# NEVER trust friends with your fish!



## karleee (Dec 18, 2011)

I just got back from a holiday with my family,and I had to leave my fish at home.I got a friend and their mum to look after my families (mum & dad) and I's animals while away for the week.I get home-One dead betta,2 dead shubunkins,and I now have one blackmoor's life hanging on the line...the onlt one that was O.K was my commet X fantail!

The problem-Overfeeding!
Their tank was so dirty from the feed,and their guts were all swollen.I'm hoping that my blackmoor will hang in until he passes that food!

So,if he passes away,i'll only have one fish left...i'm REALLY peed off 
Before i left,I told them exactly how much to feed them,and even gave them a little spoon to mesure it out with.I rang them today and the said "oh,we only gave them a big feed today,so they'ld last until you got home". :chair:

So,thats why my blackmoors still alive,and for some reason,the piggiest of them all was the only one who is fine and didn't pig out.My blackmoor's gut is SOOOO swollen,it's floating on it's back and side 

Next time,im taking my fish down the coast fishing with me!!!!! :-x
Please blackie,just pass that food outta ya system-please


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Next time you leave for less than 2 weeks just don't feed your fish. They will survive for that long without food.


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## cossie (Dec 19, 2010)

or you can buy some holiday food blocks to put in your tank and they can eat it at there own free will.


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## julem35 (Dec 22, 2010)

THAT HAPPENED TO ME. A few trips ago, my friend was in charge of my three tanks. He overfed all my guppy fry, so all 11 died, and the other tanks were so dirty, a gel was forming on the bottom. This time, I made a little note that I taped to each tank, it had:
Light on: [time]
Light off: [time]
Feed: [how often]
How much:[ i taped exactly how much fish food to the sheet, as a visual guide]

Upon returning last night, all my fish were happy and healthy, had decent sized tummies, and the tanks were clean. He said it really helped, because he would forget what amount went with what tank, and now he could just look.


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

What I do is if I'm gone for more than a week is get one of those 7 day pill holders and put the fish food in there, then all they gotta do is open it up and drop it in.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Don't use feeding blocks as they are only slightly safer then over feeding your fish. Most of the block (the white stuff) is plaster of paris, which slowly dissolves in the water and will make your water hardness spike. Just not feeding is the safest way. I have a room mate and 4 tanks, when I am gone I tell her not to bother at all with the fish unless something looks wrong then to give me a call. Fish are much safer going without food then having uncontrolled feedings. 

Not feeding is also safer as you don't have to worry about nutrient build up as much while you are gone. 

If you MUST have someone feed the fish, what you do is go out and buy one of these weekly pill organizers. The cheap ones cost like $1. Measure out your food and put it in the proper day. However I REALLY don't recommend feeding more then every other day if you are gone. Every two days or twice a week would be best(feeding only the amount you would normally for 1 day). Once you have the proper amount of food in the compartments hide ALL the food containers where they won't be found. That way they can not feed any more then what you measured out. They also don't have to 2nd guess the amount they should be adding. 

Also use light timers people. I run high tech planted tanks and seriously they can go weeks without any human interaction. Lower tech tanks should be much easier. My lights and CO2 goes on and off by itself so no one needs to mess with or worry about it. A $7 timer can do wonders.


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

Another option is to make friends with people in your local fish club and trade babysitting with each other.


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## lmb (Nov 1, 2011)

That's really why I don't let any others feed my fish unless I can trust them (Because they have done it before). I do the same thing as Mikaila31, I use the pill organizers. Just fill it up with the amount of food you usually feed your fish with and that's about it. So then all the friends or family have to do is just dump that ones day in.


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## kurka (Jan 2, 2012)

sry bout your fish  i had a room mate poor a beer in my tank when he was having a party bc he thought they would have fun too...... and for a week i tried everything i could to keep them alive and didnt kno why they all a sudden got sick, til he finally told me what happened. sad days.. were not friends anymore but i did make him buy me all new stuff for my tank


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

kurka said:


> sry bout your fish  i had a room mate poor a beer in my tank when he was having a party bc he thought they would have fun too...... and for a week i tried everything i could to keep them alive and didnt kno why they all a sudden got sick, til he finally told me what happened. sad days.. were not friends anymore but i did make him buy me all new stuff for my tank


Yet another reason to not allow alcohol in our house!


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## karleee (Dec 18, 2011)

Thankyou for your advice guys....only have 1 fish now,blackie (my blackmoor) died during the night 

Now I only have 1,happy,healthy fish...all the others are swimming in heaven :'(


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## lmb (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm sorry for the loss of your Moor.

From what it sounded like, it was either constipated or had swimmer bladder.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

It had ammonia poisoning.


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## lmb (Nov 1, 2011)

Uh . . Just kidding. Lol 
Never mind then!


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

So sorry to hear about your goldies....

On the other hand, it was stories like this that made me make individual bags for each feeding on vacation. I left my reef tank for two weeks and left seven different bags of food. I told my friend to add a random bag every other day. I also showed him to empty aqueous sludge from my filter. I came back to a happy tank with growing corals!

Hopefully others learn from your bad experience and less fish die on vacation in the future!:console:


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Karleee, I want to point out that while you are probably very hurt that your fish have passed on, remember to try to forgive your friend. Don't let this ruin your friendship. They were doing what they thought was best for your fish. Mistakes happen, and you need to grieve for your loss, forgive your friend, and learn from the experience. You have now been offered many suggestions to prevent this from happening in the future. While it is a tough way to learn, you did learn something.

Again, I am sorry to hear about your loss


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## karleee (Dec 18, 2011)

Thx Guys ;-)

RIP blackie :fish:


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I agree with forgive the friend. It was your fault (sorry) for not controlling the food. I'm sure no harm was meant. 

Petsitters who don't have fish always overfeed. Petsitters who have fish often overfeed. When you got your first fish, I bet you overfed it. Tell them it takes months without food to starve a fish to death and it is fine if they go hungry.

I will have my cat sitter look for corpses and fish them out, but I tell them not to feed unless they are fishkeepers I've trained or watched feed. Even then I only let them once every few days and I put fish counts on the tank with my phone # in sharpie.

block feeder or autofeeders only if you've tried them out while you were home. The smaller the tank, the higher the risk.

Try the (cooked, skinned) pea thing on the goldy. And if it recovers, be careful with your own feeding as once it happens, it is more likely to happen again.


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## karleee (Dec 18, 2011)

well actually-i left a small measuring spoon-and told them how many scoops a day must be fed,so really-no,I did give them direction.Also,I'm still their friend


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## Fishpunk (Apr 18, 2011)

Actually, in addition to forgiving your friend, why not use it as an opportunity to educate your friend.


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## karleee (Dec 18, 2011)

I'll try and educate them


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