Water Problem

[garsyboy]

I went away for 4 days over Easter and left what I thought to be basic and minimal instructions with a neighbour for feeding my fish.
Before I went :

Rena Aquarama 80, 90ltr - 5 Zebra Danios, 1 Silver Shark, 6 Tiger Barbs, 1 Pleco all the water stats were fine (had 3 months):
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

Via Aqua - 45ltr - 2 Oranda's, 1 Clown Pleco, 2 Armoured Catfish all the water stats were fine (had 18 months) :
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

Rena Aquarium 40, 18 ltr - 4 Platties water stats were (only had 4 weeks) :
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 10

I came back to find they had all been overfed, to the point where food was floating around, stuck to the plants etc and the Via Aqua cloudy, algae and the fish hardly moving. I immediatly changed 50% of the water in this tank as I couldn't see through it and found over 6 Algae wafers and 40 food pellets all at the bottom. The other 2 tanks weren't as bad as you could see through the water although there was alot of excess food.
The water stats now read :

Rena Aquarama 80, 90ltr - 5 Zebra Danios, 1 Silver Shark, 6 Tiger Barbs, 1 Pleco all the water stats were fine (had 3 months):
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 4
Nitrate 10

Via Aqua - 45ltr - 2 Oranda's, 1 Clown Pleco, 2 Armoured Catfish all the water stats were fine (had 18 months) :
Ammonia 5
Nitrite 4
Nitrate 10

Rena Aquarium 40, 18 ltr - 4 Platties water stats were (only had 4 weeks) :
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 10

I have done 2 water changes and included Amquel on each occasion to all 3 tanks.
Is there anything else that I can do especially with the Via Aqua as I have never had an ammonia reading before?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

awwww sorry to hear that, for future reference it'd be better to just not feed for 4 days, they can cope with it easily.

daily 20% water changes will get you through it, obviously clear out any uneaten food from the tank, don't feed the fish for a day or two.

hopefully it shouldn't take too long for the levels to settle

 

[garsyboy]

awwww sorry to hear that, for future reference it'd be better to just not feed for 4 days, they can cope with it easily.

daily 20% water changes will get you through it, obviously clear out any uneaten food from the tank, don't feed the fish for a day or two.

hopefully it shouldn't take too long for the levels to settle

I didn't realise you could leave them that long without feeding. I did hoover out all the excess food straight away and I haven't fed them since Monday.
Although he tried his best I won't be calling on his help again!

It was just so depressing to come back to find all the mess, it looked like they hadn't been cleaned for over a month yet I had cleaned them all on the Thursday before leaving on the Friday.

Back to daily water changes!

What about the high level of Ammonia will that settle on the same priciple as the nitrite using the Amquel or should use something else?
I have Stress Coat and Stress Zyme could/should these be used as well as the Amquel.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah they can go a week or two without food

what you have to remember is you've got readings of ammonia and nitrite because your filter bacteria couldn't cope with all the extra waste in the tank from the extra food, you've removed the food and the fish will soon have the extra out of they're systems so no extra will be produced, the filter is still able to cope with the bio load it had before so in a day or two things will be back to normal. i wouldn't add any extra chemicals to your tank just 20% water changes with plain odl dechlorinated water.

and for future reference for getting someone in to feed your fish, portion out the food before hand and wrap it in foil, then they only have to put 1 little parcel of food in each day and can't make a mistake with quantities

 

[garsyboy]

yeah they can go a week or two without food

what you have to remember is you've got readings of ammonia and nitrite because your filter bacteria couldn't cope with all the extra waste in the tank from the extra food, you've removed the food and the fish will soon have the extra out of they're systems so no extra will be produced, the filter is still able to cope with the bio load it had before so in a day or two things will be back to normal. i wouldn't add any extra chemicals to your tank just 20% water changes with plain odl dechlorinated water.

and for future reference for getting someone in to feed your fish, portion out the food before hand and wrap it in foil, then they only have to put 1 little parcel of food in each day and can't make a mistake with quantities

Good idea about pre-portioning out the food I will remember that one!

Thanks for your advice.

 

[ragdoll]

and for future reference for getting someone in to feed your fish, portion out the food before hand and wrap it in foil, then they only have to put 1 little parcel of food in each day and can't make a mistake with quantities

Good advice ... I've once used one of those holiday feeder sticks when I was away for 7 days - not sure if they gobbled it all in one go or if lasted the whole week, but they were all still alive when I got back