HELP - Looking after neighbours fish and something has gone wrong with the tank !

[MangoMask]

Sorry to put this in AIBU but I’m hoping for quick replies. Really really really don’t want to kill the fish !!

Our lovely neighbours are away for 18 days (been gone 10 days already) and my 21 yr old Ds has been going in every other day to feed them and top up the tank. It’s a big Aquarium - 2.5 ft x 3.5 ft.

Tonight he went in and the pump is making a horrible noise and pumping out a crazy amount of bubbles making all the water look cloudy. I’ve tried to contact the neighbours but no reply as yet. Googling hasn’t helped except to make me worry it’s going to damage / kill the fish !!

Has anyone got any clue as to what we can do ? Would turning off the pump harm them even more ??

Really grateful for any replies…

Is it a marine aquarium (salt water?) Try asking on this forum https://www.marineaquariumsa.com/forums/ they are in South Africa but have a huge number of members who are very knowledgeable

He might just need to re-postion the pump. Mine does that if it's knocked. Just literally give it a wiggle and put it back.

Do NOT turn it off.

Mine does that when it needs cleaned.

Our tank pump has different settings (little valves on the pump) meaning it can either circulate the water close to the surface or deeper, if it’s set to the close to surface one you do get more bubbling - could it have been switched to that? If it’s not that my guess would be the filter inside the pump is dirty so needs a rinse out (use a jug of water from the tank rather than from the tap).

Thank you so much for your reply. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t got a clue what sort of Aquarium it is (having a mild fish phobia myself 😳I’ve always left it to one of the Kids to do).
They leave a bucket of ‘special’ water to top up the tank with so I guess that might mean it’s salt water ? God I’m an idiot.

Thank you so much for the tips. We are going to go back round now and try and see if the pump has been knocked or moved. Hopefully we won’t get mistaken for burglars….

It’s probably water with the chemicals added. On our pump there is a little flap you lift up and a sleeve pulls out which has the filter (spongy thing) inside. I’d take a jug of tank water out, give the filter a rinse in that and replace, chuck that dirty water down the loo and replace with a jug of the special water and see if that makes a difference.

Are they tropical fish or freshwater?

Try turning it off and on again (by the socket)

Special water doesn’t mean saltwater. You can’t add tap water directly to a tank.

most likely something is just misaligned or clogged.

you can turn off the pump for a couple of minutes while you are diagnosing if it helps with the diagnosis or you need to disconnect and reconnect.

Ours makes a grinding noise if the water level has dropped. It's been really hot, so may have evaporated?

A top up of special water might do the trick.

Just don't turn off the pump!!

By no means am I an expert (we've got a small tank that my partner insisted on and other than nagging him to clean them out every couple of weeks I refuse to be too involved as then it becomes my job) but I'd imagine something has gotten clogged in the filter causing it to malfunction (debris, plant material if they have live plants or even grimmer a dead fish). Filters usually work by pulling water in, filtering it and then spitting it back out, so if something is jammed in the input area (or even output area but less likely) that would probably cause it to make a weird noise and erratically spurt out water. I'd see if your neighbours get back to you but if not, switch it off (you're not supposed to get it out of water while still working as can damage it), clean all visible outer parts, try and see if can figure out model to see how access inside/filters (even though most teenagers would be able to figure it out even without dr google, most are fairly straightforward in how to open), clean inside filters with the "safe water" (again not necessarily a salt water tank, may just have been treated as you're not supposed to use any chemicals like soap etc in tanks so usually need a seperate bucket and you're also supposed to use dechlorinators etc to make tap water safe for the fish) then reposition and turn back on. If still not working correctly may just have malfunctioned and need a new one, which again you'd need your neighbour's help with.

Edited to add that while filter pumps are definitely important and ideally you'd get it sorted sooner rather than later most fish will be fine for 3-7 days even with no pump, so don't panic if they don't get back to you tonight and you can't get it sorted, it's very unlikely that the fish would die because of this until tomorrow (unlike let's say a malfunctioning heater for a tropical fish tank). So absolute worst case scenario, if they don't get back to you by tomorrow midday (and depending on how responsible you feel and how invested you want to get) you can always disconnect pump and take it to a local pet shop that sells salt water fish, they might be able to diagnose the problem or advise on a new pump and how to install (again pretty standard/easy to set up).

May need to take the filters out and rinse or replace (esp the top fine filter) - they get clogged up. They are usually stacked in a tower, different coloured filters. Fine white filter is the one that needs replacing most often.

look something like this although will be grey or black if clogged.

https://www.pond-planet.co.uk/aquarium-c4/media-spares-c113/aquarium-filter-media-c107/juwel-biopad-poly-pad-p3570/s5828?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=juwel-biopad-poly-pad-size-m-compact-size-m-compact-88049&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&cid=GBP&glCurrency=GBP&glCountry=GB&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmICoBhDxARIsABXkXlIDsSa-0OgN5QzP2X6oUT5JlPsBSCwHVaFyaAPQOhyUoAqIfoqH-dkaArlLEALw_wcB

Or something may have got stuck in the tube coming out from the pump into water, blocking it so make need a poke out. Can turn the pump off for short time to clean out filters, but don't leave it turned off as it aerates and removes waste.

Ours does this when the water level drops - and given the warm weather, that may have happened. Depends what type of fish they are - if cold water goldfish, just top up the tank with some water out of the tap

No help to you tonight, but in a fit of enthusiasm, I researched getting an aquarium and there are people who come out and clean/maintain tanks - worth a google to see if there's similar in your area and ask if they could come around as an emergency?