Dumbest thing you've done in/to aquariums?

[Carpsalmon]

Wait, one more, bought an awesome fire eel after years of looking for the right markings, only to find out that he got sucked into my filter... I laughed when I pulled it out in the morning because the look on his face was like " oh s**t this hurts" His eyes were all popped out of his head and his mouth was open and guts were up in his throat. It sucked but my wife and I laughed pretty hard.

If your wondering how long it took to make all these mistakes... 4 years

 

[festerfish]

when doing a water change i swiched 2, 1 gallon jugs, one jug was filled with water and lemon juice( for when i play b ball) the other was filled with a PH 7 buffer. instead of pouring the bufffer in my tank i poured the lemon water. and this was big because it was my nieces 10g tank! so needles to say i didnt play ball with the tank in a cloud of acidity.

 

[Bottomfeeder]

I tried to maneuver a heater over a filter without unsuctioning either one...I ended up with a busted heater and a trip to the pet store at 8 PM

 

[L021]

Left the heater turned on and put it on Mom's good pair of shoes... Neither could be saved, me or the shoes. We had to get a new heater too, which, in turn, I had set to high and boiled my fish overnight because I had it set to around 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

Oh, and after all that, I only lost 2 out of my 10 fish in the 10gal. (It was my second month fishkeeping, gimme a break)

 

[Bottomfeeder]

That reminds me of the one and only ich case I ever had. It was a hybrid Ottocinclus, so I had to not screw up...lol

I put him in a 2.5g to quarentine, and added medication and salt as suggested, plus the heater. What didn't occur to me is that a heater for a 5-10g and a heater for a 2.5g are very different, and the water got up to past 90'F. The ich was gone for good, and fish back in tank after 48 hours, no kidding

 

[Melanchaweiz]

I am new to MFK but so far I am really enjoying everything here.

I have kept my aquapets for years now and have made plenty of mistakes through the years. I will list the ones that come to mind.

I set up a new tank filled it with water put in the heater and plugged it in only to have the heater to shatter after a few minutes.

I used a gravel vac for the first time and got the water going by sucking on the hose. I got a mouthful of nasty fish poo water. YUCK

A friend of mine went fishing and caught a bass and I let em put it in the tank with my 12" albino channel cat. Bass died shortly after and the next morning I had a big stinking mess to clean up and was weeks trying to cure my catfish of all kinds of weird sicknesses that he had come down with.

Had another heater to shatter after forgetting to unplug it while doing a wc and had both my arms in the tank at the time and needless to say I was very lucky.

Was gone on vacation and had my mom to clean a tank for me and forgot to tell her that my big parrot fish would attach her if she put her arms in the tank, she's still wearing the scar.

Had turned a hood and light unit diagonally on a tank to vacuum the gravel and knocked the whole thing in the water. Luckily I remembered to unplug it. Scared the fish pretty good.

The last one that I can think of doesn't really have anything to do with me but my alcoholic boyfriend (not anymore) got drunk one night and fell into the fish tank that I had my albino catfish in and shattered the whole side of it. I came home from work and stepped into my living room carpet and it was like a swamp. Albino got cut up and had turned hot pink with enough water left to cover up his gills but not the top of him. I was able to save my poor ol fish. It was a total tragedy but was the last straw for me to get out of a bad relationship. It's to bad my fish had to get hurt for me to open my eyes.

I have made plenty more but that's the ones that come to mind just now.
I'm so glad I found you guys....

 

[jr monster fish]

I am new to MFK but so far I am really enjoying everything here.

I have kept my aquapets for years now and have made plenty of mistakes through the years. I will list the ones that come to mind.

I set up a new tank filled it with water put in the heater and plugged it in only to have the heater to shatter after a few minutes.

I used a gravel vac for the first time and got the water going by sucking on the hose. I got a mouthful of nasty fish poo water. YUCK

A friend of mine went fishing and caught a bass and I let em put it in the tank with my 12" albino channel cat. Bass died shortly after and the next morning I had a big stinking mess to clean up and was weeks trying to cure my catfish of all kinds of weird sicknesses that he had come down with.

Had another heater to shatter after forgetting to unplug it while doing a wc and had both my arms in the tank at the time and needless to say I was very lucky.

Was gone on vacation and had my mom to clean a tank for me and forgot to tell her that my big parrot fish would attach her if she put her arms in the tank, she's still wearing the scar.

Had turned a hood and light unit diagonally on a tank to vacuum the gravel and knocked the whole thing in the water. Luckily I remembered to unplug it. Scared the fish pretty good.

The last one that I can think of doesn't really have anything to do with me but my alcoholic boyfriend (not anymore) got drunk one night and fell into the fish tank that I had my albino catfish in and shattered the whole side of it. I came home from work and stepped into my living room carpet and it was like a swamp. Albino got cut up and had turned hot pink with enough water left to cover up his gills but not the top of him. I was able to save my poor ol fish. It was a total tragedy but was the last straw for me to get out of a bad relationship. It's to bad my fish had to get hurt for me to open my eyes.

I have made plenty more but that's the ones that come to mind just now.
I'm so glad I found you guys....

LOLLOLLOL
that sucks tho.
to ]V[FK!

 

[likestofish]

I resealed a 150 gallon with silicone that was not for aquariums, it blew up a week later, I came home to find the front piece of glass gone and all the fish all over the floor, I'm still paying for the repairs in the apartment below me.

Three or so weeks after that I got renters insurance and was emptying my new ACRYLIC 125, and I decided to take a quick bathroom break, then I decided I would check my email, then I realized that I was siphoning into a bucket! 75 or so gallons through the floor again.... The guy downstairs would have killed me if he was'nt so scrawny...

Then theres the time I plugged in my heater and O2 and powerhead where my one year old unplugged it, I don't know how long it took but my perfect 13 Inch indo dat was dead, my 14 inch jardini died an hour later, and all 23 of my 4-9 inch loaches wher upside down on the bottom, but they all pulled through.

Leaving a 210 outside full of water to have it freeze and break the top plastic support.

Filling a tank with a plugged in heater only to have it explode due to temperature difference.

Putting 1 inch loaches with a six inch vegetarian koi... I guess he wanted some protien, because all 3 loaches were gone by morning.

Putting a 6 inch Silver arow with 2 14 inch gar, it didn't take to long to realize that was a dumb move.

Adding three 6 inch datnoids, 2 7 or so inch loaches, 1 12 inch distachotas sexfaciatus, and a 12 inch flag tail to an already crowed 72 gallon bowfront. Woke up in the morning to five dead datnoids, 6 dead loaches, 2 dead peacock eels, 1 dead sexfaciatus, a few dead catfish, a dead flag tail and to think, I just spent 300 bucks on most of the fish that week.

Siphoning out my window only to find out that the guy downstairs had his widow open and the water splashed on his windowsill and into his house.

And a bunch of other random stuff... Hope you have more fun reading about it than I had paying for the damages over the years.

Oh and not buying an ST a guy was trying to sell me for 80 bucks at 12 inches, instead buying his 22 inch clown knife for 40... WOW I really feel stupid now.

Wow it must suck to be the guy living under you

 

[RAWfish]

I pulled out a U/G filter before the HOB filter was established. Ammo spike killed some fish. One of them was a cool little minnow thing my 8yr old son and I had taken from a local stream and had for about 8 months. I felt terrible.

The second dumbest thing was reinstalling the same U/G filter... in the same tank... then deciding for a second time I wanted to get rid of it. That's makes dumb thing #2, 3, and 4 I think.

So this next time I left the U/G filter tray in the tank and only removed the powerhead after the HOB filter was established. Any advice on whether I would kill fish again if I yanked the tray? It has been running for months now with the HOB established and the U/G tray just sitting under the gravel dormant. Would the muck from under the tray be enough to cause a big problem? FWIW, I have one of those air-stone pipes hooked up to the tray, but WITHOUT any air because I could't find the little cap for the hole... so there is no circulation going on through the gravel bed or U/G tray.

 

[Jone]

In this summer i filling up my tank with the garden hose. offcourse i forgott, but my son didnt. the look on his face when he came out on the teras i never forgett!!it all went ok, just about 20 gallons on the floor!!