I was transporting fish to my tank at school, and I plopped in the dechlorinator, but didn't mix it around. I lost 3 black neons (what an AWFUL way to die- chlorine burns and suffocating...) and felt sick to my stomach for a week. Needless to say, on the rare occasion that I ever have to transport a fish, the water is prepped well ahead of time, with plenty of dechlorinator, and well mixed.
What's the biggest mistake you've ever made?
- Thread starter racingjason
- Start date
So far, my biggest mistake was thinking I could do a water change with my cats running around. After I had a lot of fishy water syphoned into the bucket, one of the cats decided to put his paws on the rim and pulled the bucket over. Then it took me a moment or two to actually stop the water flow. That was a big mess.
I'm not sure I remember which was my biggest or dumbest mistake. But one sad one I can remember went something like this:
We were selling our house and had people coming over each day to check it out (it was in a great location and sold quickly). One of these days happened to be a water change day, which I used a Python for. As soon as I had started pulling water out of the tank, the doorbell rang and some people dropped by which were not scheduled (actually they were about an hour late, and I figured they weren't showing). They end up asking me question after question while I'm trying to drain my tank, and I end up not paying close enough attention to the Python siphon tube. It was a heavily planted tank with Florida Flag Fish in it and one of my 2 females got sucked into the Python, yet couldn't pass through the area with the ball valve to cut off water flow (all of you python owners should understand). The fish was almost perfectly the diameter of the tubing!
So anyways, I notice it as she gets stuck and I'm trying to get the fish out (various methods, none of which were very effective) while still chatting it up with the home viewers. Sadly, my pride got the best of me and I acted as if things were going quite according to plan :idea2: and didn't let anyone know the fish was stuck. As I continued my charade, I decided to disconnect the hose and try to squeeze the fish out manually. The people left as I was freeing the fish (about 10 minutes of struggle) and I dropped the fish back into the tank. I noticed a twitch or two and got excited! BUT TO NO AVAIL....it was only nerve activity, the fish had died in the tubing. But I left it in the tank for a while...even holding it in the water return from the filters to get it's gills pumping. In the end it died and I was bitter with myself for being so "level-headed" in the face of tragedy. GRRRR. I think next time I'll yell "GET OUT FREAKS, MY FISH IS DYING!" At least then I won't feel like such a heel!
Be careful with those siphon hoses!
We were selling our house and had people coming over each day to check it out (it was in a great location and sold quickly). One of these days happened to be a water change day, which I used a Python for. As soon as I had started pulling water out of the tank, the doorbell rang and some people dropped by which were not scheduled (actually they were about an hour late, and I figured they weren't showing). They end up asking me question after question while I'm trying to drain my tank, and I end up not paying close enough attention to the Python siphon tube. It was a heavily planted tank with Florida Flag Fish in it and one of my 2 females got sucked into the Python, yet couldn't pass through the area with the ball valve to cut off water flow (all of you python owners should understand). The fish was almost perfectly the diameter of the tubing!
So anyways, I notice it as she gets stuck and I'm trying to get the fish out (various methods, none of which were very effective) while still chatting it up with the home viewers. Sadly, my pride got the best of me and I acted as if things were going quite according to plan :idea2: and didn't let anyone know the fish was stuck. As I continued my charade, I decided to disconnect the hose and try to squeeze the fish out manually. The people left as I was freeing the fish (about 10 minutes of struggle) and I dropped the fish back into the tank. I noticed a twitch or two and got excited! BUT TO NO AVAIL....it was only nerve activity, the fish had died in the tubing. But I left it in the tank for a while...even holding it in the water return from the filters to get it's gills pumping. In the end it died and I was bitter with myself for being so "level-headed" in the face of tragedy. GRRRR. I think next time I'll yell "GET OUT FREAKS, MY FISH IS DYING!" At least then I won't feel like such a heel!
Be careful with those siphon hoses!
Last edited:
LMOUTHBASS
My hypocrisy goes only so far
i forgot about this one - i was mad for weeks about this and still get angry thinking about it -
I was moving some hatchet fish from one tank to another and had them in my net - well i put the net in the new tank and swished it once and saw some of the hatchets swimming around - i think i managed to have 4 in the net -
i went to bed and i'm laying there looking at the tank and i only see 2 hatchets swimming around so i start lookin around the tank wondering where the other two are - finally it hit me to check the net - the poor things are sitting in the net with their gills flapping this had been like 10 minutes - i freaked - i put them in the water and tried to resuscitate them - they started to breathe for a few minutes and then went belly up - i felt so bad - i was so pissed off - anytime i've made mistakes it's because i didnt take my time or did something last minute - now i try to be very careful - i just think about those poor little buggers suffocating and even today it upsets me :sad
I was moving some hatchet fish from one tank to another and had them in my net - well i put the net in the new tank and swished it once and saw some of the hatchets swimming around - i think i managed to have 4 in the net -
i went to bed and i'm laying there looking at the tank and i only see 2 hatchets swimming around so i start lookin around the tank wondering where the other two are - finally it hit me to check the net - the poor things are sitting in the net with their gills flapping this had been like 10 minutes - i freaked - i put them in the water and tried to resuscitate them - they started to breathe for a few minutes and then went belly up - i felt so bad - i was so pissed off - anytime i've made mistakes it's because i didnt take my time or did something last minute - now i try to be very careful - i just think about those poor little buggers suffocating and even today it upsets me :sad
Last edited:
ryknier said:
Jesus. I don't understand! I turn off my pump all the time, could this happen to me? I don't know if I have a "one way" on or not. My pump is always above water level, if that means anything (this is what I was told to do by the retailer...).
My biggest mistake was not enough research:
1. Thinking a goldfish's needs, in terms of amount of water, was the same as any other fish (I'd read 1gallon of water per 1" of fish)
2. Not knowing how big goldfish grew
My newbie tank was a less than 2g plastic thing, with two baby goldfish in it. One died within a week
The other one survived through months of this tank, and is now living in a 10g with a new friend. So you can see this is still a little tight ... I know I'm going to have to get a bigger tank soon.Zooey - the "one way" is also called a check valve. It is a cheap valve that prevents the siphoning of water into the airline. In your case with your pump being above the water level, you have nothing to worry about.
Lol...the check valve works just fine....as long as it's the right end of the tube that becomes unattached... 
1. 1974 buying a whale fish & placing in 15gal tank w/ red tiger oscar!
2. 1984 buying 20 variety of my favorite fishes (all small size) at great low prices on biz trip in LA, travelled another 4days to SF/Chi then home to NY. kept in plastic bags re-aerating them daily. they traveled well. but time I got them into my 20gal tank 8 doa!
3. 1986 love discus - had 20gal tank but kept buying n buying. ended up with 12 nice sm-med size (back in the early 80's when they cost only $10ea.) - needless to say they developed fin rot & slowly died one by one - finicky peckers!
4. 1973 silver angels bred but didn't know how to save the fry
5. 2009 latest no-no was earlier this yr, re-started hobby after 20+yr layoff, went to petsmart, bought 20gal tank starter set, 4 baby silver$, 1 baby redtail shark, 1 baby rainbow shark, 1 med albino shark, 1 baby bala, 4 baby albino cory, 1 sm algae eater, 2 med bloodfins & water conditioner/de-chlorinator. of course this goes against all the rules, but to my surprise (& hopes) they all survived for a good 2weeks w/ no casualties, but 1 cory died of aneurism in the belly, rainbow shark cuz it was dominated by redtail & algae eater cuz not enough to eat. to date, silver$ are 3x's their baby size, bala doubled in size, no more sharks, 2 albino cory are big & fat/3rd medium size, bloodfins big n fat, added baby bala, a betta & a pleco. all doing great.
2. 1984 buying 20 variety of my favorite fishes (all small size) at great low prices on biz trip in LA, travelled another 4days to SF/Chi then home to NY. kept in plastic bags re-aerating them daily. they traveled well. but time I got them into my 20gal tank 8 doa!
3. 1986 love discus - had 20gal tank but kept buying n buying. ended up with 12 nice sm-med size (back in the early 80's when they cost only $10ea.) - needless to say they developed fin rot & slowly died one by one - finicky peckers!
4. 1973 silver angels bred but didn't know how to save the fry
5. 2009 latest no-no was earlier this yr, re-started hobby after 20+yr layoff, went to petsmart, bought 20gal tank starter set, 4 baby silver$, 1 baby redtail shark, 1 baby rainbow shark, 1 med albino shark, 1 baby bala, 4 baby albino cory, 1 sm algae eater, 2 med bloodfins & water conditioner/de-chlorinator. of course this goes against all the rules, but to my surprise (& hopes) they all survived for a good 2weeks w/ no casualties, but 1 cory died of aneurism in the belly, rainbow shark cuz it was dominated by redtail & algae eater cuz not enough to eat. to date, silver$ are 3x's their baby size, bala doubled in size, no more sharks, 2 albino cory are big & fat/3rd medium size, bloodfins big n fat, added baby bala, a betta & a pleco. all doing great.
