Vacation For 7 Days

I'm going on vacation for 7 days. I have 3 common goldfish and 6 zebra danios. (3 different tanks) How should I go about on vacation? I've read about the 7 days feeders but they can lead to an ammonia spike. An automatic fish feeder might work but since I've never tried one I'm afraid it might malfunction while I'm gone. I will be doing a water change the day before I leave.

 

I can't give you any advice. I'd try the automatic feeders if I were you, but I'd start using them a week before I left to see if they were operating as you wanted. I'm off for two weeks and I'm a nervous wreck. I'm taking a spiderling tarantula and 5 mystery snails with me because they need "unusual" care. I just have to pray that I don't have to kill one of the children when I get back home.

 

If you will only be gone for 7 days, I wouldn't worry too much. Be sure to feed a decent meal the day you leave, and do a water change the day before and as soon as you get back. They will be hungry when you get back, but 7 days isn't to long without feedings.

 

I agree. Do a WC and feed them normally like usual. When you come back, all you have to do is a WC and just feed them. Fish could go on for a while without food so don't worry

 

Okay I bought an automatic feeder but the minimum setting is 20 pellets. The fish are small and they get about 13. KimberlyG
I think 7 days might be a little too long to go with out feeding maybe only 4 max IMO

 

I can't give you any advice. I'd try the automatic feeders if I were you, but I'd start using them a week before I left to see if they were operating as you wanted. I'm off for two weeks and I'm a nervous wreck. I'm taking a spiderling tarantula and 5 mystery snails with me because they need "unusual" care. I just have to pray that I don't have to kill one of the children when I get back home.

I tried looking for a different automatic feeder (the one I bought emptied 20 pellets twice a day. WAY to MUCH) but the only one I could find that had a lower pellet amount was $18. For 3 tanks that would about $60 which I can not afford and my parents wouldn't buy that. Any other suggestions?

 

They really will be fine without feeding.

 

The longest they have gone without feeding is 2 days. Should I get some duckweed so they can graze on that? MattS99

 

Also I forgot to mention 5 of the zebra danios are young. Definitely less than half a year.

 

I have read that fish can go for 2 weeks without feeding. That would stress me a lot though.

 

The longest they have gone without feeding is 2 days. Should I get some duckweed so they can graze on that? MattS99

If it makes you feel better, I guess... They'll seriously be fine, you're overreacting a bit

 

I go on a 3 and 1/2 week vacation every year and I get someone to come in one time in the second week (as I don't trust people to not over feed on a daily basis). On two occasions the person has forgotten and the fish have been fine some of my plants get a bit beat up but really the fish are fine.

Your fish have a better chance of surviving not having food for two weeks than surviving the tank getting filthy because the feeder over feed or someone over feed them for you.

 

Okay the duckweed came in tonight. What should I do to it before I add it to the tanks, do I just rinse it off?

 

I'm going to a vacation on 24Aug-1 Sep. I was wondering that my fishes will be okay or not. I know that tetras or platies can survive this long I did that before. But now I have a betta, a betta sorority and a pleco. Can they live this long or should I find someone to feed them??

 

They'll be fine. Just do a pwc before you go & when you arrive back

 

Okay I will do that

 

Theyll be fine ive been gone for a m0nth without any troublesm

 

I heard 2 weeks is the top but one month???

 

My goldie was real sick and went 3 weeks without eating. Fish are quite the marvel. Even I'm surprised he lasted that long.

 

They'll be fine. Just do a pwc before you go & when you arrive back

I would actually do the water change 2-3 days prior to your departure. Reason being is that if for that one small chance something goes wrong you have a couple days to fix it before you leave. If you do the water change the night before and leave and something happens while your out...well nothing you can do.

I would feed before the water change. After that I would lightly feed them. Maybe less than half of what you normally put in. And feed a little less the day you leave.

 

I just did a nine day vacation without feeding for the first time a month ago.

7 tanks, 150+ fish. 2 dead corys. Everything else was fine.

The sterbia corys were in a guppy fry rearing tank. I was already concerned not enough food was getting to the bottom. Guess I was right.

 

Thanks for all of your advice.
So I shouldn’t have worrying about food

 

Here are different schools of thought on how to prepare.

Some say fast 3 days prior to the absence to reduce bioload.

Personally I fed heavily the 3 days prior including live/frozen foods like blood worms and brine shrimp.


But I did back to back 50% water changes the 2 days prior to leaving.

Nitrates were 40ppm to 80 ppm when I returned depending on the tank. They got 50% water changes on back to back days again when I returned.

 

A very experienced keeper (20+ tanks) from another forum left for 8 days. No problems. I am going to give his method a try similar to Hunter1 in a few months. Good Luck!

 

I heard 2 weeks is the top but one month???

My tank is heavily planted so the plants filter the water more then my sump and I also have wild neos as a source of live food.

 

My thought on feeding heavily is to build up fat stores for the fast.

I have no science behind this.

As I said, I had 7 tanks, 150+ fish. The losses were 2 sterbia corys in a guppy rearing tank that I struggled to get food to the bottom for them. The other 4 corys in that tank made it.

I think those fish were underfed before I left.

 

If your tank needs constant water changes for nitrates or even if it doesn’t, think about sticking in some ion exchange resin like nitrazorb or purigen just while you are gone. Then you won’t have to worry about water quality so much. That has been my strategy this summer and everyone survived my 9 day vacation and I came back to perfect water parameters. I believe food is rarely the reason fish die during our absence. I also feed more than usual the week before I leave. Don’t use vacation feeders- had one go mouldy and spoil a tank once while away.

 

How about adding some daphnia Incase you are worried

 

How about adding some daphnia Incase you are worried

But be careful -Bettas will eat until they die. When I started with bettas I had one eat herself to death after I let her eat as much live food as she wanted.

 

I have a newly cycled tank (2 weeks). It is a 5 gallon, heated(78F), filtered tank, 2 live plants (java ferns) housing 1 Betta fish (Skittles) only. He is currently fed once a day and I do a weekly water change. The parameters have been all good since the tank cycled. I still test 1-2 times a week since it's so new.
Now, I am going on vacation for 9 days in July, starting July 21st. I can maybe find a neighbor who can feed him but no one I can trust who can do water change while I am gone.
So, questions:

1. How often should I have them feed? (daily or alternate days) - I will leave per-measured pellets in a pill box and have them feed 1 at a time so there is no extra food that stays in the tank (I currently feed the same way as well)
2. Is it ok to go 10 days without a water change?
3. how many days prior to leaving should I do a water change and how big (my typical weekly wc is ~40%)? should I do it a day in advance so I make sure the parameters are fine after 24 hrs?

I am planning to keep the tank lights off all the time while I am gone, the room gets a lot of natural light (no direct sunlight on the tank) so it should still be good for the fish and the plants. I will leave some conditioned water in a bucket for the neighbor to top off if needed (my tank does have high evaporation)

Any other best practices/ things to keep in mind? I am very new to the hobby so very nervous about leaving him for so long.

Thank you!

 

I once did not do a water change to my 10 gallon for 6 weeks. Also, bettas can go without food for up to 2 weeks. My first betta, he did not eat for over a week due to stress probably.

 

mattgirl StarGirl - Can I request for your advice here? Thank you.

 

You could have someone come feed him a few times and he will be ok. Doesnt have to be every day.

You can go without a water change that long no problem. I would up your changes to 50% until you leave just so its extra good. I would do that much anyway. We go for 11 days usually in the spring and the water is fine when I get home.

 

I have a newly cycled tank (2 weeks). It is a 5 gallon, heated(78F), filtered tank, 2 live plants (java ferns) housing 1 Betta fish (Skittles) only. He is currently fed once a day and I do a weekly water change. The parameters have been all good since the tank cycled. I still test 1-2 times a week since it's so new.
Now, I am going on vacation for 9 days in July, starting July 21st. I can maybe find a neighbor who can feed him but no one I can trust who can do water change while I am gone.
So, questions:

1. How often should I have them feed? (daily or alternate days) - I will leave per-measured pellets in a pill box and have them feed 1 at a time so there is no extra food that stays in the tank (I currently feed the same way as well)
2. Is it ok to go 10 days without a water change?
3. how many days prior to leaving should I do a water change and how big (my typical weekly wc is ~40%)? should I do it a day in advance so I make sure the parameters are fine after 24 hrs?

I am planning to keep the tank lights off all the time while I am gone, the room gets a lot of natural light (no direct sunlight on the tank) so it should still be good for the fish and the plants. I will leave some conditioned water in a bucket for the neighbor to top off if needed (my tank does have high evaporation)

Any other best practices/ things to keep in mind? I am very new to the hobby so very nervous about leaving him for so long.

Thank you!

Hi! Make sure to do a 50% water change the day before you leave. My opinion on the feeding is if the amount of food is already all sorted out in those pillboxes as you said, if it's not a hassle for your neighbor, you could have them feed your betta every day. My only concern is the ammonia rising while you are gone. But since the tank is inhabited by one animal, that shouldn't be an issue; I don't think Skittles has the ability to poop that much in 9 days. Especially if you do a 50% water change one day prior to leaving.

But remember as FishPlanet said, bettas could go two weeks without food so don't worry about what's going to happen if you don't find someone to feed skittles.

About going 10 days without a water change, I'm not sure about that one.

Good Luck!

 

I would suggest doing a very large WC the day before you leave 70-80%. Assuming your parameters are perfect and the sitter does not over feed (I would suggest telling them to only feed once every 2-3 days) then there is no reason to worry. Just be sure to do a large WC when you get back and vacuum the substrate well incase the sitter overfed. He should be fine. For lighting I recommend using a timer and setting it accordingly.

 

You could have someone come feed him a few times and he will be ok. Doesnt have to be every day.

You can go without a water change that long no problem. I would up your changes to 50% until you leave just so its extra good. I would do that much anyway. We go for 11 days usually in the spring and the water is fine when I get home.

thank you!

 

Now that the tank is cycled, going 10 days without a water change shouldn't be a problem. You still have about 3 weeks to keep an eye on it. If you see no spikes during all that time then I suspect there will be none while you are gone so enjoy your vacation.

It sounds like you have a good plan for keeping him fed and water set out for tops off taken care of. Feeding every other day should be sufficient but even feeding daily shouldn't be a problem as long as he is just given what you have set out for him. Since the tank will get a lot of natural light I wouldn't be concerned about leaving the light turned off.

 

hello folks!
I have a new issue that I need your help with..

So I came back from vacation to a healthy tank and fish... I checked the parameters and everything was within range. No ammonia spike, no nitrites and 5-10 nitrates (as always).
I did a big water change (80% maybe) and gravel vaccum since it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

Skittles had some fin rot/tattered fins (which started before I left) so I put an IAL in there to help with that and some Seachem stress guard. The IAL was in there for a day and just out of curiosity I tested water since I had heard that IAL can reduce pH.

I am glad I tested, as the pH was down to minimum reading and ammonia was high (.25-.5), nitrites and nitrates both zero.

I did partial water change to get rid of ammonia and added some Seachem stability to aid the bb just in case. Ammonia was back to normal after that.

but today (day 2 after pwc), ammonia is back up to .25-.5 and still zero nitrires and nitrates.

has my cycle crashed because of the big water change/IAL/low ph???

what should be my next steps from here?

the fish is still fine - behaving normal and eating good. I will continue with pwc twice a week to keep ammonia in check.

please advice.

thank you!

 

I don’t know that I would use the word “crashed”. BB stop converting ammonia at low pH, and also at low KH. They’ll usually be more than happy to wake back up and go to work when the pH and KH get back to a workable range

 

I don’t know that I would use the word “crashed”. BB stop converting ammonia at low pH, and also at low KH. They’ll usually be more than happy to wake back up and go to work when the pH and KH get back to a workable range

thanks.. pwc bring the ph back up some and I have added some crushed coral as well to help. fingers crossed.