housesitting and my friend's fishbowl for her beta looks disgusting.

3/31/2008 12:38:22 PM

how long til the owner comes back?

3/31/2008 12:39:20 PM

if you're just housesitting, dont take this gamble.

3/31/2008 12:40:01 PM

3 days but we had this conversation a month ago bout how it was gross and needs to be cleaned and i know the fish will die before she gets round to doing it. I just feel bad for the fish so would rather just clean it

3/31/2008 12:42:23 PM

1. take fish out and put in smaller container with portion of original water
2. pour original water out of bowl, fill with new water, add dechlorinator*
3. put fish back in bowl

*if you don't have any, buy some, or let the water sit overnight before adding it.

i think it's probably a bad idea to change the water while your friend is gone, esp w/o asking the friend first.

have you never had a pet fish before?

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 12:44 PM. Reason : ]

3/31/2008 12:43:22 PM

Do you have water treatment drops to take out the chlorine?

3/31/2008 12:43:25 PM

eh........ bettas are really tough, thats why they can survive in 16 oz of water that hasn't been cleaned in months in the first place.




if it bothers you that much, i say go for it. the worst thing thats gonna happen is you have to buy a new fish

3/31/2008 12:46:03 PM

well she has never had a fish before. I had a one as a kid and i remember doing this but just wanted to check before i did it because i would have forgotten bout stuff like the chlorine drops.

Only reason she got one in the first place was so her boys would stop screaming bout not having a pet

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 12:48 PM. Reason : fish]

3/31/2008 12:46:34 PM

If there are rocks or decorations or anything in there (which there should be if they aren't going to clean it regularly to keep waste from being stirred up every time the fish moves), you'll need to clean those too beyond just dumping out the water and refilling it.

3/31/2008 12:52:40 PM

I housesitted once and all three 30yo goldfish shit the bed

3/31/2008 12:53:53 PM

the chlorine drops will say "add this many drops per gallon"


just go ahead and get a gallon of water and do that, don't try to estimate based on the tiny tank. or you can get "spring water" (not distilled!) in a jug from the grocery store.

3/31/2008 12:54:20 PM

hey, thats a good idea

3/31/2008 1:00:22 PM

Don't do chlorine drops if you are going to go out and buy something. They have betta specific water treatment at all the fish stores, wal-mart, etc. It's about the same price initially ($3 a bottle), but you only get like 15 uses out of a bottle instead of 100 uses. The betta water treatment will get rid of chlorine and adjust the Ph of the water. I think it does other stuff as well. My fish died when I ran out of that stuff and used chlorine drops alone. No idea why, but whatever.

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 2:25 PM. Reason : s]

3/31/2008 2:23:20 PM

they're really more like anti-chlorine drops (dechlorinator), just to clarify you're not adding chlorine to the water. i have a betta here at work and he does just fine w/ the regular dechlorinator. i had another one that died last year bc the city did something different to the water during the drought though.

3/31/2008 2:29:20 PM

My bettas always did fine with the normal fish drops too. But if you're really paranoid they sell bottled betta water that's ready to pour into the tank, so there's nothing to potentially do wrong.

3/31/2008 2:31:16 PM

whatever you do, don't use soap to clean the fish bowl, just drain the water, and use a clean towel to wipe off the stuff on the glass.

3/31/2008 2:32:30 PM

what? Dont clean the bowl with soap and rinse it out well?

I mean the thing is gross

3/31/2008 2:36:41 PM

soap will kill the fish.

3/31/2008 2:39:45 PM

No, the soap residue will kill the fish.

3/31/2008 2:39:47 PM

Quote :

"what? Dont clean the bowl with soap and rinse it out well? I mean the thing is gross "

Do not use any cleaner.

No matter how well you rinse it, it will kill the fish

Edit: This includes the outside of the bowl also

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 2:58 PM. Reason : ]

3/31/2008 2:57:41 PM

im glad i asked, i would have killed the fish

3/31/2008 3:39:03 PM

^i agree

3/31/2008 3:39:46 PM

You could also just give the fish to someone who will take care of it and say it died while she was gone.

The good thing is that if you kill it you have two options...
1. Don't mention that you changed the water and say it must have died because she was not taking care of it. This is a true statement in many ways because had she been taking care of it you wouldn't have felt the need to change the water. Besides, you know the poor thing will be in the same situation 6 weeks from now that it is in today. Might as well get it over with.

2. You can always buy another one for $2.99. I mean, she obviously doesn't care about the thing so she'll never know the difference.

[Edited on March 31, 2008 at 3:53 PM. Reason : s]

3/31/2008 3:51:27 PM

I usually get a cloth or paper towel, fill the empty bowl with hot water, and rub the sides. Then I rinse it out really well before I add the rocks/decorations back into the bowl and fill it with water + declorinator. Let the water reach room temp again (So you don't shock the fish) and drop the little sucker back in.

3/31/2008 3:52:35 PM

So I think I've figured out why the fishies I've bought always died

good thread

3/31/2008 3:54:23 PM

Yeah, imagining you are living in the 19th century and you are a housemaid and trying to clean a fish bowl without any aid of modern technology,

So basically just scrub really really hard and rinse with clean water, it is a very time consuming process.....

3/31/2008 5:12:51 PM

step 1: CALL A FISH STORE

3/31/2008 5:31:46 PM

The beta has become accustomed to the water in the display bowl. Suddenly changing the water can shock the fish & kill it, even if you're replacing it with cleaner water. If you're serious about cleaning the fish bowl, you need to do it in stages.

Quote :

" 1. Go buy distilled or spring water. Contrary to popular belief, there is very little difference in the quality of water in terms of what you'll be using it for, so pick either one. Leave it in the same general area as the fish bowl overnight so that the water tempratures will be roughly equal to one another when you go to move the fish. 2. Clean out the display bowl, refill with bought water. Add your drops of dechlorinator/stress coating. Make sure you have left over treated water to do water changes in the temp bowl. 3. Every day (every other day is best, depending on your time constraints), change 20-25% of the water in the fish's temp bowl with the water you saved after filling the display bowl. If you let the water temps = in step 1, you can begin the first change now. 4.Return fish to dislpay bowl, wait 3 days, then comment on how much better the bowl looks. "

If you can't let the water tempreature equalize by keeping it all close together, putting the fish in a plastic bag and placing the bag in the water he's to be moved to is a decent subsitute. Let it sit for 10-20 minutes.




[Edited on April 5, 2008 at 7:55 AM. Reason : .]

4/5/2008 7:53:34 AM

^ make sure there is water in the plastic bag

4/7/2008 11:24:50 AM

^ You could always eat the fish.

...oh wait...

4/7/2008 11:39:36 AM

eat a beta?
nah. ill have something larger. i think if its small enough to fit in a fishstick its not worth your time.

4/7/2008 12:48:23 PM