I'm very upset

[lmw80]

I have a 2 gallon betta tank that I have had on my desk in my office for about 2 or 2 1/2 years. I have never had a problem anywhere near or like this before. I saw some weird glob formation on the side of my tank so I went to look closer, and I see betta pellets, lots and lots of betta pellets on the bottom of the tank, floating, stuck to the filter intake, on the side of my tank. It's disgusting and I am very upset and mad. Like I said, I have had this tank on my desk for 2+ years and have never had a problem before. I feed him mid-end of the work day only a few pellets. Sometimes co-workers come in and ask to feed him and they do it like I tell them to. I showed the office manager when she was in my office and she thinks possibly the cleaning people brought their kids in with them last night. Looks like I am gonna have to hide the pellets from now on. I will add some fresh water today to top off the tank, but I am bringing in a vacuum and a bucket tomorrow to get them all out of there. I am just so upset.

Thanks for listening and letting me vent!

 

[Melody]

maybe leave a post it on the tank that "this betta is an attack fish, and will jump up and bite the fingers of any smallish person that might place fingers close by"
Or this one might be easier... "DO NOT feed me"

That stinks that you have to even worry about it. Lets hope it doesnt happen again.

 

[Hara]

the good thing is you noticed it before major damage was done...I would be upset too.

 

[lmw80]

maybe leave a post it on the tank that "this betta is an attack fish, and will jump up and bite the fingers of any smallish person that might place fingers close by"

Melody, you've met me, you know I am a smallish person!

Hara, yeah, I am very glad I noticed this now.

 

[Fluff]

That sucks Lori. Glad your betta is ok. I shudder to think of other possibilities that could have been put in there by the "cleaning peoples children". Melody has seen me and I'm a big person. I'm one who might wait around for the cleaning crew.

 

[Melody]

hehe... I can see us all now... sitting behind the desk after lights out, waiting for kids to ambush....
Ok Lori... so your a smallish person, but your Betta likes you... hey, guard dogs dont generally attack their owners... so whats the diff?

 

[Jchillin]

Lori...I can certainly understand the frustration (not at being small) but having others interfere with your property, not to mention the fact that they are fish. I like the idea of ambushing the perpetrators though....

*On a side note...I did have problems reading the title of your post..

 

[Meredith]

I am glad your little fish is ok. I would be SO mad. Its not only bad for your poor fishie but someone took something that did not belong to them and used it with out asking. That is what really gets me.
A funny story about a lady I knew... she had some kid from her day care decide her fish looked hungry, and dropped a hotdog in the bowl. 8O that poor fish did not make it.

 

[lmw80]

*On a side note...I did have problems reading the title of your post..

I have no idea what you're talking about

 

[webmoose]

I can relate to the public tank problem.. I've had a few of my own at work.. The one that freaked me out the worst was someone kicked off the power to the heater and filter on my brichardi tank.. I wasn't pleased.

Hope your fish makes it thru this ok.

Mooose

 

[kansaschick08]

how rude!! (said like stephani tanner on full house) that's not cool though..

 

[lyquidphyre]

I would definatly hide the fish pellets and put up a little stick it note that says "Don't feed me, I bite" or something like that

Anytime my sister came over id have to hide the fish food cuz she would just dump some in the tank.. so i know how mad that can make a person

good luck

 

[SsSarahsS]

I had a similar thing happen webmoose with my SW tank. I live with roomates and one of them was having a party, I specifically said before I left for no one to touch the fish tank. Of course they didn't listen. I have my lights on a timer and I guess they were trying to turn them on to see the fish. Somehow they shut the power bar off (which runs the filter and heat) When I came home after the weekend my tank had a thick film on the top of the water and the temp had dropped from 80 to 68. Thank god my tank ended up being alright and I didn't loose any of my $150 + livestock. I would have been devastated

 

[TankGirl]

OMG that's horrible! This is something that I worry about around my house, since I have so many tanks and two very bold, busy, inquisitive 4-year-olds. I used to let them help me feed the fish when they were tiny but I soon stopped, and now the rule is nobody can touch anything associated with my tanks but me - period.

I am sure whoever is doing this does not realize what could (almost did!) happen, so maybe keep the food in your purse or in a locked drawer so there is no way to get at it without you there.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I had a deal like this happen here at my house a few years ago. I came home from work to find my oscar tank FULL of pellets. My two kids were trying to help me out by feeding the fish and dumped the WHOLE can of pellets in the tank. I couldnt get mad because they were young and after all they were trying to help.
What a MESS!! I had to use the python to suck them all out.
Thank God they were not in there very long.

Anyway,

Lori Im glad you caught this early and hope it doesnt cause problems for your betta.

 

[lmw80]

K, I did like an 80% water change and there's still more food in there, but that will have to wait till monday. Don't want to shock my little buddy. I'll do another 20-25% on Monday.

 

[An t-iasg]

Wow, there's still more food in there? Can you tell from the food container how much they may have dumped?

Like TankGirl said, I'm sure whoever it was doesn't realize the consequences of massive overfeeding, but then again, the fact is that someone tampered with something that they had no business touching. I hope your little fishy is ok!

 

[lmw80]

thanks guys. He seems to be doing alright. The container only had a little whole in it to dump the pellets out in, and I don't remember last time I "felt" to see how much was left.

 

[Menagerie]

:shocked: Definately time to hide the pellets!