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Hi there,

my neighbour asked me to "fishsit" his acquarium with 3 orange fishies and some babies in it. As you can tell, I have no experience whatsoever with fish, and thought it would be nice to see what it was like in case I ever wanted to get an acquarium myself.

My 3-year-old daughter decided today that the fish needed food, and poured a whole tin of fish flakes into the tank. The stuff was 2-inch deep in the acquarium, and I decided I really needed to get the food out before it poisoned the water.

After decanting the fish into a bucket (with the original tank water), I bailed out all the contaminated water and gravel and washed the flakes off it.

I had to refill some of the water from the tab (the fish are freshwater tropical fish) and resettled the fish after a while once the water had cleared up.

The fish were fine initially, but then started to defecate like mad, to the point where the whole tank smells and is really murky.

My question: is there anything else I can do? Will they survive until the owner comes back on Monday? I feel REALLY guilty - can somebody help?

Thanks,

Marion

did you dechlorinate the water? Chlorine in tap water can harm a fish. there should be a product there like aqua plus that you add to the new water before putting it in the tank. Is there a gravel siphon there? If you can find one (it will look like this http://www.marineland.com/products/consumer/con_siphon.asp ) I would use the siphon to get that gunk out, and so you can do smaller, more frequent water changes. When you add new water back in, make sure that it is dechlorinated, and of the same temperature as the water in the tank, or it will strss the fish and they will get sick. Any questions just ask

By the way, I really admire the fact that you came on to a forum and asked for advice about what to do, it shows you are a caring and responsible person

Thanks guppylove,

I didn't know about dechlorinating the water - thanks for the advice! They seem a bit better this morning, with a bit of luck, they'll pull through until the owner comes back. Wow, there's a lot more to this than just feeding and forget about them!

Marion

Don't be afraid to let them know what happened when they get back so they can check all they need to. I KNOW I'd be greatful if some one 'fessed up to me that that had happened. Good on you for asking for help