# Overfed fish



## helpmeplease (Apr 19, 2011)

Okay, not my fish, my flatmates fish.

My flatmate went away for the week and told me I might have to feed his fish. I went in to see them last night and since they hadn't eaten for a few days I decided to feed them. However, being a complete idiot I just assumed you pour loads of food into the tank and they go crazy and eat it all. However, this did not happen they did seem to eat quite a lot and initially looked pretty bloated but most of it has been left uneaten and has just sank to the bottom of the tank.

When I googled the situation it told me overfeeding was one of the leading causes of fish death. I am scared they are going to die! I checked on them last night and this morning and they look well. They are very active and swimming around the tank which is a change from how lethargic they were after they first ate too much. I think a bit of the food on the bottom may have been eaten but I'm unsure.

My flatmate is back Sunday. Are they going to die if I don't clean the tank? I don't really want to clean the tank because it seems complicated and I don't know how to make the water safe and stuff and I generally think it might end being much worse for the fish. Any help would be appreciated! I don't want to kill the poor fish I would feel awful.

They're just goldfish but the one with the big eyes that always look upwards if that makes any sense.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Yep -- those goldfish are called "celestials". 

Now, wash your hands and rinse them well. Soap will make fish sick!

I'm going to give you a step-by-step on how to clean the tank. 

Does your flatmate have a water siphon/gravel cleaner? It's like a hollow, flexible tube, and on one end there's thicker plastic (usually) tube. It might look like this:








Run some water through this tube (pour the water into the think end) and while water is running through and out the other end, plug up the exiting end. Now you have a siphon started! Place a bucket by the tank.



Plunge the thick end into the gravel and begin to take up the fish poop (it sounds gross, but it's actually not!) and uneaten food. The water and yucky stuff will flow down the tube into the bucket you've just set down. If you have trouble getting suction, make sure you get rid of any bubbles that form when you put the thick end in the water. Just tilt it upwards (while submerged) so the bubbles can float out. Plunge it right into the gravel like this:








Let the gravel fall out and the yucky stuff will be sucked up. 

Keep vacuuming until about half of the water is gone! The fish need to swim, and too much changed water can shock them. 

Goldfish are pretty hardy, so assuming your mate doesn't use special water, just use tap water to refill the tank. But here's the catch: tap water has chlorine and other chemicals that are good for us, but fatal to fish. You need to add some de-chlorinator (your flatmate should have some -- on the bottle, it will say something like "removes chlorines and chloramines. Look at the back of the bottle and figure out how much of this de-chlorinator you need. Add the water and the de-chlorinator at roughly the same time (You can add some water, add some de-chlorinator, add more water, etc). 

Make sure the added water is about the same temperature as the tank water. A little finger dip in the tank should be accurate enough. 

In a few hours, the fish should be looking a bit more lively. They will continue to poop, so you may need to vacuum every few hours or so. Because fish are cold-blooded, a healthy goldfish can actually go for several weeks without food! If you did that to a dog, you would come home to a dead canine, but a fish will just be slightly hungry. 

Good luck! And keep us posted on the progress. I know the panic-feeling with fish.


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## helpmeplease (Apr 19, 2011)

Thanks so much!

Yep, I have all of that stuff and there is some make water safe for fish stuff that I found. I just have a couple of questions - do I leave the fish in the tank whilst I am using the water siphon? And would it be okay to mix the water and the anti chlorine stuff in a separate jug and then slowly add it to the tank?

Over the course of the day the little guys have actually managed to eat everything! They have unsurprisingly pooed an ungodly amount though and the water is a little cloudy so I think it should be cleaned. They seem slightly more active too. Had a little scare this morning when they kept swiming to the top of the tank gasping for oxygen which I know is a sign there could be high ammonia. I turned the oxygen bubbles on and that seemed to calm them but it's only temporary I fear

Thanks again! I never realised there was so much involved in keeping fish :fish: it's quite interesting


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

You don't change all of the water. I wouldn't do more than 50%, since we don't know how often this tank receives regular water changes.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

you are very lucky that the fish are all ok. My son left his tenant to feed his goldfish and they were dead within the week of overfeeding with a sudden rise in ammonia.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

You can leave all of the fish in the tank -- remember: you're only going to remove about 50% (since this is an emergency situation; regular water changes should never be more than 20% unless you're breeding, etc). 

It's certainly good to mix the de-chlorinator in the actual jug! 

Oxygen is not actually caused by the bubbles -- the bubbles create turbulence at the surface, which is where the oxygen actually can enter the water. Keep it nice and aerated (the bubbler is a great step; if there's another airstone you can try adding it too).


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

50% is fine for regular WC as long as the tank is accustomed to it. All my tanks get 50% for normal weekly water changes. Sometimes even more. Its never been a problem. Main issue is suddenly changing more water then normal.


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

Or you could be like those master breeders in Taiwan where labor is cheap but equipment isn't...they change the water 100% twice a day!


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

LOL some discus breeders do that, or simply have a continuous overflow. IDK how they do it in Taiwan, probably depends on the fish they are raising. A lot use ponds I believe... 

Might makes sense if I was breeding, but I'm not lol... well my fish breed regularly then eat their eggs


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## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

I always though a continuous overflow would be cool. Then it'd be like a real ocean or something.


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