HELP with neglected tank ( about 10 years....)

[VictoriaC]

Long story short.
My neighbor has about 30 gal tank... added new fish ..

1. the tank she has houses a very old gold fish ( 14 years) that is blind, no scales, no fins, etc)
2. she never changed water ( gravel was NEVER siphoned)
3. she added ,mollies, albino corry, otto

I decided to help her - and performed about 45% water change.... i dont think that even half of the poop and debris was taken out ... its till dirty with shells on the bottom that are full of stuff..
so i tried asking her if she wants to get rid of shells - no...
plastic plants where rinsed - but they are soo old they fall apart...

anyways now i am worried that this quite large water change will shock the fish ....
i did a water test and it pretty much confirmed that ammonia is close to 0 ( tint of green) nitrites are 0... and nitrates are off the chart - 160 or more..... PH about 7.6

So.. now my question is - what should she do....

 

[vanimal]

Well, she should not own fish! IMO...

 

[VictoriaC]

i thought this would be one of the answers... but her logic is that the old fish lived for 14 years and it all was fine...
and now i hope nothing happens from my good intentions...

i cant clean it for her every week ...
she's a good person really she's not a kid too - her daughter is over 20..

 

[vanimal]

Well maybe try to teach her to care for her tank. Try to encourage her or maybe have her daughter help out

 

[Samzter]

You can't keep the fish for a while could you? Maybe why she learns how to do water changes and stuff. Then just clean the tank out . Does she have a filter?

 

[blert]

If you feel like it... Call around to the LFSs and price out how much they charge to maintain the tank for her. Ask her if she would be interested in that and give her the research you did. Or ask her if she would be willing to pay you to tend it for her.

 

[christine2012]

Are you saying she went 14 years without a water change? ???
Sheesh, if you really like her you should buy her a book :/

Everyone is saying she isn't fit to look after these fish but it's not very helpful

1. Give the glass a good scrub down and make sure all the algi is off the sides.
2. Syphon the gravel and get rid of all the debris you can collect. If the gravel still looks really dirty and mucky take some of it out and clean it individually or you can take it all out.
3. Do a 50% water Change. If you want try doing a 75% change.

Make sure she does regular water changes about 25% weekly. I'm quite surprised they lasted so long!!!

Yeah but I think were all processing the shock lol

 

[MrsFreshwater]

Everyone is saying she isn't fit to look after these fish but it's not very helpful

1. Give the glass a good scrub down and make sure all the algi is off the sides.
2. Syphon the gravel and get rid of all the debris you can collect. If the gravel still looks really dirty and mucky take some of it out and clean it individually or you can take it all out.
3. Do a 50% water Change. If you want try doing a 75% change.

Make sure she does regular water changes about 25% weekly. I'm quite surprised they lasted so long!!!

 

[Gail]

OM!! I'm sitting here at my computer with my mouth open (can't seem to get it closed) after reading your post.

 

[Convict2161]

I'll add my 2 cents. I didn't read the whole thread so forgive me.

No water change for over 10 years. Not sure the water quality BUT IMO you have to watch with the water changes. If it were me I'd do smaller water changes over a weeks time then a major one after that. I think a major water change may shock the fish. If the water is bad and they have adapted to those conditions i.e. pH, nitrAtes, ammonia etc... By altering all of those fast with a massive water change "I think" may do more harm then good (I could be total off here)

It's just something that was talked about a while ago about the convict tank at the FD. we had to do small water changes over a weeks time because the fish had adapted to the conditions.

I agree you should gravel vac and then do a small water change. Keep testing so you see what's changing and how fast. And monitor the fish as well.

IMO this should be a slow process and a carefully executed one as well.

Again this is just what comes to mind when I think of the situation. Maybe I'm over thinking it but one massive water change seems like it will throw all parameters way off and you have to think about this....

Whatever they are now the fish somehow and amazingly adapted to it.

Just my thoughts... Take it for what you will

 

[Laser]

I never know what to do with people like this, they always seem set in their ways and it's not just concerning aquariums. If it's not broken don't fix it should not apply when living things are involved. The state of her goldfish sounds pitiful. I would try to use that as a selling point that what she is doing isn't right. Show her some healthy goldfish.

 

[brennae]

I agree with small water changes, I've witnessed the results of massive water changes in such an unkempt tank and it was deadly. I don't really understand the reason why she put tropical fish in with a blind old goldfish. 2 different water parameters there. Maybe explain and offer to take some (all if the fish are lucky) off her hands? I can't believe the goldfish is that old!! Wow they are hardy creatures!

 

[VictoriaC]

Thank you every one...
Now i hope the fish did not get stressed from this waterchange i did.. i just could not stop as all the stuff was comping up the vac... if they survived tonight - they should be fine i hope

As for the new fish she got - she just bought 2 mollies, cory and otto...like 2 days ago.. because she found a dead "algae eater" not sure what kind...

I would love to take them, but i have a problem of my own and looking for a bigger tank on craigslist - i have a 10 gal with pregnant molly and 10 fry + 5 neons and an otto. But at least they look act healthy and i'm doing changes 2 a week to keep nitrates low.

she has a filter and a heater ( yes for the gold fish) and she keeps temperature around 75
i can only help so much - and she would not spend money on a service to clean it.. and probably it would cost more than a new setup to clean all that mess... if fish are fine i'll try to get in with my siphon again.

 

[brennae]

I would love to take them, but i have a problem of my own and looking for a bigger tank on craigslist - i have a 10 gal with pregnant molly and 10 fry + 5 neons and an otto. But at least they look act healthy and i'm doing changes 2 a week to keep nitrates low.


If you live near Chicago my friend has about 20 tanks he's not using. Seriously.

 

[VictoriaC]

I'm in LA

With tight budget, small space and a toddler
I found a couple 35 gal hex that would be perfect - now just trying to contact owners So i will be creating a stocking advice thread sometime this week for this new tank.

I sold a 5 gal that i had -it housed fry for first 2 months, and i sold it to upgrade along with some fry for their 20 gallon

So this is a temporary solution... at least there is no poop and water is good

i also have a betta in 2 gallon... he was sooo sick i thought it was time to flush him ( gills did not move and he had rotting top lip) - but 2 weeks later with some pimafix, gen. cure and methyl blue hes making bubbles again and healed.. don't know what it was!

 

[coolchinchilla]

My grandmother had a tank like this. And she got old enough that physically she could not do water changes, only add water. I lived too far away to care for it. So I insisted that she get more filters. It was a 10 gallon and I got her a new HOB and a sponge filter with air pump. This helped. At least it made *me* feel better, not sure about the fish.

Good luck,
---ccc

 

[VictoriaC]

Well the fish survived my water change so far )
so i'll try to help some more if she lets me and maybe convince her to get an airpump.

What makes it harder to do the change is that the tank is sitting 4 inches off the floor inside the stand and there is bunch of stuff on the shelf. SO while its fine siphoning water out - you cant just pour the water inn with a bucket...

 

[Chiroptera]

Goldfish can live through notoriously bad water conditions, it comes as no surprise to me. It's not right, but it happens. I'd replace all the gravel, get her some new ones. The colors probably faded, and I'm sure she'll enjoy the brightness.

There's nothing wrong with this woman. She's just ignorant, and the goldfish lived, so she had no reason to think she was doing anything wrong.

Gently correct her. Positive reinforcement, tell her how wonderful her fish are, and that she has an awesome setup, and then gently suggest she do water changes. Or, offer to do them for her for $5 a pop. List the health benifits, and how happy the fish would be, but do it softly.

Some of the people who commented were quite rude, she probably had the best intentions, but we all need a guide to push us in the right directions sometimes!

 

[christine2012]

Did you get a chance to test her water? I'm curious to see those results.

Goldfish can live through notoriously bad water conditions, it comes as no surprise to me. It's not right, but it happens. I'd replace all the gravel, get her some new ones. The colors probably faded, and I'm sure she'll enjoy the brightness.

There's nothing wrong with this woman. She's just ignorant, and the goldfish lived, so she had no reason to think she was doing anything wrong.

Gently correct her. Positive reinforcement, tell her how wonderful her fish are, and that she has an awesome setup, and then gently suggest she do water changes. Or, offer to do them for her for $5 a pop. List the health benifits, and how happy the fish would be, but do it softly.

Some of the people who commented were quite rude, she probably had the best intentions, but we all need a guide to push us in the right directions sometimes!

I totally agree. There's nothing like some positive reinforcement to get her doing it the right way anything less will discourage her from trying to learn.

 

[hpiguy]

This is going to be blunt, but I bet if the fish die now, she'll blame you and the water change you did.

I hope they make it.