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Lesson learned-The Danger of Overfeeding
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I just feel I have to vent. I can't beleive what I came home to after a 5-day vacation away from the tanks. We had a friend take care of our dog and stay at the house. Stupidly, last minute before leaving, I asked if he could give the fish some food once a day. I have 10 tanks and specified how much to feed.
When I came home, my 5g that HAD 24 orange laser cory fry was completely cloudy to the point I could hardly see in it. The water smelled badly of ammonia. All of the cory fry were dead and fungused fish bodies were visible amongst the carpet of uneaten fungused pellet food covering the bottom and stuck in the plants. At least, somehow, my neocaridina shrimp were still alive. The tank is now cycling all over again after a major cleanup.
My bare-bottom 40g was a bit cloudy, but the young angelfish in there seemed to be ok. I'm doing a water change on that tank asap and added Prime for now.
In my 90g with sub-adult angelfish had a bad protein film and rotting food pellets everywhere. The angelfish looked like they were gasping or breathing heavily and we're not excited to see me or in a hurry for food like they usually are. So I skim siphoned the protein film, removed the uneaten rotten food I could find for now and topped off the aquarium with fresh water. I'll do a huge wc asap too, but the fish seemed much better after removing that oily film. I also raised the spraybar to create surface agitation and added Prime to temporarily neutralize the ammonia if there is any still. I definitely know there were available nitrates (where normally it reads 0ppm) since there was a boom of plant growth, in all my tanks, but especially the 90g.
My 10g with just shrimp was cloudy too, but no deaths that I could see and I did a water change and removed the rotting food on the bottom.
The rest of the tanks suffered some big algae blooms, but the fish were ok. The only tank that looked ok was my 120g, though I know I have a ton of work to do the next few days and it will take weeks to get it all back to normal.
It just sucks dealing with that many unhealthy tanks and I just have to hope none of my other fish become sick. I didn't feed for one day and a half, and when I do, i will feed them something different. Some angelfish look abnormally bloated in the abdominal area, so it might be green peas for a few days for everyone.
If anyone has any advice on what to do now, I'd love to hear it, and from now on, it's better to just not feed the fish while on vacation!
PS- The guy who was house-sitting meant good. He would have thought he was doing a good thing, so I can't blame anytime but myself :(
GiVe Me sHrEd TiLL i'M dEaD
-Kat
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Oh I am so sorry for your losses and headache. The major water changes that you are doing with some intensive vacuuming and removal of as much algae as possible is all I can recommend. I agree with green peas but maybe fast them for a day or two first? Also agree with the 5 day fast next time. Healthy fish can do that-and you can give them some extra love before you go along with a big WC and they should be good for 5 days.
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sorry for the loses, I couldn't imagine losing those cory fry.
last time i asked someone to watch my fish the water was down 4 inches and I had new substrate, my sister likes to call it "cool fuzzy stuff"... i like to call it fungus, but everyone has their own opinion XD.
"I've always thought that if
I learn from mistakes that I'd make
Even the losses into victories"
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Oh my, I am so very sorry to hear about all that. Those poor fish and fry.
You have a bigger and more forgiving heart than I do. I would be demanding explanations and possibly recompense.
How the person could not notice the appalling conditions they were creating in the tanks each day is a complete mystery to me. This just sounds like sheer negligence to me
Fingers crossed that your survivors pull through without any more issues.
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Thanks for the sympathy Boundava. I have fasted them all for a day and a half, I think I'll wait another day before feeding green peas and maybe brine shrimp? I read brine shrimp were good for constipation I thought....
Yep, lesson learned. I thought anyone would understand about overfeeding, but apparently not. I'm just happy I don't have anymore deaths. I didn't realize how sensitive some of my tanks were, but I guess the bare-bottom tanks are for sure. It's just crazy how much you learn and accept as normal when you've been keeping tanks for so long.
GiVe Me sHrEd TiLL i'M dEaD
-Kat
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Thanks aquariumlover10. Lol, cool fuzzy stuff...yep, that's just what it looked like- fungus gravel
GiVe Me sHrEd TiLL i'M dEaD
-Kat
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Oh Man, I am so sorry to hear this!! What a heartache and PITA that must be to see all your tanks and fish like that. I agree with the WCs and vacuuming will help plus fasting a day or two. Really sorry about the fry because it was so exciting to see how they would grow out. I do hope all of your fish, especially the angels will be OK with some of your TLC. Please keep us posted.
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Thanks Bluewater, I am a bit flabbergasted myself how this happened, I broke down and cried in front of my nieces. It was horrible to see and come home to, it completely tore my heart apart, I was so proud of those cories and excited, a friend gave me the eggs. I'm confused how a person could not see what was happening, and even my 8-year old niece said: "How could he do this?". But she is learning about fish tanks (I just helped them set one up of their own recently and it's doing so well, with livebearer babies, baby snails and exiting things! ) so I guess even the 8-year old would know more. I have to remember how much I have learned and do understand how a person not into aquariums might honestly just not know. This person is a very good person and loves animals and would do anything for a friend, so I know for sure he didn't mean this. I'm not even going to tell him. Just had to vent to ppl ago care and understand about this and appreciate the comments and encouragement :)
GiVe Me sHrEd TiLL i'M dEaD
-Kat
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Sorry to hear you came home to such conditions.
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