TROPICAL fish worth £600 were killed when a gang of youths poisoned a tank at a Malvern gym.

Elaine Revell, owner of Bodyworks II in Wells Road, said seeing fish floating dead at the top of the tank or gasping for last breaths was very distressing.

"I know fish aren't exactly pets but what do you achieve out of doing something like that?" she said.

"What kick do you get out of damaging other people's premises and causing great emotional distress?"

Her partner Richard Lewis, a golf professional at Worcestershire Golf Club, had built up the collection over the past two years and Ms Revell said he was "absolutely gutted". Around 50 of the fish had died including some very beautiful large ones. The tank was poisoned after three youths, believed to be 14 to 15-years-old, entered the ladies only gym at around 7.15pm last Friday evening.

They went upstairs where fitness instruction Michelle Doveton was working in the office and asked if it was a mixed gym. She told them it wasn't, asked them to leave and chased them down the stairs.

She said that on the way out the gang stopped at the tank by the entrance, opened a cupboard below and poured six months' supply of fish food and cleaning chemicals into the water.

Called back from a night out, Ms Revell and Mr Lewis spent four hours trying to filter the murky water but only managed to save seven fish.

Ms Revell said she would not be replacing the dead fish, as she did not want the same thing to happen again.

"The tank was looking superb this year and the gym members enjoyed looking at the fish as they went out and came in," she said.

Ms Revell said she had not reported the incident to the police, as she said she did not see how the culprits could be caught.