I have three guppies and about 5 babbie guppies in a small 2.5 gallon tank. My daughter poured half a bottle of fish food into the tank when I wasnt looking. I pulled out the fulter to rinse it out since its gonna be working overtime and the whole tank looks pretty cloudy, Before the accident the tank was very well taken care of. I took as much of the food out as I could, but i dont have a little vaccume of the rocks. will they be fine if I dont vaccume the rest of the food out?
2007-03-27 13:37:35 · 15 answers · asked by JUDAS RAGE 4 in Pets ➔ Fish
Yay, you guys were a huge help, I siphoned the fish flakes out of the bottom and I think that they are gonna be fine. And now I know a new trick, see its a win win situation.
2007-03-27 15:41:15 · update #1
You should try to get out as much of the food as possible. What isn't removed will decay and foul your water.
Even without a formal "gravel vacuum" you can still do this. I'd recommend against taking everything out of the tank as this will disturb your biological filter. Instead, do you have any type of clean, water proof tubing (like hose for an air pump)? You can fill it with water from the tap and cap both ends with your fingers. Put one end in the tank water and the other inside a bucket outside (and lower than) the tank. As you let go of the end outside the tank, you will create a siphon that you can use to suck up excess food. Try to find tubing that's too small to suck up your gravel, as this can create a clog.
Just be sure to rinse the tubing very well, inside and out, before using it in the tank.
2007-03-27 13:52:25 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get rid of the food and fast. You don't need a vacuum, any aquarium tubing will work and you can siphon off the food. Just put one end of the tubing in the tank, put the other end below water level, give it a quick little suck and the water will start flowing. You can move the end of the tube around to get the food.
Put aside some water in a bowl or something to sit out for a day or so to replace the water in your tank with fresh. (Don't put it in right from the faucet, as it may have chlorine or chloromine in it, which will evaporate off if you give it some time.)
A housesitter overfed my fish and it killed them all.
2007-03-27 13:42:42 · answer #2 · answered by emmesokol57 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You have to get the excess food out ASAP. Vacuum it out, remove it by hand, scoop it out with a net, what ever you have to do but get it out. It will quickly decay and produce ammonia. You're tank is most likely cycled but the bacteria colony won't be able to handle the huge ammonia spike you will get ( a lot of people do fishless cycles by using flakes as an ammonia source) and you will most likely lose all of them. If you get the food out quickly, they should be fine (except that they really need to be in at least a 5 gallon (preferably 10) tank but that's another story).
Don't worry about setting the water out as emmesokol57 mentioned. Simply use dechlorinator as you normally would during a water change. Chlorine will evaporate as she said but chloramine will not and must be neutralized with a dechlorinator.
2007-03-27 13:51:46 · answer #3 · answered by rdd1952 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm going to not answer your Q, as you already fixed the problem(Yay! The problem is fixed and everyone is happy!)
But I'm going to say you should get a 10gal tank. I know its cute to have a 2gal but the fish are kind of crowded... You could get a betta for the 2 gal because thats a decent size for a betta ^.^ I have my two bettas in two large 5gal vases and they're loving it ^.^
Good luck with the fish.
2007-03-28 03:51:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
4 gallon of water consistent with inch of fish is the guideline for installation a tank this permits area for them to discover there own territory and room to advance additionally en ought oxygen as they ex hail carbon witch remains interior the water for alongside time even have an below gravel clear out this makes friendly bacteria to digest waste you may want first of all a twenty gallon tank in case you prefer to maintain fish don't be fobbed off with cheep novelty tanks you may desire to have a heater this keeps the water consistent tropicals like eighty to eighty 3 levels & gold fish dont innovations
2016-10-20 14:08:16 · answer #5 · answered by winstanley 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Continue to do a 10% water change every other day until the water is clean. Hopefully the fish will survive the ordeal. Good luck.
2007-03-27 14:19:09 · answer #6 · answered by Completely Puzzled 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its such a small tank you can just wash it by hand cant you? that happend to my tank before and all i did was just rinse the rocks by hand and sift out the food. but if you dont they should be alright just dont feed them for a bit cause they will eat what is in there. but still clean it as often as usual cause the food shouldnt hurt them but if it gets too much amonia in the water they will die.
2007-03-27 13:42:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
your fish should be OK as long as you get as much of the food out as possible. just stir the gravel with your fingers to keep the food suspended in the water so the filter can remove it.
Good Luck.
E.
2007-03-27 14:14:54 · answer #8 · answered by > 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
get a bigger tank 5 guppies cant be in a 2.5 gallan aquarium they propably wont die but theyll get big and youll need a new tank GO NOW TO THE PET SHOP NOW STOP READING AND GO
2007-03-27 14:13:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It might die but try to get as much food out as you can! Just make sure they dont over eat and get fat, otherwise they will die!
2007-03-27 13:48:38 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋