Fish-in Cycling Help!

[Manic Fury]

You'll want to keep it at .25 to keep Pontus safe. Go ahead and do 50% water change. and check it again tomorrow.

All you have to remember is anytime your Ammonia or Nitrite gets above .25ppm you need to do a WC. You never want either above .25ppm. Then daily testing and your good.

Okay. I will get right on that first thing tomorrow morning. I've been away all day so I didn't get back in time to do that.

I just checked his water and it's still .50 ppm. I'll make sure it doesn't get to that again.

Also, I'm going away on a small weekend vacation on Saturday morning and be back Sunday afternoon/evening.

He should be fine during that time, right? I won't need to do a water change within those few days unless something crazy happens and my ammonia levels spike way up. I know he will be fine for food as goldfish can go several days without eating.

But, if it is a potential problem, I have a few people that I trust in my room and with my fish to take care of him. I can portion out the amount of food to feed him in the morning when I usually feed him and I can give them a step by step list on testing the ammonia and nitrite levels and they can text or call me to let me know what they are. I can also show him/her how to do a PWC when I do it in the morning.

Is thit way too paranoid of me? Or is that what I should do?

 

[Masha]

Probably better not to have him fed at all while you are away. He will certainly be fine, and that will help keep the water cleaner.

 

[Masha]

If you do have a reliable friend who can do a water change, why not just get them to do a big water change anyhow? Whether levels are high or not? No need to test. That way, it's less bother for them, and keeps everything simple.

 

[rmiller]

I would take a few extra minutes on saturday morning to do a water change, 75% to be safe. Then he should be fine til you return on sunday. Check your ammonia and nitrites before the water change and when you get home. Shouldn't have any problems.

I have severe trust issues when it comes to allowing anyone to do anything to my tanks. I get onto my boyfriend for looking at my fish wrong! When I let him feed the fish, I measure out the right amount of food, put it in his hand and that's all he can put in. I would not trust anyone to feed or do water changes for such a short trip.

 

[Manic Fury]

If you do have a reliable friend who can do a water change, why not just get them to do a big water change anyhow? Whether levels are high or not? No need to test. That way, it's less bother for them, and keeps everything simple.

I think I'll just do it myself. I trust someone to feed a portioned out food, but when it comes to water changes, maybe not, now that I think about it. There's so many things that could go wrong that I don't want to go wrong. I've gone through so much with this little guy and it would be heartbreaking to come home after 1 day to find out that he died because my friend vacuumed him up with the hose or something like that.

I guess I'm just being a worrying parent. But if it were for a longer period of time, I probably would have someone look after him that I have "trained" to do it the right way.

I would take a few extra minutes on saturday morning to do a water change, 75% to be safe. Then he should be fine til you return on sunday. Check your ammonia and nitrites before the water change and when you get home. Shouldn't have any problems.

I have severe trust issues when it comes to allowing anyone to do anything to my tanks. I get onto my boyfriend for looking at my fish wrong! When I let him feed the fish, I measure out the right amount of food, put it in his hand and that's all he can put in. I would not trust anyone to feed or do water changes for such a short trip.

I think I'll do this. Since it's such a short trip, I know he'll be fine for over 24 hours without food. I'll do the 75% water change before I leave and check the water before I change the water.