Fish-sitter failed...

[TheCrazyFishLady]

My friend stayed was away for the weekend and had his sister feed his fish. He comes back and there are tons of fish flake all over the bottom. The molly died and the plants are looking grim. The neon tetras are gasping for air.

Any suggestions?

 

[neilanh]

huge water change, likely the ammonia is spiking through the roof.

Change as much water as possible and vacuum out all the excess food.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Okay, good. That's what I suggested, but I didn't know if there was anything else to do. Never trust children to feed fish for three days... she put almost a handful of food in there!

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Fish will be fine without feeding for three days. As you've experienced, better that than massive over feeding. If I do have to get someone to feed the fish it was blocks of frozen blood worms, so it's a measured amount.

All you can do is vac and do large water changes (at least 50%, probably more like 75%) every day until the last of the food has rotted away. Also give the filter a clean in tank water as I expect a lot of gunk will have been trapped in there.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

My 2 year old fed the fish once....about 1/4 cup of large pellets. Came home to lothargic fat fish and murky water. Luckily, I had time to clean it up.

I feel your pain. BIG PWC.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Yea, he changed out 50% of water and cleaned out some of the food. It's not the easiest thing... and he just added the fish a few days ago! He has neon tetras, so a few have randomly died. I just feel bad for someone who has just started in this hobby to deal with all of this so soon. It was two months in when I had my first horror story.

 

[JohnPaul]

Assuming standard tropical fish, you can easily go a week without feeding them and they will be fine. I never consider arranging a "fish sitter" unless I am going to be gone for over a week. And I've never lost a fish while being gone.

If you had newborn fry in the tank or something like that it would be different. But for otherwise healthy, well-fed fish, a week without food won't hurt them one bit.

 

[Marconis]

I always used an auto feeder when I was away. Never failed me. Sorry to hear about your friends tank.

 

[dkpate]

When I go somewhere, I measure out the food in plastic baggies, and that way the person who is feeding them knows exactly how much. I also write specific directions.
Tell him good luck!

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

That is a good idea, measuring out the food in a bag. I have my roommate feed my fish when I go home every other weekend. She does an awesome job, best fish surrogate mom ever. haha

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Oh, and an update: the fish are much more calm now. The water is looking less murky and he got most of the food out.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Good to hear, I guess he just needs to keep gravel vac'ing, but there's bound to be plenty of bits still left in there so I guess frequent water changes are the key (aren't they always!)

 

[glassbird]

This is why, when I have someone else feed my fish, I measure out a specific amount per feeding (about half of what I give when I am home) and put each feeding in a small baggie. Then I hide the rest of the food, far far away from my tank!

 

[Mark Hewitt]

It's definitely one of the hardest things to get your head around when you start keeping fish, just how little food to give them! It's hardly surprising those who are young or don't know are going to give them too much.

We have a small (about 2" tall) tub of tropical flake food we've been using since last December and there's still a third of it left!