The time to decide what happens after a fish dies in your absence is before you leave, not during a phone call from a sitter standing at the glass. Write a script, prepare the kit it names, and place both beside the tank before departure. The script protects the remaining fish, protects the sitter from blame, and gives you facts instead of a reconstruction when you return.
Prepare the Script and Kit Before Departure
Write the script on one page, in the order the sitter will act, and walk the sitter through it once at the tank. Beside the tank, place the kit the script names: a net kept only for this purpose, a supply of bags that seal, a pen, and the note card or log page for the entry. Place the water test kit next to them, with your usual test order marked on its lid, and your phone number and a local contact's number written at the head of the script, with your stock list beside the kit.
Agree the wording with the sitter while you are both calm. The script should say plainly that following it exactly is the whole job, that adding anything to the tank is never part of the job, and that phoning you counts as success rather than failure. A sitter who fears telling you bad news delays the call, so say out loud that you want the call on the day itself.
If a Fish Has Died: The Steps in Order
Step one: the sitter removes the dead fish with the net kept for that purpose, working slowly so the other fish are disturbed as little as possible. Step two: the fish goes straight into a bag, which is sealed and placed where you have agreed in advance, away from the tank area. Step three: the sitter writes the entry at once, noting the date and which fish it was, using the names or descriptions from your stock list so there is no doubt later.
Step four: the sitter tests the water, following the order marked on the kit, and writes the results beside the entry. Step five: the sitter adds nothing to the tank: no conditioner, no remedy, no extra food to cheer the others up. Step six: the sitter phones you the same day, reads the entry and the test results aloud, and follows your instructions from there. Each step is written to be done once, in that order, with nothing inserted between them.
If the Water Has Turned Cloudy
Cloudy water gets its own short script, since the correct response is mostly restraint. The sitter feeds nothing at all that day, since uneaten food deepens cloudiness quickly. The sitter adds nothing to the tank and switches nothing off; the filter and heater keep running exactly as you left them. The sitter notes the date, how the cloudiness looks in plain words, such as milky or green-tinged, and whether the fish are feeding and swimming as usual.
Then the sitter phones you the same day and describes what the note says. From that call you decide whether the sitter tests the water, waits a day and reports again, or calls the local contact you have named for problems you cannot solve by phone. The number sits at the head of the script, where the sitter cannot miss it.
After the Call and When You Return
Following either script, the sitter continues the normal visiting routine and notes each visit as usual, adding one line on whether the remaining fish are feeding. Thank the sitter for the call itself when it comes; the next trip's prompt call depends on this one being received well.
When you return, read the entries and test results before touching the tank, and check the remaining fish against your stock list. The written record tells you when the loss happened and what the water showed at the time, which shapes your next steps far better than a verbal summary days later.
KinsLe keeps that one-page script where the sitter can reach it, since its Care Pass carries the steps, your number, and the local contact together for the whole trip.