Anyone know how to clean a fishbowl?

My son won a goldfish at a streetfair and the little guy has successfully lived 3 days at our house. How do I clean his water? Its a little round fishbowl. I know hes going to die sooner than later but I dont want to hasten his demise. TIA

Re: Anyone know how to clean a fishbowl?

I got a goldfish (Dorothy ) for my sons birthday party and didn't expect him to make the weekend... that was 3 months ago!

I use room temp water and put some in a tupperware, fish him out and let him wait in there, then empty the water and rocks.

I clean it with a tiny amount of soap with hot water and a dobie pad. Making sure all the soap is rinsed off.

Then I fill with room temp water and put him back in.

For the life of me I couldn't remember what I did as a kid and was hesitant to use "soap" but this seems to be working.... and I do it like once a month

Message edited 8/16/2006 2:01:47 AM.

Re: Anyone know how to clean a fishbowl?

You're not supposed to use a sponge because it has something in there that can kill the fish. I have a water frog, so I'll tell you what I do. My frog is going to be 7...I never thought she'd live this long.
I fill up another small tank with water, a mix of warm and cold. I add a drop of Stress Coat to it. I miraculously catch her and put her in. Then I pour out the water from her tank and leave a tad in there. I swish all the stones around at the bottom to loosen up debris and pour out. Then I add more water and keep swishing it around the tank. Empty, repeat. Then I take a handful of the stones and use them to scrub the sides. Then I take a paper towel and wipe down the sides to get what the stones didn't get. A few more rinses, then I fill. When the tank is filled, I add a squeeze of stress coat to that tank and add her back in (***very carefully so she won't hop away***) and I'm done. The stress coat conditions the water. You can get it at any pet supply store. I like the stones in the water because it catches crap (literally)

Re: Anyone know how to clean a fishbowl?

Set out a container with enough water to replace the dirty water. Leave it out for 24 hrs. Then sccop out the fish and put him in that other bowl, clean out the bowl with a sponge or paper towel (no soap) and then dump all the water that has sat out along with the fish back into his bowl.

If you do this every other or every 3 days, you will have a happy healthy fish.

I did this for months and the one time I didnt let the water sit out for 24 hrs, he died.

Re: Anyone know how to clean a fishbowl?