Went round my mates house yesterday and saw a fish tank in the corner of his room.
Yuck.
A small corner tank with a few miserable looking WCMMs and millions and millions of snails is what greeted me. The water was tinted yellow and there was brown sludge underneath the gravel.
I asked him how he cleaned it and he said 'I change the filter cartridge every two weeks, and top it up once a month'.
I told him about how to properly clean your fish tank, i.e SQUEEZE filter cartridge every two weeks, gravel vac and water change whenever you clean the filter.
Anyway, I'm really concerned about the fish in it. I've never seen more sad-looking fish, their eyes were bulging, one of their stomachs was hideously bloated, and they all stayed clumped in one corner of the tank. I thought WCMMs were active?
Then I smelt the water.
I'm not joking, anyone here ever smelt a mixture of rotten eggs, cat pee and turd? No wonder the fish were darn unhappy.
I figured if he changed the cartridge every two weeks and never changes the water, the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels must be off the scales.
He does actually care about the fish, he just doesn't know how to care for them properly.
The good news is I'm going round his tomorrow armed with a bucket, gravel siphon, water conditioner and an algae scrubber and a snail killer medicine, courtesy of my fish supplies cupboard. The fish are gonna be so happy.
Anyone else know of anyone with a badly neglected and dirty tank?
I unfortunately don't have any additional advice. But I do say, OMG THANK YOU for doing what you're doing!!! Man, those poor fish, it sounds horrifying. You'll be their hero.
Why do you want to kill the snails? I would be careful with the snail killer medicine. If you kill off the snails and your friend does not remove them once they die it will probably build up a lot more ammonia from them being dead in the tank..It is really nice of you to show him how to clean his tank though!The fishies will be very happy with a clean tank.
I did a 90% water change, changed the gravel (it was so dirty he agreed to buy some), change the decor (Greek ruins look horrific, so do bright orange plastic plants), bought a new filter (whilst cleaning, we discovered the filter only let out a small trickle and even after cleaning it the filter was in no fit state, so his dad took us to the pet store to buy a new one (I pointed out the Fluval U2, he bought it). Now the tank is spotless and the fish were already active in the new clean water. The snails, however, went with the gravel change and there was only one left when we were finished.
@ Littlebitty the reason I wanted to kill the snails is because snails produce quite a lot of waste and there were hundreds in the tank, meaning that ammonia must have been sky high.
Oh, before i cleaned it, I tested the water and found that Ammonia was 2 mg/l, Nitrite was 1 mg/l and Nitrate was completely off the scale. Poor fish.
Now the Ammomia is 0.1, Nitrite 0.1 and Nitrate 5.
I did a 90% water change, changed the gravel (it was so dirty he agreed to buy some), change the decor (Greek ruins look horrific, so do bright orange plastic plants), bought a new filter (whilst cleaning, we discovered the filter only let out a small trickle and even after cleaning it the filter was in no fit state, so his dad took us to the pet store to buy a new one (I pointed out the Fluval U2, he bought it). Now the tank is spotless and the fish were already active in the new clean water. The snails, however, went with the gravel change and there was only one left when we were finished.
@ Littlebitty the reason I wanted to kill the snails is because snails produce quite a lot of waste and there were hundreds in the tank, meaning that ammonia must have been sky high.
Oh, before i cleaned it, I tested the water and found that Ammonia was 2 mg/l, Nitrite was 1 mg/l and Nitrate was completely off the scale. Poor fish.
Now the Ammomia is 0.1, Nitrite 0.1 and Nitrate 5.
I can honestly say I have never seen a tank reach 2 ammonia! How were those little fish alive.The only thing I was worried about was if the snails died and they weren't picked out is all. Sometimes when critters end up dieing in the tank it can cause even more of an ammonia spike.I am also partial to snails. I have 2 pet apple snails and 10+pond snails in my 10 gallon. They can produce quite a lot of mess,but it is not so bad with proper water changes/substrate vacuuming.
It is good you got new gravel and a new filter! Just make sure to tell your friend to keep an eye on his water parameters as he may go into a mini cycle if everything was redone.good job though, sounds like the fishies are on their way to a happy healthy environment!
Yes, it probably is going into a mini-cycle, but if the fish can cope with surviving their entire life being poisoned by their own waste, I think they can survive a few short weeks of small amounts of inbalance.
I would get a picture, only my camera has completely packed up and my friend doesn't have one.
Please don't kill me. I used to be like him, a red VT betta, bruce, in a half gallon bowl. Only gravel and a little plant. It was my first fish ever and was before I joined this website. I just followed the pet stores instructions. Which meant a water change once a month. Once i went 3 months without ever changing the water. He lasted seven months. Now that i know how to take care of a fish and know about ammonia, I'm amazed it lasted more than two months.
The fish store keeps their bettas in half a cup of water and NEVER change it, bettas go about a week. When a new shipment comes in, they flush the old, not sold LIVE BETTA FISH down the toilet. I reported them to the BBB. Hopefully they will get shut down.
Again, please dont kill me. I know how my girl in a 2.5 and my boy picasso and a 3. They both get weekly 90% water changes. I leave just enough room for them to swim in. And then a monthly 100%. Plus each month I change the tanks themes so they have a new tank to explore. Of course only have about 4 themes, so I just do a rotation. (don't kill me)
And by the way i like greek ruins. Its one of my themes for the cycle, my boys tank has greek right now.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
How were those little fish alive.
They can produce quite a lot of mess,but it is not so bad with proper water changes/substrate vacuuming.
Only gravel and a little plant. It was my first fish ever and was before I joined this website. I just followed the pet stores instructions. Which meant a water change once a month. Once i went 3 months without ever changing the water. He lasted seven months. Now that i know how to take care of a fish and know about ammonia, I'm amazed it lasted more than two months. 
