What a Disaster... Family Watched My Tank for 1 Week

[KyRo]

So I went to Hawaii for a week and asked my family to just feed my fish. That’s all. I told them to feed a bit twice a day and make sure each fish got a little. My sister did it for my in the past and it worked out. My mom came over every day to do it this time and must have misunderstood my instructions because what I came home to was shocking.

You can’t tell from the pic but there was like a months worth of food floating on the top, covering the sand, everywhere. The tank was so cloudy I don’t think any light got through. My zoas were all closed, hammers all lost a ton of flesh but the fish seemed okay. I did a big water change and scooped up as much food as I could. And today a couple zoas have opened.

My mom was crushed because I freaked out a bit and told her how much work I put into this but I blame myself for not explaining it well enough. My biggest concern was how she didn’t think that all the food on the bottom was an issue.

Here was my tank before I left

When I came home

Anyone have similar stories?

 

[Dbichler]

Yes and I’ve since learned all fish and corals can live without food for a week. Just fatten them up before vacation.

 

[Stuartmercer]

Fortunately I don't. That sucks man. Personally, whenever I leave for more than a week, I get someone who knows how to take care of these animals so I know they are in safe hands. I really hope that doesnt happen again because your aquarium is pretty.

 

[Jgg12002]

Feeling your pain!
I had someone watch my reef tank and the water was yellow when I returned. Carefully left portions for daily feeding and she ignored my request and made a total mess.
I would rather have the tank left to it’s own while on vacation. Planning to purchase a web cam so I can look at it while I’m gone and my neighbor who keeps an eye on my koi pond has gained a lot of knowledge over the years if a problem comes up.
So I would say people need to be trained over time to house sit a tank.
hope things turn around in your tank.
J.

 

[Brett S]

Yes and I’ve since learned all fish and corals can live without food for a week. Just fatten them up before vacation.

This is definitely not true. While many fish might survive without food for a week there are a lot, such as anthias, that definitely won’t. And frankly, no food for a week wouldn’t be good for any fish. A couple of days might be OK, but a week is not a good idea.

 

[Dbichler]

This is definitely not true. While many fish might survive without food for a week there are a lot, such as anthias, that definitely won’t. And frankly, no food for a week wouldn’t be good for any fish. A couple of days might be OK, but a week is not a good idea.

Correct certain fish may not be able to. I have never lost any in 15 years for a weeks vacation multiple times per year. I’m not suggestion everyone should try this but personally never lost any. I do not keep anything that requires multiple feedings per day.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Strict, measured-out portions for the tank-sitter, and strict instructions for them not to go into the next-days food. STRICT. Tell them "Fish ALWAYS look hungry,"

 

[Mike from TN]

When My wife and I got married, my Mom and Brother stayed at our house (a rental) while we were away for a week.
They were there to care for our parrots, cats AND. My tank. I left very specific instructions for them, mainly my ADULT brother.
No tap water to top off my tank, DONT park your “oil puking “ car in the driveway because I’ll have an issue with the landlord, etc.
We got back from what was the happiest week of our lives to find a nightmare.
The five gallon jug of RO/DI water was still full, he used tap water. My tank was lime green.
There was a huge oil stain on the driveway from him parking the Exxon Valdize there.
One of our cats, who was on every other day oral meds had not received ANY! Litter boxes had not been sifted in the entire week we were gone. The house stunk!
The birds cages were disgusting ( he also had a parrot at the time ).
And our kitchen was a disaster!
We placed zero blame on my Mother due to her age and health condition.
I was breathing fire for weeks after that!

 

[Jgg12002]

Strict, measured-out portions for the tank-sitter, and strict instructions for them not to go into the next-days food. STRICT. Tell them "Fish ALWAYS look hungry,"

Wish that worked for me

 

[namfuak]

That's awful; I'm sorry to hear.

Feeling your pain!
I had someone watch my reef tank and the water was yellow when I returned. Carefully left portions for daily feeding and she ignored my request and made a total mess.

Although it doesn't always works, I feel this is the best approach. Measure everything out and have typed instructions detailing every little step even if it might seem too detailed.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

So I went to Hawaii for a week and asked my family to just feed my fish. That’s all. I told them to feed a bit twice a day and make sure each fish got a little. My sister did it for my in the past and it worked out. My mom came over every day to do it this time and must have misunderstood my instructions because what I came home to was shocking.

You can’t tell from the pic but there was like a months worth of food floating on the top, covering the sand, everywhere. The tank was so cloudy I don’t think any light got through. My zoas were all closed, hammers all lost a ton of flesh but the fish seemed okay. I did a big water change and scooped up as much food as I could. And today a couple zoas have opened.

My mom was crushed because I freaked out a bit and told her how much work I put into this but I blame myself for not explaining it well enough. My biggest concern was how she didn’t think that all the food on the bottom was an issue.

Here was my tank before I left

When I came home

Anyone have similar stories?

Is that food on the bottom? I refuse to allow family to watch my tank as it's best that way. I have seen people who I thought were smart not be able to handle simple instructions...like take pre-portioned food containers and dump them into the tank during a time window every 2 days for 1 week (paying them to do so) and they decided it was ok to put mac n cheese into the tank to feed the fish.

These are grown adults...I just assume that most people on this planet are morons/parasites and there are a select few of us smart ones keeping the lights on.

 

[Protodad]

I’ve had this happen before and all the reef keepers in the family have similar stories. I pre portion food if they need to eat. If it’s only a few days I tell them to leave it alone.

 

[Crashnt24]

Yeah, I love my mom to death but she crashed my tank twice on two separate vacations.

The first time, I chalked it up to me expecting too much from her. After all, I have spent countless hours perfecting my method and knowledge. I didn't have a apex at the time. She had to unplug the skimmer, press feed mode on the return pump, dose aminos, dose phyto, feed the fish, turn on return and then wait 5 min before plugging in the skimmer. Well she forgot to unplug the skimmer and dumped 3 weeks of sludge into the tank. It caused a bacterial bloom and starved the tank of oxygen. Every fish died, but the inverts and corals lived.

Second time, I had a apex. Press one button and feed. Easy I thought... well not sure what happened but I came home to a tank of dead fish again.

Lesson I learned was, you can't trust someone who has zero knowledge on reef keeping and automated systems to watch a tank. Can't get mad at them either. After all they are dedicating a hour a day to help you out. You can't buy that kind of love. Family is family. Just don't trust them with your tank lol.

Next time I'm going to leave my tank on auto pilot for a week with no feedings. Just maybe a check up every other day to make sure nothing is obviously wrong.

 

[DungSl1nger]

I leave often either for work or see my girlfriend. I feed just frozen and have it set up so my fish feeder only has to come in check the ato level, skimmer, and drop the days food in. My socks were replaced by a Klir and I monitor everything I can with my GHL products.

I had a slight scare with kalkwasser so I even prep extra bucket now.

 

[Hogan]

When my inlaws tank sit, I premeasure each feeding so all they have to do is drop it in. I also have facetimed with them the first couple of time to make sure everything goes well.

 

[don_chuwish]

I used an Eheim auto-feeder once that worked quite well, but I probably had it feeding a bit more than I usually do. Had a minor algae outbreak after that time away. My ATO can go about a week - anything longer and I'd have to come up with a bigger container.

 

[Neros503]

a couple months ago there was a big forest fire near our house and we had to evacuate without the fish. we were able to setup automatic feeder but it ran out while we were gone. When we were finally able to check on our house, many gallons of water were gone from the tank (biocube 14) cause of so much evaporation and ato failure. Crazily the fish and corals survived, but they've also survived 97 degrees when my heater failed so that's not that big of a deal to them. lol.

 

[KyRo]

Is that food on the bottom? I refuse to allow family to watch my tank as it's best that way. I have seen people who I thought were smart not be able to handle simple instructions...like take pre-portioned food containers and dump them into the tank during a time window every 2 days for 1 week (paying them to do so) and they decided it was ok to put mac n cheese into the tank to feed the fish.

These are grown adults...I just assume that most people on this planet are morons/parasites and there are a select few of us smart ones keeping the lights on.

That is food on the bottom as well as all over the rocks and it’s not even half of what was in there. More than that was floating at the top, stuck to the filter grate thing, everywhere. I swear it’s like over a months worth of feeding easily.

 

[KyRo]

Fortunately I don't. That sucks man. Personally, whenever I leave for more than a week, I get someone who knows how to take care of these animals so I know they are in safe hands. I really hope that doesnt happen again because your aquarium is pretty.

I really appreciate it. I hope the corals make it, they look horrible and the hammers look like they may bailout

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

holy cow those are some horror storys! I hope all of your corals hold out and make it through!