What do you do when you see a neglected tank?

[Morainy]

Have any of you ever run into this situation? Yesterday, I went to someone's house on an errand. There were a couple of aquariums there, in terrible shape.

By terrible, I mean that the water was dark and scummy and had evaporated about a third of the way down the tanks, leaving a rind of minerals above. The glass was green. One of them had a working heater that was sticking out above the water line by quite a bit. I wondered why it hadn't broken.

I thought, well, they're not beautiful but maybe the fish are doing well. So, I looked in the tanks -- there were fish, but there were also a couple of fish corpses and quite a bit of food coated in fungus in one tank, and in the other tank there was a dead plecostomus -- but only part of it. In that tank, some of the fish had fin rot that looked quite advanced. In the first tank, the fish had no visible illnesses.

Have any of you ever run into anything like that? The tanks belonged to the son of the person I was meeting, and the parent had no interest in the fish.

I have adopted fish from friends who couldn't care for them in the past, but I don't know this family very well. I asked if the son wanted to go to the free aquarium session that WCAS is offering at a couple of community centres in February, or if I could give him some tips, but these suggestions were brushed off with a laugh and I didn't push it.

What would you do?

[Elle]

Well, I've offered to take neglected fish home, and have done once or twice. Something like that, I would likely point out that the tanks were in really bad shape and offer to rehome the fish for free (or cheap). I don't know if I would have been able to stay polite though. Animal cruelty/neglect p*sses me off more than almost anything.

[cdsgo1974]

I would tell the parents that a neglected tank like that where fungus are growing can't be good for the people living in the home as well, if they couldn't care less about the inhabitants of the fish tank. I would then ask them if they would be willing to give the fish away so they can empty and store the tanks away. Injecting "fear" usually results to quicker action unfortunately.

[April]

Sounds to me like it's the end of his fish keeping very soon. I'm sure as they all die off the tanks will be shut down and thrown in the garage or basement.
I've had a few parents bring in tanks with a couple of fish left and say the kids aren't looking after them anymore.
It would be tempting to scoop the fish and bring them home.


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[The Guy]

I could not have been as polite! I would have asked the son why he keeps these sess-pools running at all. And make them aware that animal cruelty is an offence that can be reported. I'm with you Elle that P----s me right off. To think the parents let it continue shows what is being taught by some parents to the up and coming generation, scarey isn't it.

[clairel]

in my experience....all you can do is 'smile and wave'.

[Ursus sapien]

I'm with Laurie on this one. It's like when someone makes a bigoted comment, I really can't let it pass. No need to be rude - you can send a strong message without being a jerk - but cruelty, however unintentional, is still cruelty.

[neven]

as you dont know them well, the best is to let them know that water left light that becomes a breeding ground for harmful bacteria that can get transfered to other surfaces around the house. Oh and insects as well, scummy water = more bugs

other things you can do is offer floating plants to atleast absorb the nitrogen and put a bag of crushed coral in the tank to stop a ph crash. Hopefully the bacteria comment will get the parents harassing. Ultimately though, i think its the parents fault for letting the kid get so lax on the tank care, their home their rules. I'd have rehomed the fish much sooner when it became apparent my kids cant keep fish

[big_bubba_B]

i kinda think if you phoned the SPCA and reported fish were being kept in horrible conditions they would kinda laugh at you and hang up . because simply there not animals. it is not nice to see them kept in that manner but all you can do is bite your tongue and walk away .

[Athomedad]

FYI if he actually laughed that means he knows he's doing something wrong, but his pride is keeping him from admitting it. You did the exact right thing & you may have planted a seed to do the right thing.

If he just dismisses you than he doesn't care & you could tell him he could make $50 selling it & they could save the energy cost.

If he had reacted with anger than he would disagree with you & it would be really tough to convince him of anything.

With any luck you started this person on the right path. If you had reacted angrily you would have made him angry & nothing good would come of it.