Going away on trip, how to prepare tank?

mishi8

mishi8

Go fly a kite!
Jan 13, 2005
768
0
16
Alberta
Hi there,

We're going to be heading away on a trip for most of next week, and have to have someone else (my mom) take care of our tank. I'm a little concerned about how our one remaining fish (balloon molly) will fare since our tank is still in the process of cycling, and we just lost the second of our three fish a couple of days ago.

I don't expect mom to be able to test and change the water as needed, the best I can expect is for her to feed the fish, and maybe remember to turn the light on and off.

Is there anything I can do to make it easier on the fish/tank so I don't come home to another dead fish?
 
sorry i dont have any advice but im wondering the same thing. Im gone for weekends quite frequently and a week here or there. would someone help me to?
 
How long has the tank been cycling? if its nearing the end it should be alright... otherwise, get a friend or a sibling to change the water three times during the week. Pay them a dollar if you have to ;) its better to prolong your cycle than to lose a fish IMO.
 
most full grown fish can survive a few weeks without food anyway. not too big an issue if you're gone for most of a week. just feed them nicely before you go.
aside from that, do a big water change and gravel vac (if you can) before leaving and find someone to do them while you're gone.
 
As theDougie noted, your fish will be fine without food for a few days. For less than a week and I wouldn't worry about it. I've left my fellers alone for up to a week at a time and have never suffered a casualty because of it. Fish are cold-blooded and don't have our metabolisms. In the wild they're usually opportunistic feeders that often go without for periods of time.

Food is ultimately the source of the ammonia and the ammonia is your biggest problem. Have your Mom do maybe a single light feed during the week if it makes you more at ease. Limit the food and you limit the ammonia. I'd skip the large compensatory meal. Just a light feed and a goodly sized water change before you go.

Your Mom could also add a bit of Prime or Amquel to detoxify whatever ammonia is around.

Ammonia is also less toxic at lower temperatures. I'd turn the heater down to 70.

A bit of salt can also be helpful for Nitrite Poisoning. Do a forum search for salt, Nitrite poisoning, and JSchmidt (I think) as a poster in it. There was a good thread on this recently and he had a good link on this topic.

Good luck.
 
I have two suggestions to add to carpguy's excellent advice:

1. Pre-measure out the amount of food for your Mom to feed, but still only have her feed them once, halfway through the trip.

2. Get a timer for your lights.
 
ambrosiamonkey said:
I have two suggestions to add to carpguy's excellent advice:

1. Pre-measure out the amount of food for your Mom to feed, but still only have her feed them once, halfway through the trip.

2. Get a timer for your lights.
Click to expand...
Ditto. And hide the food
:rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the suggestions!

We're into the 4th week of cycling at this point. I'm getting 0 consistently for ammonia, but my nitrites are typically around 0.25 to 0.5 at this point (has been as high as 2). I had been getting nitrates up to 5+ for a short while, but it dropped to zero when I started treating for fungus (Melafix & Pimafix.) I've since added some aquarium salt to help with stress from the nitrites, and haved raised the temp a bit to 80F (still trying to fight the mouth fungus/saddleback disease).

I think I will either have mom only feed once during the week, or give her very clear instructions...I have some large flake food so I can have her just give one fingernail sized flake, broken up, per day. The timer idea is a good way to ensure the lights don't get left on! :)

Still can't ask her to change the water though...I can see it turning out really badly...especially for my hardwood floor. I think she needs to keep her focus on taking care of the kids instead. :)
 
Great tips, everyone!!! I was glad to find this thread, as I'm already worrying how my tanks will manage when we go on vacation in July! I've taken notes in my trusty "FISH" notebook. :)
 
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