizdanov]

Next time Ill make sure to leave some sort of schedule! I did a big water change and currently trying to get a vacuum. Water is still cloudy from the filter though... Luckily, the fish seem okay!