Scarred for life

[appak]

i once misread the instructions on a bottle of excel, and overdosed the tank horribly. went out for a few hours, came back to one dead fish. since it was only one, i thought nothing of it, pulled the corpse out, and went to sleep.

woke up the next day to most of my other fish dead, and both of my 12" oscars completely white, immobile, sideways, and gasping. did a massive emergency water change, but it was too late. nuked the entire tank. :/

to this day i refuse to use excel, and i still feel horrible.

 

[Wailua Boy]

A few years ago, I've forgot to turn off hose when refilling an outdoor pond, woke up the next morning to half my livestock being dead. Now if i'm doing more than one water change at once, I set a timer.

Another WTF moment, my friend had been growing out a Pagasius in his koi pond. This fish was a beauty, 30in and fat with not a blemish on him, a perfect specimen. The previous owners had given this fish excellent care and had been hand feeding him, so he was so tame; awesome personality. I added him to a pond stocked with 2 other pangasuis about 20in, a 24in channel catfish and a few pairs of breeding Tiilapine cichlids. Within 24hrs of introduction both eyes were missing, not sure what happened but I guessing the tilapia or channel were the culprits. When I got out to the pond the tilapias were kind of nipping at him. I was really sad this fish was so tame even after the attack it would come to you, almost as if it wanted to be stroked, I know the pervious owners used to pet him. I'm not usually one to pet my fish but I actually grew attached to this fish.

 

[Woefulrelic]

This thread breaks my little boy heart.

 

[jeaninel]

Awhile ago I was doing a water change on one of my tanks. I noticed that the intake tube on one of the penguin 350s got knocked off so I stuck it back on and finished with the wc. When I plugged the filters back in one of them wouldnt restart. So I primed it with some water and it still wouldn't start. Then I heard this scratching sound coming from the filter, even when it was off. I was like "WTF??" I discovered that my BN pleco had climbed up inside the intake tube all the way up to where it bends into the filter. I ended up taking that section of the tube out and sawing it apart and then pulling him out by his tail. I was so afraid I was going to squish him or cut him. But he was stuck in there for 2 days. The sob did this not once but twice! I still have him today.

 

[lekkiandgas]

So I was talking to K krichardson about being scarred for life (joke) when a pleco husk/skeleton fell out onto my hand years ago, when the pleco trapped himself in a shell and disappeared, and there have been other wtf moments in the learning years; including discovering fish missing eyes in the morning, and/or shedding slime coats from lack of knowledge at a young age!

It's actually testament to the durability of fish that they survived, especially when mistakes were made regularly such as removing and boiling filtration pads to "clean" them, or housing total mismatch species in undersized tanks!

So share any stories that you think back on and shudder, cause I know I do!

PROBABLY when I sucked my fighter about a inch up hosepipe when hoovering bottom of tank I got him out in time but makes me shiver to this day thinking about it getting sucked up

Or probably my recent demps tank leak picking him up he was stuff etc and gravel coated on him was horrible to pick up made me squirm inside thinking how he felt whilst water was going down, stress and then laying there till I found him

 

[convict360]

Did I tell you guys that I recently accidentally sooked up a danio while using the python? He went up super fast, then I just managed to pinch it before he got to the faucet bit; I reversed it and he went super fast in the opposite direction and back into the tank lol.

He looked slightly worse for wear after that :/

 

[convict360]

Awhile ago I was doing a water change on one of my tanks. I noticed that the intake tube on one of the penguin 350s got knocked off so I stuck it back on and finished with the wc. When I plugged the filters back in one of them wouldnt restart. So I primed it with some water and it still wouldn't start. Then I heard this scratching sound coming from the filter, even when it was off. I was like "WTF??" I discovered that my BN pleco had climbed up inside the intake tube all the way up to where it bends into the filter. I ended up taking that section of the tube out and sawing it apart and then pulling him out by his tail. I was so afraid I was going to squish him or cut him. But he was stuck in there for 2 days. The sob did this not once but twice! I still have him today.
View attachment 1139401 View attachment 1139402

Little s*it haha!

 

[Kittiee Katt]

One of my biggest mistakes and I still make it from time to time is forgetting to turn something back on after a water change.

Idiot me done this with a heater, I forgot to unplug it. I'm lucky the tank didn't smash because the room was FREEZING!!! The suction cups were melted and running down the tank wall, it was a hell of a mess and a mad dash to get the fish out of the tank... Horrible experience, I triple check that all power points are turned off before even starting the syphon now, and (so far) I haven't forgotten again since. I was lucky that it went the way it did. It could have been a lot worse if the tank had of smashed.. 200ltrs and 3 goldfish on the floor would not have been fun.

PROBABLY when I sucked my fighter about a inch up hosepipe when hoovering bottom of tank I got him out in time but makes me shiver to this day thinking about it getting sucked up

Our minnows have gone for soooo many trips down the hose into a bucket, we just plop them back in the tank, it doesnt bother them to much. They actually try swimming up the end of the syphon. We use home made syphons for this exact reason. That way it doesn't kill the poor things when they swim up it, just gives them an adrenaline rush. lol

 

[jeaninel]

Little s*it haha!

Haha! No doubt he was nom-noming on the algae inside the intake tube.

 

[jeaninel]

Did I tell you guys that I recently accidentally sooked up a danio while using the python? He went up super fast, then I just managed to pinch it before he got to the faucet bit; I reversed it and he went super fast in the opposite direction and back into the tank lol.

He looked slightly worse for wear after that :/

I'm always afraid of doing this especially on my 55 gallon which is teeming with cardinals and Rummynose and the little goofs won't get out of the way.