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Leaving fish when away

pollyandpear

Member
Joined
16 Jan 2023
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291
Location
London
Next week I am away for three days. Before I go I will do a water change.

Should I buy an automatic feeder? Is there something I can feed them whilst I am away? Fish in question are corydora and mollys.
 
Thanks! Ah my light is not on a timer - do I need a new light or is there something I can buy to create a timer?
 
I used to get around the short breaks by introducing certain live aquatic foods. California Blackworm can be very useful in circumstances like these because you can hide them around the tank (in the substrate/gravel and under the rocks etc.) for the fish to find at a later date, especially the corydoras. I also used to sprinkle drosophila (flightless fruit flies) and sprigtails on my floating plants when I went away. Sometimes too, I found that copepods and small bloodworm were excellent if they could get into the nooks and crannies hiding from the fish. Why not syringe them into the gravel/substrate. Mollys will also enjoy vegetables if they are hungry. I have been know to use everything from boiled broccoli, to red pepper, cucumber, cabbage, and especially nettles ~ at this time of year. Those cheap battery-powered automatic feeders I actually find rather awesome, especially with larger and less natural aquariums: I would just fill them with a mix of dried floating and sinking foods. I think mine cost about £7 a few years ago. If I remember correctly, they feed twice per day and will work even if you have a power cut. Likewise, a battery-powered air stone is never a bad investment when you pop away travelling during the hotter days.
 
I have automatic feeders on both my tanks - using fineBug Bites granule that works particular well with this feeder - flake food is almost impossible to dose consistently with this feeder. I only switch on the feeders if we are away for more than 5 days... Beyond that I also need someone (usually a family member) to come over and add some algae wafters and protein sticks for the shrimps as well - every 3 days or so after the initial 5 days of fasting...

Cheers,
Michael
 
As others have said above, best option is to do nothing. Your fish will be fine. The alternatives all involve at least an element of pollution risk, that is if you're unaccustomed to them. For instance, I once used one of those slow release holiday food blocks, the fish didn't go hungry but I had a cyanobacteria breakout localised where the block had been placed on the substrate. There are also many horror stories about dysfunctioning automatic feeders and well meaning friends, neighbours, or family overfeeding and killing everything in the tank.
 
All was fine, except filter stopped working but that is fixed.

However I have noticed white spots on my white molly's tail - can anyone help identify what this is (fungal or ich?) and how best to treat.

Should I buy the API treatment from amazon.
 
All was fine, except filter stopped working but that is fixed.

However I have noticed white spots on my white molly's tail - can anyone help identify what this is (fungal or ich?) and how best to treat.

Should I buy the API treatment from amazon.
Hi all,

If white spots (best would be the picture), most likely it will be ichtioftirioza. If so, treatment could be started with an increasing temperature of just over 30°C (with actual weather will be easy) at first for three to 4 days and then slowly decreasing it.

Regards,

Kris

Wysłane z mojego 2203129G przy użyciu Tapatalka
 
Hope this shows
 

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