Not feeding for a few days?

[Mercfh]

I assume this is probably safe to do but I wanted to run it by everyone. Right now im fighting hair algae bad in my 55 gallon. I usually (over) feed every other day. I think im going to turn the lights off for the next week and maybe not feed for a few days.

All my fish are pretty fat. What is a safe period to not feed you think to let algae die back?

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/15/2024 at 9:06 PM, Mercfh said:

I assume this is probably safe to do but I wanted to run it by everyone. Right now im fighting hair algae bad in my 55 gallon. I usually (over) feed every other day. I think im going to turn the lights off for the next week and maybe not feed for a few days.

All my fish are pretty fat. What is a safe period to not feed you think to let algae die back?

They will be fine without food for several days. Up to maybe, 5-7 days would be ok for food. 

[lefty o]

a few days to a week , some times even more is not a big issue for healthy fish.

[Lennie]

I would manually clean all the hair algae possible and buy a juvenile group of true Saes, like four of them, and try to change one thing at the time like lighting, ferts, etc. and observe long term effects.

As a person who commonly has issues with hair algae, if the tank size is big enough, SAEs are my choice. They work amazing in my experience, even as adults.

I never have issues in where I keep SAEs in. They graze nonstop. And you should get the true SAEs 

[Schuyler]

For reference, most fish brought to conventions are faster for around three days before being bagged to reduce ammonia buildup. Then they're bagged the say before, them bright to the convention, and then they're there for a day or two before being bright home. 

So realistically those fish are going a week without eating while also being in a stressful situation. Your fish will be just fine for a week staying in there normal tank and grazing on microorganisms.

[Pepere]

I agree that well fed fish can go a week without feeding, but shutting off the lights and not feeding would not be the course of action to deal with hair algae that I would be taking.

 

it sure has the appeal of low effort.  Flip off a few switches and walk away….,  

 

[Whitecloud09]

On 8/16/2024 at 5:10 AM, Pepere said:

I agree that well fed fish can go a week without feeding, but shutting off the lights and not feeding would not be the course of action to deal with hair algae that I would be taking.

 

it sure has the appeal of low effort.  Flip off a few switches and walk away….,  

 

Yes I agree about the light I was thinking about maybe the light off for a week...

[mynameisnobody]

You have too many nutrients or light, something is imbalanced. Shut off lights and stop feeding. I would do a water change after the week is up but be sure to pull whatever you can out manually.