I got back from vacation and we had someone else feed our fish. When I got back the first thing I noticed was one of my cardinal tetras was extremely fat and round. The other 2 tetras were maybe a little big but not like this one. And lately i've been seeing it sitting at the bottom and tipping over to one side a little bit. It only does it once in a while. I've heard thats because its been fed to much and its fat. Yeah, not my fault. My neighbors fault. And also my zebra loach has lost alot of color. It's alottttt lighter in color. I can actually see its spine and it looks purple. To thin down my one tetra should I just feed him less? I guess thats the only thing I can do. And does anybody know why my loach would change color like that?
I would check the water parameters first (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). If the fish were overfed, any wasted or uneatten food could start adding ammonia to the tank. Not to mention all of the extra poo from overfeeding.
I agree, do a water test. If it comes back fine, I would still do a water change.
I prefer not having my fish fed while on vacation. If it must be done though, like when I'm gone longer than a week. I use those weekly pill things, put the amount of food you want them to be fed in the correct day. Then hid all other food containers. I don't let them feed frozen foods either, just the stuff I can prepare. Because once I wrote that they could feed them some bloodworms from the freezer, came home and found some drown mealworms in the tank......
Concur with artgalnj; also, how long since the last partial water change?
Feeding is not the problem, its the ramifications as mentioned by artgalnj and failure to do regular (weekly) pwc means this builds up fast. However, before doing a major pwc check your tank water pH and see how it compares to the tap water. If the tank is acidic and the tap is basic (alkaline), watch out. I can explain why if this is an issue.
Byron.
While typing, Mikaila31 commented, I agree there too, better not to feed when away.
I went on vacation and came back and suspect my fish were overfeed as well. I also had brown algae that I suspect came from not enough lighting while I was gone. In the future I will not have someone feed my fish, I also brought a timer for the lights. My parameters were fine but I still did a partial water change when I got back.
Good Luck
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