How Can I Pursuade The Ignorant?

[fish mad]

Our school was given a 3ft fish tank complete with about 20 fish including a beautiful plec about 2 years ago.
The responsibility for it fell on the caretaker who was willing as he kept fish years ago.

The problem is the tank has never been cleaned in any way other than me staying behind after work and cleaning the glass.
Since ive got back into fish keeping last xmas ive been going to see the tank more often and hooking out dead fish. All but 2 of the platies remain and ive spoken to the caretaker about the problems the tank has
eg; Temp is 68 water is freezing
Gravel has gone black
Water smells as no water changes are taking place.

His reply was theres nothing wrong with it I know about fish its crap about water changes ive never done it when i kept fish.
I suggested that i would come in during a half term , take the remaining fish out and put them in my quarentine tank so as i can clean it up. I told him i wont remove the gravel just gravel vac , add about 50% fresh water with declorinater and i will buy a new heater and clean the filter.
T this he replied if your going to do it stick the fish in a bowl, take out all the gravel and clean it, fill it up with water and chuck them back in.
I was peeved when he suggested that. That is the wrong thing to do isnt it AS YOU WOULD BE REMOVING THE GOOD BACTERIA FROM THE GRAVEL. He said thats crap.
Sorry its a long post but its so frustrating.
Any ideas to getting through his thick head?

 

[pieman]

Other than violence?

No sorry

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if a big stick doesn't work then get together all the books and magazines you can find on fishkeeping, highlight the appropriate passages that support what you want to say, could also print articles from the internet, take them all down to him and basically bombard him with so much evidence that he hasn't got a leg to stand on.

 

[jarmado]

how about convince his supervisor instead?

 

[Bloo]

T this he replied if your going to do it stick the fish in a bowl, take out all the gravel and clean it, fill it up with water and chuck them back in.
I was peeved when he suggested that. That is the wrong thing to do isnt it AS YOU WOULD BE REMOVING THE GOOD BACTERIA FROM THE GRAVEL. He said thats crap.
Sorry its a long post but its so frustrating.
Any ideas to getting through his thick head?

Granted the tank sounds like it's in a dismal condition, but No - removing the gravel will not in any way remove any "good bacteria" - this resides almost purely in the filter. So as long as the filter is untouched and established, it's not a problem at all.

Over time I've done a few 100% gravel or sand changes - with 100% water changes as well. But the filter remained entirely untouched and the process was done very quickly in very established tanks. No spike, illness or death whatsoever.

 

[CFC]

I would have to disagree and say that a very large portion of the bacteria are in the substrate as bacteria colonise all surfaces in the water, i would personally never recomend a 100% change of substrate in one go without taking some remedial steps.
If you are to do a 100% substrate change then retain a portion of the old substrate and stuff this into the foot of a old pair of tights which can then be tied shut and placed on top of the new substrate to seed it with bacteria. You should also give the mechanical filtration media in the filter a really good rinse to insure that there is maximium flow rate of water through the biological media in the filter.

In an old badly maintained tank such as this i would definately not recomend anything more than a 20% water change at once until the parameters are back into a more acceptable range, the shock of suddenly being placed into very clean water could kill the fish which have become accustomed to living in filth. A little and often is the way to go performing small 10-20% water changes daily so as to ease the fish back into a healthy system.

 

[Leslie]

It's going to be very difficult to convince someone the importance of proper maintenance. By the sounds of it you've already tried and if he doesn't see anything wrong with the tank as it is it sounds like an alternate plan will need to happen. Thank goodness you're around to care enough for the remaining fish to do something about it.

I agree that there is large beneficial bacteria colony on all surfaces in the tank. We used to have cycled Betta tanks all the time at the fish store with no filters in them at all.

 

[fish mad]

It's going to be very difficult to convince someone the importance of proper maintenance. By the sounds of it you've already tried and if he doesn't see anything wrong with the tank as it is it sounds like an alternate plan will need to happen. Thank goodness you're around to care enough for the remaining fish to do something about it.

I agree that there is large beneficial bacteria colony on all surfaces in the tank. We used to have cycled Betta tanks all the time at the fish store with no filters in them at all.

Thanks for all your advice im just going to do it my way not his and try and save those poor fish. Ill check the school diary today and see when hes on holiday lol.

 

[dgwebster]

its very diiificult to convince people out of their old ways when they are not willing to listen/are unable to understand. it always causes problems.

i think you'll find it easier to convince this guy with books that are older than him that point to the maintenence that is required.

I've given up with some of my friends. I cringe when i see the state of my friends goldfish tank (and the fact they rarely feed anything other than those pyramid blocks.) and feel sorry for the fish, but they will just never do what is needed. I just hope that they are so lazy, when it does die they wont get another cos "its too much work".

 

[velcrohead]

Our school was given a 3ft fish tank complete with about 20 fish including a beautiful plec about 2 years ago.
The responsibility for it fell on the caretaker who was willing as he kept fish years ago.

The problem is the tank has never been cleaned in any way other than me staying behind after work and cleaning the glass.
Since ive got back into fish keeping last xmas ive been going to see the tank more often and hooking out dead fish. All but 2 of the platies remain and ive spoken to the caretaker about the problems the tank has
eg; Temp is 68 water is freezing
Gravel has gone black
Water smells as no water changes are taking place.

His reply was theres nothing wrong with it I know about fish its crap about water changes ive never done it when i kept fish.
I suggested that i would come in during a half term , take the remaining fish out and put them in my quarentine tank so as i can clean it up. I told him i wont remove the gravel just gravel vac , add about 50% fresh water with declorinater and i will buy a new heater and clean the filter.
T this he replied if your going to do it stick the fish in a bowl, take out all the gravel and clean it, fill it up with water and chuck them back in.
I was peeved when he suggested that. That is the wrong thing to do isnt it AS YOU WOULD BE REMOVING THE GOOD BACTERIA FROM THE GRAVEL. He said thats crap.
Sorry its a long post but its so frustrating.
Any ideas to getting through his thick head?

Could you not put some information up on a wall and maybe get the kids involved?
I am sure they would be fascinated.

 

[riverman444]

Other than violence?

No sorry

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!