Zoo Med Laboratories AZMBB7 Betta Banquet Blocks

Due to scary reviews, I tested these two days before actually needing them and they dissolved just fine in (spring/drinking) water. In fact, they were dissolving quickly so I took them out of water to have some left to actually use. I have a 2 gal tank with no filter and was aware of potential ammonia building up quickly so I only used a quarter of a tablet. When I got back after 4 days, the water had some dusting at the top but was ultimately clean and my fish ate the pellets just fine. I recommend testing these before your vacation just to see if they work for you, how long it takes them to dissolve, and whether your fish even likes the pellets inside.

Worked for what It was intended for

I have a very happy and healthy female Betta in a 5 gallon, filtered tank by herself. I went away for 4 days and left 1 Banquet Block on top of her Betta leaf. When I returned 4 days later, my poor Betta was laying beside a partially dissolved Banquet Block, covered in pinkish residue (that also covered the leaf) and she could barely move.I immediately got her out of the tank and into a container with clean water. Then had to empty and clean out the entire tank because the pinkish residue had coated some of the rocks and made the water look gritty.Once the tank was cleaned, I had to stabilise the small container within the tank (so the water would remain warm from the tank heater). I had to keep my female Betta in the small container so she could still reach the surface. She could barely move, was laying on her side and I thought she may die.I fed her teeny tiny pieces of cooked pea (that work as a laxative in fish) for 4 days and slowly she got better and back to her normal, healthy self.I DO NOT recommend this product for female Bettas and IF you decide to try it with a male, I highly recommend testing your Betta with one BEFORE going out of town to see how your Betta copes with it.

Was gone on a 14 day vacation, left two of these in my 5 gallon betta tank and when I returned, they were kinda like goo on the bottom of the tank. Still relatively easy to remove. I also placed 1 in a glass of water for "science" and that one remained in its original form for 21 days before I gave up on my experiment. I never saw any food rise to the surface.And yet, the fish lived, so maybe it works? 4 stars

We went on a week long trip and left 2 tablets just in case for one fish. Came back to a clean tank and an alive fish so it seemed to work. Not sure about the cloudiness people have complained about but we do use a filter.

Because our family was going camping for a week, we had to leave my daughter's precious betta at home to fend for himself. We place a single Zoo Med Betta Banquet Block in his tank to help feed him through the week and hoped that it would get the job done well because we didn't have the foresight to test it for more than a day before we left. Thankfully the Betta Banquet Block did its job. When we got home, he was well and alive, but seemed either really excited to see him, or really hungry. We noticed he looked a bit thin, so we fed him as usual and noticed he looked a little more like his normal self by the end of the week. The block didn't cloud the water (presumably because we also have a decent filter in the tank), and it didn't make a mess at the bottom of the tank as we placed the block in a small bowl before we left. There was a think layer of mush in the bottom of the bowl our betta didn't eat.We then tested the Betta Banquet a week later while we were home, just to see how well the block dissolved and how much food it would release. The block ended up completely dissolving within 5 days and left the same red mush in the bowl that our betta again didn't eat. It explained why he was so thin - it didn't seem to release a lot of floating food (bettas won't eat food at the bottom of the tank) and it stopped feeding him by day 5. If you're going for 7-8 days, your fish will likely not have food for 2-3 days. While it's unlike it will kill your fish, this is still something to be aware of, especially if you have shrimp or other fish in your tank. While we're probably going to just feel our betta the remainder of the blocks, we will likely purchase an automatic feeder for future vacations. This block will serve its purpose for short excursions, but if you're planning to be gone for more than 4-5 days, an electric automatic feeder is a safer bet that your fish will get enough food.

This product is perfect. I can travel and still know my betta is being fed.

We used this for our fish when we went out of town for 4 days. Kept the fish alive so a lot easier than trying to figure out an alternative plan.