treehugr

Hello all. My question is this: let's say you're going on a vacation for more than a week (but no longer than a month)...sure you can get an automatic feeder, but how would you handle tank maintenance?

I don't feel comfortable hiring a stranger to come in to our home while we're away. Would not doing weekly water changes for 3 weeks be really bad?

Any suggestions?

sirdarksol

Your fish probably would survive a few weeks without water changes (can't guarantee anything, though). When you got back, you'd want to do a series of small water changes, a couple of times a day, until the water quality got back under control.

SereneReyn

get one of the timer feeders tho, not one of those 'chalk blocks'... ick. and i'd do a pretty big water change just before i left... but not clean the filter, etc.

Dino

With what we have (120+ tanks), we have to have someone taking care of the tanks if we are gone more than a day or so.

Good advice above.

COBettaCouple

That's long enough that I'd actually think about setting the tank up at a friend's house who would help you out with basic care of the tank while you're gone.

susitna-flower

If there was a service in your area that would sit your fish it would be best. It should be some one that really knows fish though, not just a friend. Friends are great, but if anything happened, it would stress the friendship.....

Expect the worst, be happy if the best happens...

Chief_waterchanger

I agree with the best option be to have someone watch them, but if that is not possible:

-50% waterchange the day before you leave.
-Either an auto feeder (and hope it doesn't break and dump the whole load in at once) or the timed things. (We don't use either for our 120+ tanks, so I can not recommend one over the other.)
-The day you get back do a 50% waterchange
-Enjoy your fish.

Unless your fish are full size then you are understocked, I believe, so that is going to work in your favor.

Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.

sirdarksol

If you can find one of the gel blocks (not the chalk ones. There is one user whose fish is believed to have died because the bits in the chalk ones were too big for it) that lasts several weeks, that would be advantageous. Otherwise, if you've got a friend you can trust who can stop by, have them drop a gel block in once a week, with instructions that they are not to do anything else.

CWC, I have a question on doing an immediate 50% water change upon immediate return. I know that a severe switch in water quality, even from extremely polluted to less polluted, can shock fish. Isn't this going to be a stress to the fish? (this is why I suggested numerous small water changes to adjust the fish back to normal water, but my suggestion is not based on actual experience, where I'm guessing yours is)

Dino

We do 50% changes on the tanks each week.
This has been our practice for the almost 2 years the fishhouse has been set up.
We use well water that I have been keeping fish in for 28 years.
The stock we keep is geared toward our hard water.

SereneReyn

i don't think he was referring to a 50% change being bad normally... i think he meant that when the water quality got so poor after the vacation, to suddenly dump a ton of clean water in might be a bad idea as far as a drastic change? if you habitually do that much in a change, no biggie, but after a long stint without any at all, maybe... smaller (25ish%) more frequent changes might be better?

not offering my own opinion, just trying to clarify what i think sir meant.

treehugr

I was reading that, even though most LFS will tell you to only do a 10-15% water change every week, that the 50% water change every week is better as part of a regular routine. Basically because, after the same amount of time, your water has been recycled to a majority of new/fresh water.

So, when on vacation - a gel block once a week and, upon return, a 25% water change? Would we need to do smaller water changes, say every other day, upon our return? Or just the 25% the day we got back and then back to the 50% water changes at our normal weekly schedule?

HatchetHaven

treehugr

"Never trust the LFS for advice. Their aim is to get you to kill your fish, spend money on products that claim to stop your fish dieing, say that it's OK to add fish so you buy more fish, but you come and tell them the next day they died, they tell you to add this and that... They really don't care what happens to your fish. As long as they get money!"

Yes, unfortunately we are learning that the hard way

HatchetHaven

treehugr

Thanks. I just hope it's not too late for my Gourami. I know all we can do is just "wait and see" but I feel helpless just watching.

sirdarksol

Not every LFS is in the business to kill your fish. Many of them are actually interested in seeing you succeed. Petsmarts, and Petcos, on the other hand, are short-sighted in this aspect.

I still would like a confirmation on doing a 50% all at once after being gone for nearly a month. There's a huge difference between doing them every week (a commendable habit) and letting nitrates build up in the tank and then replacing it with clean water in one big chunk.

HatchetHaven

sirdarksol

Ah!
When referring to one of the horrible places, it is a "petstore". A shop that specializes in fish is a LFS ("local LFS" is a redundant redundancy, as you would be saying "local local fish store") This is not to say that all LFSs are good. There are at least two near me that are crap, but many more are good.