Sunday, July 17, 2011

What do I do about these fish?

I'm in high school, and i spend my lunches with a few of my friends in this great classroom. The assistant has her won desk, and would keep getting, and killing, bettas. She finally stopped, and that made me feel a lot better. But after our spring break, I came in to see a 20 gallon tank, severely overcrowded with very ill fish. There are 5 comet (feeder) goldfish, all with fin rot and one that has gone blind from cataracts. One has part of his dorsal fin eaten off, and two others are lacking theirs entirely. There's another that's missing a pectoral fin. And one poor one is missing all but his tail and pectorals. There are TWO plecos, a corydora, ADFs, and three tetras. There's a filter, but it's certainly not strong enough. The water is disgusting, and she never does changes. She simply buys new (ill-fitting) filters. According to her, they're all two and a half years old. If so, each is severely stunted. And she just bought a bunch of new ones yesterday! I don't know what to do. I'm fine with pitching in and trying to nurse them back to health, but i know that she would need at least 200 gallons to safely keep them all. I have my own overcrowded tank at home, but it's not as bad and I change the water weekly. I wouldn't know where to start. Please don't respond with answers about calling the humane society or getting rid of them. I'm only sixteen. I just need to know what steps I can take to help the tank become healthier.

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