Overfed Fish

[mantis]

I left home for a week and left my tank to be fed by my Aunt. That was mistake number one. I should have probably fed them well before I left and let them do w/out food for a while. Anyway I returned to an overfed tank. Please help, what to do now to set things right for the fish who don't even seem to want to eat anymore.
Mantis

 

[colesea]

waterchange and clean your tank out. Overfed food that is rotting in your tank will up you ammonia levels and could wreak havoc with your nitrogen cycle. Make sure all the water chemistry in your tank is stable again.

Then sit back and wait for them to digest. So long as they aren't acting sick, they just need time to let the food in their tummies pass on through before they get hungry again.
~~Colesea

 

[mantis]

Okay, will do the water change, but what do you mean by clean my tank out?

 

[colesea]

Gravel vac. Overfed food crumbs get into the cracks and crevices in gravel, sometime becoming white fungus puffs, or making anaerobic bacteria start to grow in the tank. Bad stuff. So get a gravel vac siphon and get all that yucky stuff out of your gravel. This process can be done at the same time as a water change. That's what I mean by clean the tank out, water change via gravel vac siphon.
~~Colesea

 

[tizme]

Great recs, but I would add one thing:

After cleaning, do water change.  AND!  have the water tested, tested tested!  You better check the nitrites & ammonia.

 

[mantis]

Will definately do the testing.

 

[mpg]

don't do too much at once.  the shock of sudden new clean water can be worse than the dirty water.

i.e. do a 20% water change every day for several days instead of one big 50%+ water change.

 

[Matt Nace]

I have stated this before, and this has been a debate on many boards, but I have changed huge amounts of water and the fish love it.

If your PH, temp, and hardness are very close to that of your tanks, then more clean water is better than a lot of dirty water.

I usually only do 25 %, because My water isn't dirty at all, and 25% is enough work for me.

But if you have to do 50% changes to get your ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes down , then you have to do it.