*updated* Fish Tank Crisis, Can You Give Me Some Advice? *updated*

[Channti]

Hello,

First off, the tank in question is in a grade one classroom at an elementary school I'm doing a co-op placement in (work for school credits). I noticed the rough condition of the tank this morning while I was in the room and after questioning the teacher taking care of it, I found she knew absolutely nothing about caring for fish besides feeding them (she looked at me like I was crazy when I asked her what she knew about cycling or if the water was treated.)

I'm not sure what kind of goldfish she has in the tank (She doesn't know what it is either). It's about an inch long, and looks to be fairly basic (no fancy tails/eyes/head). It's in a 1 gallon fish tank that looks to be in a bit of a crisis. I have a 15 gallon tropical and a 10 gallon tropical tank at home, so I have all of the basics to treat the water. Anyway.. Here's a little about the tank.

The tank reeks. The water smells awful, and is slightly cloudy. I plan to do a water change tomorrow and clean the glass/gravel. I assume that I can use AquaPlus (the water conditioner), and Cycle (by Nutrafin) to help the tank along a little. The fish in the tank has early stages of fin-rot, so I had planned to take in my melafix and pimafix in just in case the fish has any other problems. The tank is not filtered, but it does have an air stone. Should I take some of my filter floss with me to put into the tank? Or should I not bother?

I have volunteered to do maintenance on the tank as the class has already lost three goldfish, and I'd really rather that no more fish die due to the severe water conditions. A bigger tank is not an option, and the teacher is not willing to purchase a filter. Unfortunately, I do not have a spare filter at home that I can use (one of my main filters broke last week, so my spare is already in use).

Obviously, as the fish are in a class full of 7 year olds, getting rid of the fish in there is not an option as the kids have grown quite attached to it. I realize that goldfish require much more tank space and filtration, but in this case, it isn't possible.

Is there anything you suggest besides the above to ensure that the fish lives as healthily as possible in the tank?

Thanks.
Hopefully I can prevent Mr. Squiggles from a premature death.

 

[emma12321]

personally i'd tell them it died and take it home and accidentally break their tank so they can't put some other poor fish in the same situation. Whats the point if they have already worked their way through numerous fish it is obviously a no win situation. Try and get some kids books on the proper care of fish for the school.

 

[Channti]

personally i'd tell them it died and take it home and accidentally break their tank so they can't put some other poor fish in the same situation. Whats the point if they have already worked their way through numerous fish it is obviously a no win situation. Try and get some kids books on the proper care of fish for the school.

This was my first thought, but I don't have tank space for a goldfish. Both of my tanks are heated and stocked to capacity. I'm going to try to provide as healthy an environment as possible, given the materials I have to work with. Hopefully I can make "Mr. Squiggles" live. With a little treatment and very regular tank maintenance (I was thinking daily pwc's, or every-other day pwc's).

Getting rid of the tank is not an option.
Any advice on upkeep to keep it in fairly healthy running condition? He only needs to live in the tank for a little over a month, and over that time I'll convince the teacher to allow me to re-home him.

 

[Honeythorn]

The only thing you can do is daily 75-100% water changes. Without fail. and try to keep feeding to a minimum if possible to cut down on waste.

And you need to inform the teacher that a 1 gallon tank is absolutely and completely unsuitable for ANY fish in existance ( no not even a betta ) . The teacher must also be informed of their cruelty regardless of wether it is through ignorance , there is NO excuse not to read a basic book on fish care , especially for an adult.

That goldfish needs to be rehomed asap with someone who has a 40 gallon tank or bigger, or preferably a pond as they are simply a type of carp and grow to over 10 inches long.

Why can't they have a bigger tank for something more suitable? ( don't say space issues, space can be made in most cases )

 

[Channti]

The only thing you can do is daily 75-100% water changes. Without fail. and try to keep feeding to a minimum if possible to cut down on waste.

And you need to inform the teacher that a 1 gallon tank is absolutely and completely unsuitable for ANY fish in existance ( no not even a betta ) . The teacher must also be informed of their cruelty regardless of wether it is through ignorance , there is NO excuse not to read a basic book on fish care , especially for an adult.

That goldfish needs to be rehomed asap with someone who has a 40 gallon tank or bigger, or preferably a pond as they are simply a type of carp and grow to over 10 inches long.

Why can't they have a bigger tank for something more suitable? ( don't say space issues, space can be made in most cases )

I've definitely informed the teacher of all of what you said.... but you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you know? She listened, but I don't think she was actually paying attention to what I said. I'm only a high school student working in the classroom, so the teachers don't have to listen to my input.

I'll do the upkeep on the tank. Only issue will be weekends, but as he's survived weekends thus far, he should be fine (hopefully). I've already informed the teacher about all of this. I've got a ton of young guppies and offered her those instead (the tank is actually warm enough to house tropical fish without a heater), but she declined because she had a heater.

My friend's mom has a pond where I can re-home Mr. Squiggles in a month, but the pond isn't ready for inhabitants yet.

They can't have a bigger tank for the following reasons: Budget problems and school rules. There's a ton of regulations concerning class pets in the school, and their classroom budget won't permit them to buy a larger tank. It's getting close to the end of the year, so the budget is pretty much spent.

Thanks.

Should I bring some of my filter floss in to put in the tank to help it with the cycle? The tank wasn't cycled at all before fish were added, and the tank smells awful (like mine did when it was cycling). I haven't tested the water as I didn't have anything to test with at the school, but I'd guess it to be in a bit of a cycle crisis.

 

[Tolak]

What is the size of this tank? If they have an air pump you can build a filter & add some cycled floss; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=85297

This would be better than an air stone. Watch changing too much water at once until you test the tank & tap. If they ar reasonably close change away, if they are widely differing it would be safer to do daily smaller changes for about a week.

 

[Channti]

What is the size of this tank? If they have an air pump you can build a filter & add some cycled floss; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=85297"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=85297[/URL]

This would be better than an air stone. Watch changing too much water at once until you test the tank & tap. If they ar reasonably close change away, if they are widely differing it would be safer to do daily smaller changes for about a week.

1 Gallon.

I don't have any spare airline tubing around, so that'll be my project for Thursday night. I've gotta change the filter cartridges in my guppy tank, so I figured I could grab a chunk of the filter.

 

[saph.st24]

hi
please do not do a 75%-100% water changes this will be to much of a shock for the fish 50% then 20% every other day with out fail

 

[Channti]

hi
please do not do a 75%-100% water changes this will be to much of a shock for the fish 50% then 20% every other day with out fail

I'm going in this morning and removing the fish from the tank in order to take the tank apart. The tank is gross, and needs a real clean. I'll keep some of the water, but I plan to do 50% today (I'd never do a 75% to 100% unless it was completely necessary), 20% Tuesday-Friday any other week, and 50% every Monday (because I can't do water changes on the weekend. I'm going to the LFS tonight to get the stuff I need to build the sponge filter. I'm going to treat the tank with melafix and pimafix to attempt to get rid of the fin-rot she's got. I've postponed my own tank cleanings another day so that I can use part of my filter cartridge in the sponge filter.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions on how I can keep this tank as healthy as is possible given the circumstances?

Thank you to everyone who has responded thus far.

 

[Channti]

Update:

I did a 50% water change about 2 hours ago. I'm going to have to do another major change again tomorrow. The water is still incredibly cloudy, but not as bad as it was. I explained to the teacher (and the students), that I had given their fish "medication" (melafix/pimafix) and am going to be cleaning his home for the next few days so that he's happier.

I gave the teacher specific instruction _not_ to touch the water, not to add anything to the water, and not to feed the fish more than 4 flakes a day (as there was a ton of rotting flake in the gravel). Tomorrow I am going to take the tank apart, rinse out the gravel and put in a small sponge filter, and hopefully get the tank a little clearer.

I'm going to ask a really dumb question, but I haven't got any experience with them, so I guess it's worth asking. At the pet store they have these tabs that you can drop in the water to get rid of cloudiness and remove odours. What exactly do those tabs do? Should I put one in the water? Or should I stick with the traditional water changes until the water clears up.

 

[saph.st24]

hi
stick with the water changes as it sounds like the water is to far gone for the tabs to work

 

[Honeythorn]

They can't have a bigger tank for the following reasons: Budget problems and school rules. There's a ton of regulations concerning class pets in the school, and their classroom budget won't permit them to buy a larger tank. It's getting close to the end of the year, so the budget is pretty much spent.

You can get a much bigger tank for not too much money second hand or even free . Craigslist, garage sales ,freecycle, even ebay. Many often come with equpiment such as filters and heater, ornaments ect, so that's even less money she'd have to spend.

A 5 gallon tank will take up very little space, and could support 5 or so MALE guppies or endlers, or even galaxy rasboros, or a single betta . All those fish are small enough for a 5 gallon and pretty/bright enough to keep children interested.

Since she has a heater ( not needed for goldfish by the way ) all she'd need is a small Hang on the back filter or a small internal cannister filter. These can be found cheaply on ebay. Unless you happen to have one spare you can lend? Filled with mature media from on of your own filters, you would have an instantly cycled tank that can have fish added to it the same day as set up.


Seriously, you should be able to set up a 5 gallon for less than $30 if you source things correctly and look around .

Don't bother with things like tabs. They're a gimmick and do nothing. Water changes and regular maintenence are the best course of action.

 

[black angel]

all i can say is well done you for taking the time to try and do whats best for the fish...but..what kind of message is this sending children and how to care for a goldie?

seriously...take the goldfish away when you can and completely restart the tank with a few danios.

no amount of water changes is really going to do much for it unless you can do it every couple hours....i would pop it into a bucket of old and clean water, strip and redo the tank and fill with fresh clean water and put the fish back in.

 

[balapickerel]

all i can say is shame on that teacher for doing that to a fish, and to the other fish that have alllready died
i would never keep any size of goldfish in a tank less than 100 litres, a goldfish should be able to live 20+ years, and thier goldfish haven't even lived a year it's a tradgedy, thank you for trying to help the poor chap

 

[Venus911]

Every school should have a goldfish tank, but at the same time; the lesson of how to keep goldfish should be taught. It's an excellent opportunity to give a lesson in biology, but think of how many goldfish would survive in the world instead of being bred for a tragic demise.

This teacher has taught a lesson alright, and not one that we want our children to learn; not someone I'd want teaching my kids.