I'snt it sad!

[judgemax]

A freind of mine has a ten gallon tank that was given to her ...in this tank she has two albino tiger barbs, two silver dollars, 4 neons , 1 red tailed shark, 4 serpea tetras a very small algea eater its all black and hasn't grown in three years,and one white skirt tetra...now that alone is not the worst part she does no maintanance on this tank what so ever! the only time in the four years or so that she has owned this tank, she has cleaned it is when her son dumped a bottle of fish food in there! she even has that ugly build up of calcium on the top inch and a half of the tank from just refilling it from evaporation!....her fish are all alive, i dont know how ...but its funny because she always compliments me on my tanks and tells me how much she likes them but she doesnt put any effort into hers? she makes fun of me and says i am a fish freak ..lol ...and that hell i even pet mine but jeez don't ya think after all the advice and offers to maintain the tank for free for her shed get the hint and take a little better care of it? why bother owning one if its so crappy looking its not even worth looking at ? i mean my qt tank looks better than her tank? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[NatakuTseng]

One of the probs you may encounter if you do start taking care of that tank is a sudden change in the water values. If you start doing WCs on there you may actually have a large die off of fish because your changing the water from being nitrate laden and SUPER hard to one thats fairly clean. Its kinda odd I know but its about the same as going from clean to a non cycled tank.

[YoFishboy]

I guess it's like the old saying..."you can lead a horse ta water.....". People come to this hobby with varied opinions about what it is to have fish. I guess its a matter of how certain people value life, no matter what the creature is, and if they understand the responsability they hold for that animal's care. It sounds like you have done your part to offer assistance, and, maybe, if you continue to offer subtle ways to improve the lot of your friend's fish, she will catch on someday. Take care!

[Blinky]

I've actually heard and seen worse, but yes it's a bit sad. As NatakuTseng said, the tank almost certainly has OTS ('old tank syndrome'), so if you do start to care for it (or better yet, show her how), start with tiny water changes and change things very gradually.

[WinterWind]

Eeek...that's terribly overstocked...could you offer to take the fish if you have the space for them?

[flyfly]

old tank syndrome... thats a new one to me. I would have never guessed fish could survive in conditions like that. And here Ive been doing all these water changes for nothin... :)

[led_zeppelin]

It kills me when i see fish abused like that. Such beutiful creatures put in terrible conditions. Its great to see people get into the hobby but alot of them dont look at a fish and see a life, all some of them see is $5.00. It would be offly nice of you to try and take some of those fish of her hands.

[JosephMCorbett]

I was over a persons house the other day. He has a 5g tank with a few Tetras, Danios, ? and whatever in it. It's on top of his toddlers dresser. We got to talking about fishtanks and he had no idea about water changes. Apparently he has just been topping it off also....for years. His opinion was that I was crazy. His fish are alive, right? Well, I said, I couldn't believe it, I don't know how, and that ultimately there is a difference in being alive and thriving. With those conditions, you will never see your fish behaving normally. In fact all the fish were doing is staying stationary in the water and barely swimming at all. Sad.

[judgemax]

yes i did do some research on old tank syndrome and printed it out for her...hopefully she will understand what she is doing to her little pets...i tried explaining to her that she wouldn't keep her cat in a carrying cage without ever cleaning it and just adding some fresh water every now and then and she said of course i wouldn't but itsa different with fish! i said hmmm?...i have offered to take the fish for her but she doesnt want to part with them...i cant help but wondre if she realizes shes slowly killing them...she said she would USE one of MY larger tanks but i cant take a 29 gal and just give it to some one who is not going to care for it ..so i guess ill just have to keep my mouth shut and let her be ...but it is frusterating..people tend to think since they are alive that they are fine...argggg

[Emg]

I've always sort of wondered if changing water ever week is really a good thing for a tank. I wonder if just adding RO water to keep up with evaporation isn't a better idea than taking out water and changing the makeup of what's in there. As much as I loose a week from evaporation, my tanks would get plenty of fresh water every week if I did that.

I have a 10 gallon upstairs with one glo-light tetra, 1 fancy guppy and 2 little emerald cories and that water is crystal clean, no algae and I only do a water change about once a month..if even. The fish are fine and healthy and no problems whatsoever with that tank....all the others that I fuss with all the time....water changes every week..gravel vacs..etc..and they don't look anywhere near as nice and clear....go figure...

[iamchris]

When water evaporates out of the tank the minerals still stay in. So when you replenish the water with dechlorinated tap, you just keep on adding more and more minerals in that will never go away if you don't do a water change.

[judgemax]

i agree that if you have limited fish inthat tank maybe you only need minimal water changes once a month is not that detrimental ...but you don't let them go for four years ..which is what she has done...to me thats a little wrong not only is it unhealthy for the fish but it starts to smell and its just not clean or even good looking becuse of the lime or calcium build up...

[Emg]

Chris, I know about the mineral thing and evaporation...that's why I mentioned RO water... ;)

[ergo sum]

Emg,
It is possible to find stasis in a tank but it is never preferable. You can always improve on the conditions. Eventually they will fail if left alone. The environment is just too small. Many people succumb to the belief that just adding water to compensate for evaporation is fine. They keep fish for years this way. They just don't realize they could have been doing a better job and in the end the fish would have been better served.

If you have 10ppm of whatever and you add water due to evaporation, all you do is reduce it temporally. By the next week you will have more. It will just continue to creep up. Eventually it will be too much.