Need major help!

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fishiefish51

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
174
I just came home today from an 8 day vacation. The first thing I did was check my tank right away. This is what I came home too...

all my fish were alive except my java fern was complety dead
cloudy water (it was crystal clear before I left)
fish poop every where
nitrate very high
nitrite through the roof high
filter pad was discustingly dirty

and also before i left I put one of those 10 day feeder blocks in the tank. I did about a 30% waterchange when I got home which was earlier today. Please help!
 
Oh my!!! You've certainly got a predicament on your hands!

Do some major PWC and filter cleaning. It's posible the feeder blocks were not eaten completely by the fish so that could've polluted the tank and raised your levels. Cloudy water comes from filters not doing the job...
 
I never use those feeder blocks for that reason. I had the same thing happen to me a while ago. They're like death traps! Grab that gravel vac and start sucking the junk out, along with a big water change to get those nitrites down. I'd do a 50-70% and see what happens. This should reduce the cloudiness from the block.


The blocks are not good because the food is never completely eaten and it just sits in the tank for a while polluting the water.

At least the fish are alive!
 
I did a water change today already. Should I do another one now? Should I change the filter pad? Do I clean the filter?
 
George9 said:
I never use those feeder blocks for that reason. I had the same thing happen to me a while ago. They're like death traps! Grab that gravel vac and start sucking the junk out, along with a big water change to get those nitrites down. I'd do a 50-70% and see what happens. This should reduce the cloudiness from the block.

At least the fish are alive.

Yes I totally agree. I will never use it again!! Do I do a water change again now?
 
fishiefish51 said:
I did a water change today already. Should I do another one now? Should I change the filter pad? Do I clean the filter?

Is the water still cloudy? The water parameters probably still aren't great. I would do another one if the parameters are bad because high nitrites is not good. Clean the filter also

EDIT: I guess it's kinda late for a pwc, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
George9 said:
Is the water still cloudy? The water parameters probably still aren't great. I would do another one if the parameters are bad because high nitrites is not good. Clean the filter also

Yes its still cloudy and the params are horrible. Ill get on it now!
 
fishiefish51 said:
Yes its still cloudy and the params are horrible. Ill get on it now!

Getting your params down is the most important thing to do now. Nitrite is very toxic, and nitrate can be at higher levels. If you do a big enough pwc your water cloudiness will get better.

Are your fish healthy and swimming around?
 
One thing to consider doing while you are having nitrite issues is to keep a low level of salt in the water. It doesn't have to be much, but either way it will help keep the fish from being affected by the high nitrites.
 
I just have no luck. I just finished doing a pwc and now I found almost like spiderwebs in the water with white dots in the white milky film. What is that now? and theres a ton of it! My life sucks :/
 
fishiefish51 said:
I just have no luck. I just finished doing a pwc and now I found almost like spiderwebs in the water with white dots in the white milky film. What is that now? and theres a ton of it! My life sucks :/

I believe it could be some kind of algae but not entirely sure, someone else has to confirm that for me. Were your daylights on a timer? Or were they on the whole time (day and night)?


I hope your vacation was nice because you came home to a big mess!
 
No I kept them off the whole vacation but I did open the window shades a little bit so light was hitting the tank. By the way the water cleared up but I havent tested it yet. I will do that later. But I still see poop. I dont know if there going like crazy cause there scared or maybe that block did something to them. I dont know.
 
My life sucks :/


Nah, your life doesn't suck, this was just a fishkeeping speed bump. ;)

For future reference, check with a local vet's office to see if they can recommend a "pet nanny" for you. I found ours on care.com. She takes care of our fish and dogs when we go away, even just for an overnight. She doesn't overfeed our fish even when they pretend we haven't fed them in a year and the tanks are always healthy when we come home. Well worth the cost.
 
Wow I didnt know there was such thing for fish. Thanks! Sound good. Ill try to find one!
 
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