# Holiday disaster



## IanD (6 May 2014)

Hi there guys and gals.. was a week into a three week holiday when my friend who was looking after my tank sent me a message that she was very sorry but all my 'colour' fish had died. .

I lost 8 Boesemani, 4 Siamese Algae Eaters, a pair of Kribenis and some Nerite snails. This has left me with one Bristlenose and i'd guess around 100 small snails which were definitely not there when I left for my holidays.This is the second holiday disaster that the Bristlenose has survived, previously my sister in law let the water level drop on a juwel tank so much that the pump burnt out. 

I'm gutted about the boesemani, some were fully grown and at least 5-6 years old.The cause of death was overfeeding, I had an auto feeder set up and instructions that all my friend had to do was keep an eye on the tank but it looks like she put in about 4 months of food.. lesson learnt for me to be sure, next time I will just let them go hungry to be on the safe(r) side.

On the positive side the plants look to be in okay condition and I now have the perfect opportunity to do a complete re-scape and restock. Whilst on my holiday I also obtained 8 Bucephelandra plants. I am at a loss as to what direction to take the tank now.. its a 55g corner tank, 406 filter, injected Co2, substrate is flourite and moler clay (which i might as well get rid of as i dont like the look). Im using london tap water so hard, alkaline.

Any stocking suggestions? I've ruled out the following so far:

Discus - i would only have gone for non-imports as i'm not into RO water. Ruled out as they are too time demanding.

Angels - never really taken to them

Oscar/Jack Dempsey - always wanted one but it will be a planted tank and i'd like it to stay planted


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## Edvet (6 May 2014)

Crap!
Next time put food in tiny filmcans or medicine pots, not let them use more than 1 daily.
Hard water: maybe try cichlids/live bearers from Central America like Thorychtys ellioti
There are some beautifull wild Xiphophorus


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## sciencefiction (6 May 2014)

I'd be pretty mad if that happens to me. Devastating.


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## pepedopolous (6 May 2014)

Ouch! I'm so sorry. I had a similar experience but on a much much smaller scale. 
However, even that has led me to believe that even friends and family will often ignore clear instructions, thinking you're just being pedantic. They just can't imagine that overfeeding can actually kill fish. They will put a whole load in to be 'safe' or are just plain lazy.


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## Lindy (6 May 2014)

I measure exact quantities in containers and the day is marked on them. You'd think an automatic feeder and no feeding instuctions would be fool proof though, very sad.


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## Claire (6 May 2014)

I'd be asking said friend for the money for the fish tbh… Boesemanis aren't exactly cheap like. 
As far as restocking goes, I really like a combination of harlequins and neon tetras that I have at the moment. They shoal individually, and I find their colours contrast each other nicely. But what is my taste is certainly not the next mans. Have a wander around MA or something that has a good selection of different fish and see if you get any inspiration. You never know, if you see something that you really like then you may be tempted to do something like a biotope setup


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## dw1305 (6 May 2014)

Hi all, 
We do house swaps, and after a bit of a holiday disaster  <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-unfortunate-vacation-experience-and-who-dun-it.12705/#post-133616>, I now do what Ed and Lindy do, and fill, date and label very small containers of food and leave with instructions. The rest of the food I seal in a plastic bag and put in the freezer. 





> Hard water: maybe try cichlids/live bearers from Central America like Thorychtys ellioti. There are some beautifull wild Xiphophorus


 That would be my choice as well, a _Thorichthys_ spp. ("Mixteco Blue?") and wild Green Sword-tail dithers. Planting with lots of _Vallisneria_ or _Cryptocoryne balansae._ 

cheers Darrel


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## ourmanflint (6 May 2014)

I lost a whole 6ft aquarium full of Malawi cichlids once due to just doing a water change with London tap water. Depending on the season Eau Du Thames can be absolutley chock full of pesticides after all the railway tracks have been sprayed to keep them weed free. I would never use London tap water again without RO treatment or at the very least activated carbon. 
The reason I mentioned this is did your minder do any water changes or top up with tap water? Worth thinking about.

Cheers
Rod


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## EnderUK (7 May 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> I measure exact quantities in containers and the day is marked on them. You'd think an automatic feeder and no feeding instuctions would be fool proof though, very sad.


I just pinch in enough for when I'm away, tape the opening on the smallest opening and leave no instructions but I don't leave a key with anyone either.


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## ian_m (7 May 2014)

ourmanflint said:


> Depending on the season Eau Du Thames can be absolutley chock full of pesticides


Doubt it, very strict regulations on water contents. Most likely excess chlorine or chloramine used as disinfectant and not using a proper dechlorinator.


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## IanD (7 May 2014)

My friend didn't do a water change, personally I have never had an issue with London tap and would be surprised if it could be that lethal, I think most of the London shops mainly use tap water rather than RO.



ldcgroomer said:


> I measure exact quantities in containers and the day is marked on them. You'd think an automatic feeder and no feeding instuctions would be fool proof though, very sad.


This is a great idea, thanks.



Edvet said:


> Crap!
> Next time put food in tiny filmcans or medicine pots, not let them use more than 1 daily.
> Hard water: maybe try cichlids/live bearers from Central America like Thorychtys ellioti
> There are some beautifull wild Xiphophorus


Nice, thanks for the suggestion - not sure my tank would be large enough, its a 55g corner tank.

I was thinking of a shoal of 20-30 Pseudomogil Furcatus with 6-8 Tateurndina Ocellicauda would work but i'm confused on whether these could handle the water hardness, the Blue-eyes should be okay but the Peacock Gudgeon?


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## sciencefiction (7 May 2014)

IanD said:


> My friend didn't do a water change, personally I have never had an issue with London tap and would be surprised if it could be that lethal, I think most of the London shops mainly use tap water rather than RO.
> 
> 
> This is a great idea, thanks.
> ...


The Pseudomigil prefer hard water, the Peacock soft water, so not ideal to house them in the same tank.
I don't know if the Peacock would handle hard water but the forktail rainbows certainly prefer harder water. I have them myself. Plus they seem to have a bit different temperature range than the peacock who seems to like it on  the colder side according t seriouslyfish, where forktail rainbows need to be kept in 24-28, although I wouldn't dwell on that.

Also, the forktail rainbows although a small version of rainbows, will reach 6cm each when fully grown so 20-30 is a bit too much for a 55g I would think. Try to get more females than males too to reduce aggression between the males. Other than that I love them, very lively and inquisitive fish.


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## ourmanflint (7 May 2014)

ian_m said:


> Doubt it, very strict regulations on water contents. Most likely excess chlorine or chloramine used as disinfectant and not using a proper dechlorinator.


What do you doubt exactly? I had the water tested by a lab and Thames Water accepted responsiblity and apologised. 
Things might have changed since then (1994), but I would never use tap water again


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## Mr. Teapot (7 May 2014)

ian_m said:


> Doubt it, very strict regulations on water contents. Most likely excess chlorine or chloramine used as disinfectant and not using a proper dechlorinator.



You would have hoped the water supply would have been free from pesticides but I'd check your supply report. Metaldehyde - slug pellet residue in mine. RO for the tank and bottled water for the family ever since. Yes, Thames water again!

_"Unlike other pesticides, metaldehyde is not easily removed from surface water by conventional treatment process, and as a result we have identified a number of instances that levels have exceeded the regulatory limit in treated water."
_
A number of… 22 instances last year alone!


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## Claire (7 May 2014)

You could use those pill box things if you were leaving someone to feed the fish. I just feed mine up before I go and they've been fine (up to 3 & ½ weeks)


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## nickmcmechan (7 May 2014)

Leaving someone with food never really works, they do things like forget for four days and then chuck a weeks worth in the tank in one go.

Automatic feeder next time....


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## dw1305 (8 May 2014)

Hi all, 





Mr. Teapot said:


> Unlike other pesticides, metaldehyde is not easily removed from surface water by conventional treatment process, and as a result we have identified a number of instances that levels have exceeded the regulatory limit in treated water.....a number of… 22 instances last year alone!


 I'd expect it to be a bad year for metaldehyde contamination in 2013/14 as well. This is because there is a huge acreage of Oil Seed Rape, and it is OSR, Sugar Beet, Broccoli and Potatoes that get most of the slug pellet application.  The farming industry is still pushing the "voluntary code" for responsible slug pellet usage, and blaming the increased incidence of breaches on the exceptionally wet summer weather in 2012. 

Metaldhyde isn't actually very toxic to humans(or fish or shrimps), so it isn't seen as a major issue. 

cheers Darrel


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## frothhelmet (9 May 2014)

I find that the risk of catastrophe is too great to allow house-sitters to do anything to tanks. Even 'fishkeepers' are too risky and I would only trust tried and true experts. Everyone else should be instructed not to do anything to the tank and feed nothing. Healthy fish can survive 2-3 weeks without food no problem - and the risk of well-intentioned screw-ups is far riskier than death due to emaciation over this period. Of course if you have fry that is a different matter. Personally I would just accept they are going to die or give them away before I go.


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