Strange Levels

[jkhalliday76]

Hello...I have a 20 gal. FOWLR tank. Been up about 5 months. I went on a 2 day vacation for the holiday and bought a weekend feeder for those two days (the kind that looks like a flower and you break a chunk off). Everyone in the tank seems to be doing fine, but I decided to test my water levels and noticed that my PH is at 7.8 (is usually at 8.2), my Nitrite is at .25, (has always been at 0), trates are at 20 (are usually around 10 and I even think my ammonia is at .25 (though it's a close call between 0 and .25 colorwise). What could be wrong? I did a 20% water change last weekend. My salinity is 1.026 temp is 80.

Any ideas??

 

[jkhalliday76]

I just did a 10% water change, so I'll test again when the water settles a bit. Could it have been the food tablet?

 

[PiscesGirl]

maybe the uneaten food is the cause??

 

[Witfull]

Could it have been the food tablet?

most definately~

2 days is nothing for fish to go without a feeding...next time, plump them up with more frequent feedings a few days before you go,,and feed when you get back~

 

[jkhalliday76]

Thanks for the advice Witful. Out of curiosity, how long is the longest they should ever go without eating for future reference? Unfortunately I don't have any friends that understand or are willing to understand the care of a saltwater tank.

 

[Witfull]

depends on the fish,,,anthias,,short time,,triggers/wrasses a long time~

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Fish can go 4-5 days before they even start to starve... They wont like not having dailey feedings or getting off schedule but they wont die... Feed them well before you leave and feed them when you get back and they should be fine..

 

[Woodstock]

Overfeeding will definately foul a tank quickly. I would not hesitate to allow my fish to go without food for 3-4 days for very rare occassions.

 

[Cougra]

I've left both my saltwater and freshwater tanks for two weeks (15 days was the longest to date) without feedings on multiple occassions and have never lost a fish due to starvation. Actually none of the fish lost any condition or looked emmaciated by any means. An idea of some of the fish I've left alone for these periods of time are: yellow tangs, clownfish,damselfish, blennies, engineer gobies, dottybacks and grammas.

However like Dave said, some of the more delicate fish such as Anthias and Seahorses would probably need to be fed during this time. Fish don't need a lot of food to stay healthy, actually most people overfeed their fish. An established tank should have enough food already in it for most fish to pick at during those days you aren't around to feed them.

The first couple times you leave your tank alone for long periods of time is difficult because you are always worrying about what might have gone wrong, but after a while your confidence in the tank grows and after a while you don't even worry about it while you are away.

 

[BoomerD]

Thse "weekend feeder tablets" are crap. MAYBE ok to use in a freshwater tank, (I wouldn't) but in a marine tank, they only pollute the water, and add nothing useful for nutrition to the fishes.
You can easily leave your fish unfed for a long weekend with no problems. (with the same species provisions mentioned above)
I've left for a week before, and only had a neighbor take care of topping the tank off, NEVER let anyone else feed my tanks.
If I'm going to be gone more than that, I'll use one of the automatic feeders to feed flake food to the tank. I've used the Eheim ones for many years with great results.

 

[jkhalliday76]

Thanks for the wonderful advice. I was really hesitant about the weekend feeder tablet, but as mentioned by Cougra I think, I'm not very confident about leaving my tank yet. It was the first time ever. Plus it's a fairly new tank so I know it's not established enough to feed everyone!

Thanks!

 

[Cougra]

Jkhalliday:

You can help build your confidence in the tank and the fish by planning short periods of time where you don't do anything with the tank. Don't feed the fish, do any top offs, stick your hands in the tank for a couple days to watch to see what happens during that time. It'll give youa good idea what will happen while you are gone without the actual risk of leaving it along.

 

[jkhalliday76]

Thanks Michelle, good advice.