vacation...

[-gb-]

I have a 65 gallon planted show tank with four Discus in it (I’ll have more soon). I recently went away for an eight day vacation down south. I was really concerned about the fish as they would be going without any water being changed and very little food for the duration of my trip.

On my return I expected to find some really unhappy fish. What I found was exactly the opposite. All the fish were fine and my water appeared to be as clean as when I left it. My nitrates, nitrites, & ammonia were all at zero. PH was stable and all around water quality was fine.

My plants had grown quite a bit but other than that all was just as I left if.

I’m not advocating cutting back on your water change! What I am saying is that in my experience you can leave a mature, planted tank for around a week with very little adverse effects. Now that I’m home I'm back to by regular scheduled water changes. (30% every other day)

Just my experience…

[Ardan]

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad all went well!
:)
Ardan

[AmberC]

I found the same thing when mine was planted and I went away for a week. I think mine fed off the algae on my plants. Glad it went well for you!
Amber

[lkleung007]

Hi,

I do the same thing when I go on vacation. Older Discus are fine without food or WC...but with younger Discus (2-3"), the lack of food for an extended period of time "may" effect growth. The main reason why the Discus did well without WC is that they were feed very little to no food. If you feed your Discus 3-4 times a day and did WC only every two weeks, they will not be happy. Discus can adapt to little or no food for 2-3 weeks but they are not going to be happy about it...almost like humans without food.

Nothing substitutes for regular WC and good tank hygiene!!

Lester

[Willie]

In my experience, not feeding your discus on vacation is the best approach. I've gone two weeks without any problems.

Willie