# ABSOLUTE disaster!!!!



## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

So I left town for 4 days, and before I left, I gave my tanks one last feeding and changed the water....anticipating they will be fine for 4 days without feeding (there is always the cherry shrimps to feast on.)

But little to my knowledge, my dad decided to feed the fish.......mind you that he knows nothing about fish keeping, what foods to feed and how much to feed. 

So when I got back about 3 hours ago.......the tank was an utter disaster. 

The quarantine tank where the L262/L136 and A. panduros are kept...the water is litterally dark red in colour and cloudiness. A panduros dead, but luckily L262 is still alive, although suffering from ammonia poisoning, and a little bloated.

The main tank: There is litterally a 3 mm layer of un-eaten food at the bottom, mind you its footprint is 30 by 12. There are dead shrimp heat EVERYWHERE!! and to my breaking heart, my beloved male L260 died, its stomach was extremely bloated and floating on the surface.          

My female is also a little bloated, and clingy to the top of the water level and suffering from ammonia poinsoning also. The L129 in there seemed to be ok, as are the baby L144s and baby calicos. 

So I immediately removed all of the fish from the tank, now they are in a 5g bucket with a heater an internal filter, with about 20% being old water, and 80% being OD primed tap water.

So I am planning to fully clean the tank tonigh....         

What I can't believe is that the only fish that passed was my perfectly healthy L260 male.

But good thing I came home tonight....other wise the lost will be even more detrimental.

So people, if there is anything you can learn from my lesson. Please leave exact instructions (even if the instructions are: DO NOT TOUCH) for your family/fish sitters. Or you will never know, you could lose your favourite fish....like me.


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## overleaf (Feb 1, 2009)

I'd be on the market for a new dad...

Kidding aside, sorry for your losses. I hope your remaining fish recover :/


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

sorry for your loss!!!!  Hope the rest recover!!! 

Next time invest in some automatic feeders, it will help (so your dad know they will get fed)

....

stop chatting!! and replying!!!

CLEAN UP ++++++!!! thats your main priority!!!

If you're seeing this!!! your not doing anything! SO GET GOING!!!!!


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

sorry to hear that ....i knew you luved ur plecos....I agree with bigfishy go clean up before you loose any more...


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Oohhh thats just horrible!  I am so sorry to hear about that...


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## Cory (May 2, 2008)

That's awful. Amazing he was able to do so much damage in just four days. If Im going to be gone less than 5 days I always tell people not to disturb the fish unless I have really small fry needing food in which case I say feed one pinch a day and so far it's worked out. Only had one experience where a tank with 2 fish was being fed as though it were a tank with 20 and I came back to tons of uneaten pellets but otherwise all good only lost two fish while on vacation. 

I'll keep my eye out for male L260s


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

I am so sorry about the loss of your pleco. I can sympathise. Lost my zebs  

I live alone so that could not happen, but have a frend that would come by on a long trip to feed the fish. I have gone so far to label baggies for each tank and label them with the days they should be fed. Okay anal but I wouldn't want to loose anymore. 

I know how hard you were trying to get that L-260. I do hope that you can replace the poor guy and that the rest of your fish survive.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

*Thanks guys for the kind words *



overleaf said:


> I'd be on the market for a new dad...


Ya, no kidding eh?



bigfishy said:


> sorry for your loss!!!!  Hope the rest recover!!!
> 
> Next time invest in some automatic feeders, it will help (so your dad know they will get fed)
> 
> ...


I dont really trust any auto feeders, but I guess it would have done less damage..:/, I just figured it should be fine with no feeding for 4 days...but didnt anticipate the overfeeding.



shark said:


> sorry to hear that ....i knew you luved ur plecos....I agree with bigfishy go clean up before you loose any more...


Thanks. And ya, it been pretty much non-stop cleaning for the last couple of hours.



Ciddian said:


> Oohhh thats just horrible!  I am so sorry to hear about that...


Thanks 



Cory said:


> That's awful. Amazing he was able to do so much damage in just four days. If Im going to be gone less than 5 days I always tell people not to disturb the fish unless I have really small fry needing food in which case I say feed one pinch a day and so far it's worked out. Only had one experience where a tank with 2 fish was being fed as though it were a tank with 20 and I came back to tons of uneaten pellets but otherwise all good only lost two fish while on vacation.
> 
> I'll keep my eye out for male L260s


Ya, thats what I am still confused about too.......but he fed sooooo much its rediculous. And thanks, I was planning on having a colony of 4-5, so I was going to take a break for a bit once I got a pair...but now.....the search continues........

UPDATE: everything except the Eheim 2215 is cleaned, right now the fish are still in the bucket...don't think they would be able to go into the tank tonight...since the water is way toooo cold.....But I worry that the bucket would do too much damage over night....



KnaveTO said:


> I am so sorry about the loss of your pleco. I can sympathise. Lost my zebs
> 
> I live alone so that could not happen, but have a frend that would come by on a long trip to feed the fish. I have gone so far to label baggies for each tank and label them with the days they should be fed. Okay anal but I wouldn't want to loose anymore.
> 
> I know how hard you were trying to get that L-260. I do hope that you can replace the poor guy and that the rest of your fish survive.


Thanks, losing a loved fish is I'm sure all of us will one day experience, I am sorry about your Zebs too (not sure if I alreayd said that to you, but better late then never ). I am now just keeping an eye out for L260s...and the hunt continues...


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

I felt your pain a few days ago

Lost my L262, got snapped in half by blackie  

I will be on the look out for you too!!! (Going to visit Scarborough Big Als tomorrow *CheerS*)  

^^


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Very very sorry to hear that Bro  

You know I will keep my eyes open.


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

if the tank water is too cold throw in a bucket of hot declorinated water.  

sorry for your loss. i don't trust anyone to look after my fish but me. even my bf, i watch over his shoulder when he's feeding and drive him crazy. everytime i see him over at a tank i ask WHAT ARE YOU DOING??????


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Sorry to hear of your losses.

If I'm away for less than a week, I leave no instructions except to not touch anything.

In future, and this helps for a lot of people, use those day-of-the-week pill boxes. Those ones with little lidded compartments with the days of the week made for elderly people to help them remember to take their pills. I fill each bin with enough food for one day, and only leave enough bins filled for the number of days left. And then hide the rest of the food, or again, leave explicit instrctions to stay the hell away from the rest of the food.


This way it's easy on you and your fish sitter - for you, peace of mind knowing that you don't have to leave your tanks to their judgement of what's "adequate". And for your sitter, all they have to do is pop one section open, throw it in, and come back tomorrow, or in a day or two.

Easily a great investment at any dollar store or cheapo pharmacy.

Again, sorry for your loss.


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## Doctor T (Apr 23, 2009)

Awww man, so sorry to hear that.  I still don't know what an L260 is, but I know you that was your prized fish. Heartbreaking. Well, at least I learn from this.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

Doctor T said:


> Awww man, so sorry to hear that.  I still don't know what an L260 is, but I know you that was your prized fish. Heartbreaking. Well, at least I learn from this.


Its a type of pleco called Queen Arabesque


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## Doctor T (Apr 23, 2009)

bigfishy said:


> Its a type of pleco called Queen Arabesque


ahh, thx bigfishy. i did Some googling on it too, beautiful fish.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

bigfishy said:


> I felt your pain a few days ago
> 
> Lost my L262, got snapped in half by blackie
> 
> ...


Thanks , I am sorry to hear about the L262



Jackson said:


> Very very sorry to hear that Bro
> 
> You know I will keep my eyes open.


Thanks bro



matti2uude said:


> I'm sorry to hear about your loss.


Thanks man



bluekrissyspikes said:


> if the tank water is too cold throw in a bucket of hot declorinated water.
> 
> sorry for your loss. i don't trust anyone to look after my fish but me. even my bf, i watch over his shoulder when he's feeding and drive him crazy. everytime i see him over at a tank i ask WHAT ARE YOU DOING??????


Thanks , They were in a temp 5g set up, with dechlorinated water, heater and internal filter, everyone is still good this morning. And ya, usually I don't let anyone touch the tank, so I def didnt see this coming..lol



ameekplec. said:


> Sorry to hear of your losses.
> 
> If I'm away for less than a week, I leave no instructions except to not touch anything.
> 
> ...


Thanks man, ya, def learned my lesson on the importance of even a do not touch sign.



Doctor T said:


> Awww man, so sorry to hear that.  I still don't know what an L260 is, but I know you that was your prized fish. Heartbreaking. Well, at least I learn from this.


THanks , ya def dont make the same mistake I did.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Just as an update:

Everyone did very well in the 5g bucket XD. Left the 30 gal to slowly heat up during the night. AS of 8am this morning, the temp is back to normal. 

Took this opertunity to do a maintenance of the Eheim. 

Starting from 8:30, I did a drop acclimitisation on all of the fish before adding to the tank (just to be on the safe side)

Now the fish are finally in their homes again, and the L260 and L340 immediately found their old caves, lol. L262 is still a little shy, so its hiding under the sponge filter. 

Oh, realised I forgot to add this yesturday. When I tested the water yesturday, the ammonia was at 1.0, nitrite at 1.25-1.5, nitrate at about 20.  

But now all is good.

Thanks again everyone for all of the kind words


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Glad to see everyone survived the night. Those panic situations are never fun.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

ya, I am not out of the clouds yet....still keeping an close eye out on the tank. (mainly worried that since the Eheim was sitting for one night, I might lose some of the bacterial culture).


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

ameekplec. said:


> Sorry to hear of your losses.
> 
> If I'm away for less than a week, I leave no instructions except to not touch anything.
> 
> ...


First off, Sorry for OP's lost. 3MM OF FOOD AT THE SUBSTRATE!?!?!?!!!111!!?? ;;; Was half, screw that... a whole bottle emptied there? Whoa....

Just to add to this post here I used to know someone that had a similar situation happen to him. I was going recommend the pill boxes but the poster above already did. I'd add on that note to get 1-2 extra pill box holders of DIFFERENT COLORS. If you'll be gone for a long time that way you can label them all 'week 1,2 ,3 4,etc) and hot glue it to say a hanging piece of thin wood. I'd probably start with blue or green color first then if there is a red color box make that box your last week box so it'll be like green -> blue -> yellow -> red easy to one eye see the week layout.

Those pill boxes are ~$1.99-2.99 I think. I forgot the price I paid for mine. Two sizes at Shoppers Drug Mart. For fish I'd go with the large wide one. I have also the small almost playing card deck sized one for vitamin pills but it's small and for feeding probably the larger one is better so the caregiver does not mess it up.

That is probably the cheapest way to do it with a caregiver. Or get those vacation feeders for like $20-60 bucks.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Hitch, very sorry to hear about your loss. 

I have to say that your story reminds me of once when I went out of town for 2 weeks and had a friend look after my fish and plants. He was OK with the fish -- I had left very precise instructions -- but he didn't quite follow my instructions about the plants. It was summer and my place didn't have air conditioning, so I was worried about my plants drying out. I had placed them all in a shady spot in my apartment and given my friend instructions to water them when he visited by filling the trays under each. My friend followed my instructions about the water, but he also decided that the plants needed more sun. He put down my futon bed in the centre of the room and put all the plants on top of it so that they would be elevated, then opened all the curtains so they would get maximum light. Needless to say, when I came home from my trip, I was completely shocked to find 20+ dead or severely dehydrated plants shedding leaves all over my bed!

Moral of the story (if there is one): instructions to helpers work pretty well, but Murphy's law still applies. . .


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Damn hitch that sucks buddy, hope all goes uphill from here on .


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Thanks guys for the kind words.

And ya, its sometimes the most obvious thing to us that we forget to tell the the caretakers that screw us over. lol

Now I am convincing my aunt to get into fish.....so I would hopefully have a good caretaker. XD, I am setting up a small 10 gallon for her.


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

I feel really bad for your loss ........it will sting for a few days!
so sorry!


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

thanks, and ya its still stinging a bit. But on the bright side, the rain season is almost over, and hopefully plecos would be more available.


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

offer still open!!!! 
ok I know they are not fancy ....but I LOVE BNs .........
I dont have fancy ones like allyou all !!!!
IM thinking placing an order with charles .


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## matti2uude (Jan 10, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> offer still open!!!!
> ok I know they are not fancy ....but I LOVE BNs .........
> I dont have fancy ones like allyou all !!!!
> IM thinking placing an order with charles .


Don't you have zebras?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> offer still open!!!!
> ok I know they are not fancy ....but I LOVE BNs .........
> I dont have fancy ones like allyou all !!!!
> IM thinking placing an order with charles .


I'll keep that in mind, but I need to move my juvi calicos and L144s into another tank before I think about getting more BNs.


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## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

that his horrrrible. I actually had my super come in and check my fish. he has fish so it was okay. my sister had problems with a friend checking on them and over feeding


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

ya, thats why I am training my aunt into this hobby right now.


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