Biggest scares you've had as a fish keeper?

[FINWIN]

For me, three.

1. Accidentally put my Parrot Patch in 95 degree water by not using a thermometer. ?

2. My Oscar Brick swallowed a plant anchor on Christmas day in 2019. ?

3. The old stand on my 225 was splitting open and failing in front of my eyes.

Worst scares for me!

 

[esoxlucius]

Since coming back into the hobby in 2015 I can't really say that i've had any single moments that have really concerned me. However, one really really scary ongoing concern, almost like a time bomb waiting to explode, is one which we probably all share, and that would be tank failure, as in a complete blow out.

Oh, I tell a lie, when I got my 360g fibreglass tank I very nearly thought I wouldn't get it in the house, I had to rip half the kitchen up and take some doors off, lol. That was a bit stressful.

 

[A201]

I dropped a 15 lb. Limestone rock into the tank. Thank goodness for thick glass.

 

[fishguy1978]

When I moved my fish room to it's current location and I was setting up the tanks I dropped a heavy rock. It hit the glass on the 40g bowfront.
My 90g failed. The back right corner was giving way and was a slow leak but I didn't know how long that would last while I was scooping everybody out.
Came home from a 4 day trip to a tripped breaker in the fish room. Thought I had lost everything.

 

[Bubbles2112]

I have a love for crayfish so I had been working on a line of beautiful CPO’s, you know the orange dwarfs. It was my passion. I had them spread out in quite a few 5-gallon tanks in addition to my other tanks. I was leaving for a three week vacation and to help out my husband, I put them all into one tank. Easier for him to take care of. Came home and every single one was dead. Tank so cloudy food everywhere. I was heartbroken as I had a beautiful line going.

Also, a leaky marine land 360. All over the kitchen floor. Got very lucky with that one, but not the leaky one upstairs. Every time I look up I see the damage to the ceiling. I use only Eheim now.

 

[Fishnerd360]

One of my scares were seeing my old German blue ram choking, as I thought he was gonna die, but he was fine after an hour.
My other scare was accidentally leaving my heater on during a water change, I saw steam/smoke in my tank so I quickly turned it off. Another scare was in a different tank, my heater broke/shattered in the tank, so I had to unplugged it and clean up the broken glass.

 

[tlindsey]

I had a Octopus get into a HOB filter and it grabbed my fingers with a couple of the tentacles so I panicked. I didn't want the Octopus to bite me. I personally would never keep a Blue ring as a pet it will kill you with a bite.

 

[Potato Patatto]

I recently had a nightmare that I woke up to my tank covered in algea and all my fish had cloudy eye. Not a fish scare but a life scare ? I think it’s time to take a step back or two

 

[Deadeye]

I recently had a nightmare that I woke up to my tank covered in algea and all my fish had cloudy eye. Not a fish scare but a life scare ? I think it’s time to take a step back or two

Funny, I’ve had dreams about algae covered tanks too... the. I realized I wasn’t sleeping! Lol

As for fish scares:
Leporinus and Crayfish tore up my prized home bred shubunkin x Oranda hybrid.
Everyone in my reef got some unholy mix of ich, velvet, and brooklynella... thanks petco.
Found my leporinus missing an eye and most of its fins.
Found my piranha dead without a reason why.
My GT taking a bite to the eye and it looking cloudy, me saying I’ll wait on treatment till tomorrow, and it without an eye in the morning.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Worst for me was waking up to one of my 55 gal tanks gushing water onto the floor. It was a newer Marineland / Tetra tank on a nice flat, level stand intended for 55's. For what ever reason, the bottom perimeter seal started leaking.

Some years earlier, I also had a 29g suddenly crack diagonally across the back, gushing half it's water onto the floor.