[jessriggy]

I've got to go away this weekend from friday to sunday night.

Last time i went away it didn't go well for my boy Doug. I am in the middle of a cycle so I was worried about leaving the water. When i came back they'd somehow screwed with the filter so it had come apart (its a sponge filter) so his water wasnt filtering, he was overfed, had bitten his tail in distress/boredom and it just was completely messed up.

THIS time I'm still cycling but very hesitant to let anyone near him. Could i just do a big water change (say, 50%?), feed him a little extra tonight and tomorrow morning (i would leave tomorrow say, 9am) and leave him for the weekend? I'm worried about ammonia build up and not being fed plus boredom, but do you think its safer to leave him instead of having someone mess with the tank?

 

[givemethatfish]

What size tank is he in? I would do as big a water change as you can, don't feed him tomorrow morning, and leave him without feeding. He will be totally fine for that time period without food. That's much better than overfeeding, and he will produce less waste that way, so you won't have to worry as much about water quality.

If you're worried about boredom, stick an extra decoration in there with him. Or if you have one, a clean ping-pong ball or a plastic bottle cap. For my desktop betta at work, I have some toy action figures I station around the outside of his tank when I leave for the weekend. He's always fine in Monday morning.

 

[jessriggy]

It's 5 gallon around abouts ☺ I've struggled with boredom before, he tends to tailbite if left alone for a while. I won't have an ammonia build up?

 

[givemethatfish]

If you do as close to a 100% water change as you can before you leave and don't feed him while you're gone, you should be fine with ammonia. If it's the same person/people caring for your tank while you're gone this time as last time, I'm not sure I would risk anyone's hands in your tank. If you use Prime as your water conditioner, you could add a double dose before you leave to help with the ammonia. If I recall, when I was doing my first cycle with 1 betta in a 5 gallon tank, it would take about 3-4 days for the ammonia to build up to .25 or higher, and that was with regular feedings. With no food, I wouldn't worry about the ammonia for just a long weekend.

 

[jessriggy]

oh it was awful, i walked in and saw it and heaved a big sigh. I'm wondering whether the fin biting could have been stress from the whole experience too, so I'd rather leave them out of the process entirely.

The ammonia has never been over .25 in the whole time i've been cycling it, I've been doing minimum 25% daily water changes for three weeks so it hasnt had the chance I dont have any more decorations so ill shuffle his around a bit when i do the change before i go, hopefully it'll make it interesting enough whilst im gone.