Goldfish sitting...?

Question

I'm fish sitting for my friend, and she has 2 goldfish, The water is gettin REALLY dirty and I know I need to change it, but they didn't give me the water conditioner I think is what they called it or chlorine or something, whatever you put in it. I am going to the pet store to buy some, but I was wondering if anybody could tell me what to get? They are just goldfish she won at a fair, but is really attatched to them and I CAN'T kill them!!!! lol Please help!!!! Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

any, as long as it says it makes tap water safe it will work.

you make it sound like sound as though they're in a small tank or even a bowl... if your friend really loves her fish please inform her they need more than this. for perfect health, these fish should be in a 50gallon tank with a super strong filter... they get over 18" and produce a ton of waste. or even better, a pond. if a tank is not in budget, she may want to consider finding them a new home with a pond. if she really can't bare the thought of giving them away (self, she is sentencing them to death otherwise, but I understand) she should get them at the very least a 10gallon with a filter rated for 20gallon tank or more. they need more than this, but they are fair fish, and I suppose a decent life is better than nothing.

for now, do your best to keep the water clean. this means leaning the water before it looks dirty, because even though it may look clean there are toxins in the water. it's probably going to mean doing a 10% water change every day and a 100% water change once a week.

Answer 2

It is very important to get the dechlorinator. Don't listen to those who tell you not to get it. They can die without it. Just go to the store in the fish aisle and look for a small bottle. Should be yellow or white. It will say dechlorinator or water softener on it.

Answer 3

de-chlorinator or there is another 1 called tap safe for goldfish good luck  

Answer 4

You can change half of the water, fill it with new clean water. When i do a water change, I use "Tetra Aqua Safe" that makes tap water safe for fish by "removing" all the bad chemicals and such from tap water. I then use "Tetra Easy Balance", that reduces frequent water change, and keeps water biologically balanced for up to 6 months. Tetra is the brand of the fish maintenance solutions, and i have found this brand works best than others that i tried. It is inexpensive as well: you can buy they for about $5-7 each for a large bottle.

Good luck with the fish!

Answer 5

do they live in a tank..? i didn't even know you needed to put chlorine in the water for goldfish. with my goldfish they lived in a bowl and id change the water. then again they didn't live very long and i never knew why.

Answer 6

you really don't need to buy any of that expensive stuff (especially not for goldfish).

all you really need to do is

1. fill up a bowl with cold water(or two *see below)

2.get a fish net properly sized for grabbin up goldies

3.Please let it sit for at least a day (water but some put the net in there too(?)).

4.be very gentle and do not squish the fish against the glass (i seriously injured a gold fish i had a long time ago and it could only swim in circles it was horrid). just come up from behind and under them with the net using a gentle scooping motion.

5.place fish in one bowl of the water that sat at room temp.

6.dump old water (you can rinse out bowl if you want i just wouldnt recommend using soap).

7.if you had let a 2nd bowl of water set, pour that in there.  you may want to wait a couple hours so that the water temp. won't shock the fish due to any objects or the glass lowering the temp.

8.scoop fish gently,again, with the net placing them gently back into their home.

**if you have a problem getting them out of the net, it is usually best to just let them figure it out for themselves. ie. leave the net in the water til he is out.

you can do it!

Answer 7

When you get to the pet store, ask them to point you in the direction of water conditioners.

Look for something that says it makes tap water safe for fish and make sure it says that it removes Chlorine and Chloramines both. Follow the directions on the bottle and the fish should be fine =]