How a water change turned into a disaster

[gilpi]

Well, I'm not proud about the following but I think we all learn from our mistakes and I'd thought I pass it on so someone does not repeats the same mistake I made.

It all started as a regular water change day for all my tanks, empty out about half the water out of them with a hose, de-chlorinate and refill the tanks, simple enough no?
Been doing this for about 40 years, all good no problems.
So I filled all my tanks and just sit back and wait a while, one of my tanks is an African tank 3 years going, 12 fish about 4 inches long.
Usually the Africans get active after a water change but not this time, just after a few minutes they all went down to the bottom on their side, within 15 minutes some are swimming erratically others are just laying there on the bottom breathing heavy.
All in all, took me about 20-30 minutes to realize I had not added water conditioner (de-chlorinator) to the African tank!
So I added a good amount of water conditioner but by then, the damage was done, miraculously 6 fish started to slowly get up from the bottom and very slowly started to swim around.

When it was all said and done, I had wiped out half my tank

Now I'm not so sensitive to fish death since I've been into tropical fish for so long and stuff happens but the point I guess I'm trying to pass on is how a careless mistake can spell disaster in the tank, that's the toughest part.

Peace.

 

[fishliker]

Well I'm so sorry this happened to you! It could happen to any of us I'm afraid.

I am always uneasy about forgetting the prime with the water changes. I try to put the bottle somewhere that I will step on it or have to move it because it's in my way.

Again, very sorry, it's part of being human.


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[fish wrangler]

Sorry to hear this. I know I've forgotten my de-chlor a few times wirh the longest being 30-45 minutes and nothing bad happened. I could just be lucky because my water is under 1ppm chlorine and 0 chloramine.

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[Mar23]

As a child I kept fish and never dechlorinated the water. It came straight from the tap. Did it not have chlorine in it? Hmmm


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[gilpi]

Sorry to hear this. I know I've forgotten my de-chlor a few times wirh the longest being 30-45 minutes and nothing bad happened. I could just be lucky because my water is under 1ppm chlorine and 0 chloramine.

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I'm thinking my water had to be very high in chloramine and chlorine that day when it happened so fast.

I always (well almost always) use the recommended amount plus a little more of water conditioner.




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[gilpi]

As a child I kept fish and never dechlorinated the water. It came straight from the tap. Did it not have chlorine in it? Hmmm


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You know, since you mention it... I also remember as a small boy keeping guppies and other small fish in a small tank, no filters or maybe a box filter, no conditioner but I also remember their life span not being very long.


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[Laeris]

I keep cleaned out gallon jugs with pretreated water on a shelf, refilled as soon as they're empty. Helps make school a little more efficient.


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[brennae]

It's a mistake I think we have all made before. I know I have. Sorry about losing half your tank!

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[coralbandit]

So sorry to hear about your accident.
I have come very close my self even though I prep my water.
To avoid losing my mind(it is small and hides well sometimes) I purchased a chlorine test kit.
3 drops into a vial and I am 100% certain (eitherway) on my spaced out moments.

Sorry about your fish,you are not alone on this one....

 

[gilpi]

So sorry to hear about your accident.
I have come very close my self even though I prep my water.
To avoid losing my mind(it is small and hides well sometimes) I purchased a chlorine test kit.
3 drops into a vial and I am 100% certain (eitherway) on my spaced out moments.

Sorry about your fish,you are not alone on this one....

A chlorine tester is something I have never even considered since it's so easy to add a few drops of your favorite dechlorinator plus a few extra drops.

I'm thinking I had a senior moment and since I'm just steps away from entering the senior world, maybe the test kit is not a bad idea ?

Again, I'm thinking my tap water must have been very high in chlorine that day, I checked for ammonia and that was fine.




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[PNWaquarist]

I'm thinking my water had to be very high in chloramine and chlorine that day when it happened so fast.

That's likely the case. My city puts a good amount of both in the water. I typically use twice as much Prime as needed.

Sorry for your losses. If I had done the same thing, I would've killed more than a few fish in my tank(s) as well.

 

[Delapool]

As above, really sorry on the loss of your fish. I guess some good news you picked it so quick imo.

 

[ScotJudd]

As a child I kept fish and never dechlorinated the water. It came straight from the tap. Did it not have chlorine in it? Hmmm


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Not being nosey but when was this? Chlorination of drinking water started in the very early nineteen hundreds! ?



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[ColemAnthony1]

Sorry to hear about your fish. I run on well water, so I don't have to worry about de chlorinating, but that doesn't mean I havnt had my fare share of mistakes in water changing. Once I had a siphon sucking my water into a 5 gallon bucket and my oven went off so I went to check on it (idiot I know) Long story short I came back and my room was flooded. ?? luckily it was a 50 gallon tank so there was still water left in the tank. We all learn from our mistakes...


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[Mar23]

Not being nosey but when was this? Chlorination of drinking water started in the very early nineteen hundreds! ?



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Lol! Well I am not that old! This was in the early 80's. Maybe fish are just getting weaker. ?


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[katiekelsey]

I used to worry about forgetting to use Prime. Now I keep the bottle of Prime in the bucket that I use for every water change.