"beth" wrote in message
om...
I had to go on a business trip last week and my mother in
law stayed
with my son (6). He has a 10 gallon tank with 3 rosy
reds. I told
her to feed them a small pinch of goldfish food daily.
When I
returned yesterday, the water was cloudy and my fish were
huddled in a
corner. One was swimming cock-eyed. There was a boatload
of food on
the bottom of the tank and 1/4 of a container of food
missing. I was
LIVID. I immediately asked DH to help me with an
emergency water
change/vaccuuming of the gravel. I had to change about
50% of the
water to remove all the loose food. After adding fresh,
treated
water, the nitrite level was still through the roof (5
ppm). This was
a well established tank with no other issues. I then
changed about
20% more water, and the nitrite level dropped slightly.
Then, I let
it sit overnight and did another 20% change this AM. The
fish were
looking a bit better, so I was happy. Nitrites were
still high, so I
added Amquel + (just a teaspoon). That really knocked
down the
nitrites and the fish improved greatly.

Anything else I should be doing? Besides shooting my
mother in law?

TIA!

Beth

Before your next trip, buy several of those
weekly pill minders, available anywhere. Put
the desired amount of food in each day. Instrust
your surrogate only to feed whatever is in
each day of the weekly pill minder. I've used
those and never had a problem while away.

Gail


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