# Epic Feeding Fail



## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

I was feeding my fish, and the top for the dispenser came off and all of the food came out into the tank. I got what food I could get out. All of my fish are swimming at the surface. Is there any way to save them?*c/p*


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Change water! If a lot of food 50% next three days at least.


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

okay, do i have to remove the fish?


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## thriftygranny (Sep 3, 2012)

I would siphon off water into a bucket and move fish into that with an airstone. Then do a large water change and siphon gravel/substrate as you do it. Add fresh water (with declorinator) back into tank - make sure the temp is same as what was in the tank. Then put fish back into tank. 

Just a side note I have a small bowl especially for feeding the fish. I put the fish food into the bowl then take it to the tank. Once I dropped the bowl into the tank and was so glad it wasn't the entire fish food container.

Good luck!

You might need to do another water change tomorrow too.


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

yeah, like, all of the food went into the tank. tetras are gulping air. Glo fish are breathing REALLY quickly. DX


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

thanks, i will try to do this without getting into trouble for trying to save my fish


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

wait, what do i do with my ghost shrimp?!


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

do i do the same as the fish?


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## thriftygranny (Sep 3, 2012)

I've never had a shrimp so I'll let someone else answer that one.


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

It's okay now, but one of my fish went to heaven


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## thriftygranny (Sep 3, 2012)

Sorry to hear of your loss but glad tank is ok now.


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## rlrhino (May 28, 2012)

oh no  hopefully all is well for you now! the only thing I could think of would be to net out as much as possible and to do a bunch of water changes! sorry to hear about one of your fish :/ this reminds me of the time when I was letting my younger cousin feed my betta... I told her just one (pellet) but she thought I meant one pinch... long story short, my betta got a 100% water change that day


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## robotman (Oct 1, 2012)

Are the fish breathing and acting normal?

You might also want to do a nitrate test. Even if your filter is doing great, it may have done extra cycling with all the extra food resulting in a build up of nitrates. Only way to lower is with water changes. The bigger the change, the more efficient. 

A healthy tank will usually only have nitrates crawl up over time. Only plants will naturally remove it, so that's why almost everyone has to do water changes no mater how good their filtration.

Also, if you didn't do so, I'd highly recommend cleaning the gravel. Or at least stir it up a bit during your next water change. It's possible a lot of food is sitting their waiting to decompose.

Glad to hear most of the fish seem to be recovering!


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

yeah, all is good now  I got new fish


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## alhays31808 (Aug 27, 2011)

But, apparently, my shrimp got eaten


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