Went on vacation, and the tank died.

[jeep_n_hog]

45 gallon planted, Dwarf Gourami, 3 Yo-Yo's, 2 golden Loaches, 4 hatchets, 5 bleeding hearts, 2 Otto's. Tank has been up and running for about the last 4 months now without issue.

Had a petsitter taking care of things for us while we were gone for 10 days. Bad news is, the dog and cats survived. Worse news is, the tank was cloudy, fish were sick. Obviously WAY overfed. I checked the water, PH was WAY low @ 6.0, Ammonia was off the charts, nitrites were high. ALL of the snails are dead. Had about a dozen of them.

Did a 50% water change, vacuumed the substrate (gravel/sand mix) rinsed the filters, cleaned out the filter box. Next day, water was cloudy again, Ammo was off the charts again, nitrites were high nitrates were high.

Did another 25% water change. Lost the Gourami. One yo-yo has NO dorsal fin left and white cloudy patches. Another has hole-in the head and white cloudy patches.

next day (2 days ago) , ammonia was off the charts again. Vaccuumed, did a 75% water change.

Today, water checks good, ammonia is .25ppm, nitrites are 0. Nitrates are low 0-25ppm PH is 7.6. Lost a Yo-Yo, but not the one that I'd expected.

Other two Yo-Yo's are swimming at about midtank staying together, but are normally at the bottom hiding. They've been swimming like this for a couple of days now. Both still have cloudy patches. One still hasn't shown any regrowth of dorsal fin and left side fin is gone with cotton patch near the base of the fin spine.

Anything else I can do for these fish?

 

[jcolon]

Oh man .. I don't even know where to begin... It's my worst nightmare ... if it were me, I'd have a conniption.

Sorry to hear your going through this ... not something I want members to experience. Sounds like your doing all you can ... try Mardel / Maracyn for the cotton growth maybe? Clean water from PWC's your best friend ... best way to help your fish grow their fins back.

Hopefully someone else can offer better input.

Good Luck!

 

[Mrc8858]

I'd say your doing as much as you could possibly do in this terrible situation. Sorry to hear about it but a little tip for people using house sitters in the future. Buy a weekly pill container and fill with the amount of food YOU would feed for each day of the week to take the guess work out since this seems to be the number one issue of tank sitters :/

 

[jeep_n_hog]

I'd say your doing as much as you could possibly do in this terrible situation. Sorry to hear about it but a little tip for people using house sitters in the future. Buy a weekly pill container and fill with the amount of food YOU would feed for each day of the week to take the guess work out since this seems to be the number one issue of tank sitters :/

Pill Boxes! Awesome idea. Was trying to figure out how to avoid using a boatload of baggies, so opted to talk to her and leave detailed instructions, including "better to underfeed than overfeed...".

Pill Box is on the grocery list. Thanks!

 

[Oceangirl]

it sounds like you have a dead fish/animal hiding some where like in the decor. I had that happen once, dead white fish on white sand, in a white decoration. If your changing the water like crazy, and you've lost so many. Perhaps its a snail lodged somewhere?

 

[Origamgam]

Oh man sorry about all that.... I agree that you may have a dead Fish or snail I had that happen it wasn't good. Hope your tank gets better!

 

[Guppylove85]

oh man that is so sad, I am super worried bout leaving my fish in someones care during my up coming vacation, but the pill box thing is a great idea.

i hope you can get your tank stable again soon.

 

[malfist]

Do larger water changes, you want that ammonia down below .25 ppm ASAP. Do an 80 or 90% if necessary, just get it down! Keep doing at least 50% water changes daily until the cycle reestablishes itself.

 

[jcolon]

Yep... I used pillboxes when I went to FL on vacation, only leaving it in the days I feed. However, keep in mind that if your going on a one week trip, don't even worry about feeding (unless you have fry) the fish.

 

[Aniistarr]

Wow im sorry for the lost of your fish, that's why we need to show to the person who will feed the fish how much it is need to feed. Just saying a little bit can varied from person to person.

I did that once, i told my dad to feed a little bit and after 2 days came back home and the fish tank was cloudy, water was so dirty my 3 Bloodfin Tetra were swimming at the top like they need it air, so i did 60% water change once and they all survive, i waited a couple of days to change the water again until it clear out, I don't know, but i don't like changing the water so often or more than 75% because they also need the water that already have some bacterial that are good for them, changing all the water will have nothing that will benefit for them. I don't know is just IMO

 

[FishieMomma]

I have a large tank at the school where I teach. During the summer I go in for PWCs twice a week and leave food for someone on summer staff to give them the other week days I'm not in. I put the correct amount in paper cups with post-its with the day on them. So far so good.

I like pill-box idea a lot, though.

 

[Alyxx]

Wow im sorry for the lost of your fish, that's why we need to show to the person who will feed the fish how much it is need to feed. Just saying a little bit can varied from person to person.

I did that once, i told my dad to feed a little bit and after 2 days came back home and the fish tank was cloudy, water was so dirty my 3 Bloodfin Tetra were swimming at the top like they need it air, so i did 60% water change once and they all survive, i waited a couple of days to change the water again until it clear out, I don't know, but i don't like changing the water so often or more than 75% because they also need the water that already have some bacterial that are good for them, changing all the water will have nothing that will benefit for them. I don't know is just IMO

Big, frequent water changes aren't a problem, the good bacteria is in the filter media and gravel, not the water!