Container of food dumped into tank

[RachWC]

We had my 3 year old niece visiting yesterday, and she loves animals and creatures, so I told her she could help me feed the fish at his dinner time. Well, at first she got one piece of food to put into the tank and he ate that, and next thing I know she has dumped the 3/4 full container of food pellets into the tank! I just about freaked out, but tried to remain calm so I didn't scare her.

I scooped out the fish as fast as I could and put him in this temp. bowl, and dumped all of the water and cleaned the tank the way I normally do. I put him back in, and today he is eating fine and seems normal. Is there anything else I need to do or know?

Hubby and I are not used to having kids around our home, and next time I know that I will keeping a good grip on the food container and giving her one piece at a time to feed my betta. Or better yet, I think for now she just has to watch him eat instead of trying to help, phew!

[stephenmontero]

as long as u cleaned everything out like that you should be ok i mean if u did a 100 and really really washed the gravel i think it will be ok

how big is the tank
is it filtered?

[onefish2fish]

Originally Posted by RachWC

dumped all of the water and cleaned the tank the way I normally do.

its not a good idea to remove fish and completly drain a tank, refill it and replace the fish. i guess this was an exception but as far as tank maintnance is concerned your best bet would be to gravel vac an area of the gravel every week removing only 10%-20% of the tanks water volume a week ( while doing the cleaning ) this is so your tank does not go into a mini cycle or completly cycle all over again for that matter.. its just less stressful for the fish.

[Flashygrrl]

Did he get a chance to eat more than enough? You might want to fast him a day or two if he did just to be on the safe side. This was definitely the exception on doing a 100% water change and you luckily were there with her and saw it right away. Better make sure you make it clear she's not to touch the fish stuff again, since kids have a way of thinking "well, if she let me do it once....". It's better for you to feed them while she watches until she gets older.

[SinCrisis]

Why didn't you just use a net and scoop up all the pellets right after she dumped them?

[RachWC]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

I have a one gallon tank with a filter.

I don't know much about what cycling means? I siphon out the poop every day or so with a straw and suction, and then change the water every 3 weeks. I watch while he eats and take out the uneaten food before it sinks. I use spring water for him because I don't think our water here is that great. He has marbles on the bottom so I don't know how to clean them other then dumping all of the water out??

No worries, my niece only visits about twice a year since she lives about 6 hours away, and she know next time she just has to watch. We have a cat who she adores so she can just feed him!

I don't think he ate any of the food when she dumped it in-he seemed to be in a daze because it looked like one of the snow globes when you shake it up-the pellets were floating throughout the tank! There was no way I could get all of those pellets out without dumping the tank-it would've taken hours and all I could think was that I had to get him out before the excess food made the water quality horrible.

Two days later and he seems back to normal. He loves his new food so that seems like a good sign. He hasn't made as many bubble nests as usual, but I'm sure the whole event stressed him out.

[SST]

Get a turkey baster. It'll be your best friend when cleaning the tank. It does a great job getting the stuff out from in between the marbles. Unless they look gunky, there's no need to wash them.