Bad Betta Sitter Rant

[lvandert]

Alright So i am out of town for just over a week so i got someone to watch my fishies whiles I was gone. I left detailed instructions how to feed them and what not. I got a text about half way through that I may have to change my water when I get back because its cloudy. I planned on the water change but there is NO way the water should be cloudy. Then she tells me that she may be over feeding them. She was only stopping once a day so I had her feeding them 3-4 pellets OR 2 freeze dried blood worms (her choice on which) and no more. I have a feeling she did the "oh you still look hungry, you poor dear I'll give you some more" I was going to attempt a spawn when I got back but now that they've been in cloudy water (probably high in NH3) I may have to treat for ammonia burn or worse...

[bettalover2000]

I hear about some of these sitters... They just don't get it.

[Bombalurina]

My last sitter ignored my instructions about pushing my filter down so it stayed below the water as it evaporated...I came back to find it a good two inches above the water line, and the goldfish tank developed an algal bloom.

[lvandert]

OMG my poor babies! I just got home and omg! such neglect! I knew something was wrong when I walked in the door and I was hit with this stench of rotting something...It was all 5 of my tanks with rotting food on top of their water and under. One was so bad it looked like there was dwarfs beard hanging from the plants UNDER the water! One of my girls (Big Red) is already sensitive because I think she was a fighter with her previous owner so she has some scale and skin problems, and she is horrible! She's got skin just rotting away and scales falling off everywhere and her tail has a chunk missing with white edges :'C I took every one out of their tanks and put them in pint mason jars for the night. Luckily my 5 gal with 3 snails, a sponge filter and just its sheer size didn't get horrible like my others so I have at least semi clean water for the night (I use the same chemical balance in every tank) I scrubbed every one of their tanks and rinsed their gravel with scalding hot water until it ran clean along with any plant/decoration. I'm going to go to petsmart tomorrow and get a gallon cage, antibiotics, a better water testing kit and probably some fin rot stuff. I'll attach some pics but beware they are horrible!

[MollyJean]

This is after a week? What in the world did your sitter do?? I've never seen anything like it! Is this a friend or a service or what?

[Aus]

One week??? What did she do, dump a week's worth of food in at once? That's a bit beyond the results of a little 'overfeeding', I think.

It's hard to think how else a tank could go that bad so quickly. Your poor fish. I hope they all recover well.

[miish]

Thats terrible!! How did the sitter manage to make them THAT disgusting! Poor fish!

[Fin2you]

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!! Fin's blowing healing bubbles your way! keep us updated on how they're doing!

[GuppyBetta]

I hope your fish get better! That must be horrible to have seen when you got home! All of your fish are still alive, right?

[VikingPrincess]

My gosh! Thats horrible!
Poor fish!

Things like this is why I have a hard time trusting people to look after my pets.