Just For Fun: The Dumbest Mistake You Ever Made With A Tank

[98kshooter]

Many many Moons ago, when I was just a mere lad of 7... a family friend won a bunch of goldies at a carnival. He gave all the kids in the neighborhood a pair each, in a nice flat shaped 2 gallon bowl. Well as time went by and Goldies being goldies the bowl got dirty. My mom told me I needed to clean that bowl and change water, so being 7, and never having fish to care for before. (Knew how to catch and clean them) I only knew what I saw, Mom clean the dishes in the sink. So with a sudsy sink and dishcloth in hand I proceeded to scrub that smelly bowl with a will. Then I refilled it with clean water, and returned my friends back in...... and they promptly expired! Who knew? Dishsoap is a poison to fish! Well that inspired me to read and find out how to keep fish.

 

[misterpenguin4]

I have only been keeping fish myself since August but my dad kept fish when I was little.(I was 4) We had a goldfish in a bowl that was on the kitchen counter and I thought he was thirsty so I poured him a glass of milk and poured it in. Needless to say he had a milky death.

 

[herp_mommy]

I turned off my return pump and a back siphon started. I panicked and couldn't figure out how to stop the sump from overflowing. Spilled about 25 gallons on the floor. ooof.

 

[DragonGirl]

My dad kept fish when he was little. This wasn't all his mistake but he got his first fish from the YMCA. They had an event where the got about 100 feeder goldfish and dumped them all in the pool. All the boys swam to catch the goldfish and that's how my dad got started. Needless to say the poor fish didn't live long...

 

[Scottyhorse]

My tank is in the basement, and I was going to camp over the weekend a couple weeks ago. I did a PWC right before I left. After I got back I fed the fish, and when I put my fingers in the water to get the food to sink, the water was really cold!! Well, I had forgotten to turn the heater back on. The water got down to 60 degrees, maybe less. Thank god all of my fish were okay, even my rams!!

 

[SKB]

well when I was younger maybe 12-14, me and my two other sisters would win the fair goldfish all the time. We had a 15 gallon fish tank with an in-tank filter and bubbler....and 5 goldfish. We would clean the tank and filter 100% every 2-4 weeks.

When I said we would win fair fish, all the time, it was because obviously these fish didn't last long, and we figured it was just because they were fair fish and were sick anyway. We did actually have some live a couple years. But mostly, they would last a 2-3 months or less. Wow.



Then when I was older....like the beginning of last year (23) I found my first beautiful African Cichlid at wally world. Brought it home and put it in my 2.5 gallon......... Realized it was rolling around and like "itching" at first I was like ha I found a clown fish, he should be in a circus. But one day I got curious and looked it up on google. Which brought me where I am today!

 

[SKB]

oh and I didn't mention this was with tap water.

But I still have the African Cichlid that lived in that 2.5 gallon for 3 months, but now he is in a group of 5 in a 45 gallon conditioned tank! lol

 

[marsh]

I bought 2 Betta fish, one for my hubby, when a neighbor was bugging us from our front yard all the time as a inner sanctuary to enjoy. Sadly I was misinformed and put them each in an unheated vase with not a single accessory except an Anubia.

They came from a cup at a well known store and sure enough both were struggling within a week. We lost his fish Harris (RIP dude) and I immediately looked into Betta care and set up a large Rubbermaid hospital tank for the other guy, Marshall.

He survived intestinal parasite treatment and is having a birthday soon! He lives with a school of neons in a planted 29 gallon, and I have 2 other SW tanks started, and a pea puffer tank in my hubby's office.

 

[marsh]

Oh yeah last week I burned a towel on the floor, so glad it wasn't our carpet!! Sorry man those heaters burn almost instantly! I also melted the suction cups on a tiny heater when I drained the tank and left it on by accident.

 

[Keithhjs]

15 years ago I was purifying tap water from the kitchen faucet through a single DI membrane into 5 gal water bottles for a water change on a 125 predator/community tank when I guess I had one too many beers and after having changed out 15-20 gal of water realized I mixed up the pile of hose and wasn't actually running water through the filter at all, it was going directly from the tap to the containers s into the tank. next day had about 5 dead fish including my purple tang, clown trigger, and emperor angel. Haven't added non RODI water since!

 

[tankdonovan]

Many, Many Years Ago

It was early 1991 and my wife and I had set up 4 tanks in the last few weeks. No, we had no clue about the cycle. The LFS I was using did not care either as long as they were selling me fish. So, one day my wife decided that the fish should be rearranged by color. We get the nets and start rearranging fish from one tank to another tank. Four tanks total we lost all in the next few weeks. Most from ick/white spot.

TankDonovan

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Your suppose to wash the bio filter every time it looks dirty with bacteria, right?

Is this a serious inquiry?

 

[ArtesiaWells]

Oh yeah last week I burned a towel on the floor, so glad it wasn't our carpet!! Sorry man those heaters burn almost instantly! I also melted the suction cups on a tiny heater when I drained the tank and left it on by accident.

I, too, burned -- in my case -- a carpet with a heater left on while I worked around it...

 

[ArtesiaWells]

I'm surprised I haven't stepped on or broken any glass tops yet.

Give it some time...

We were replacing these things like almost every two weeks at one point...

...until I finally figured out I should LEAN the tops against a wall instead of LYING them down on the floor next to me...

 

[CatoeSc]

Is this a serious inquiry?

I doubt it, but if it is, then that's part of the reason for this thread. The answer, in case it was real, is no. Don't wash the bio-wheel.

 

[Lt.]

I'm surprised I haven't stepped on or broken any glass tops yet. I have beoken tons of test tubes though. I might have three left...

I have Plexiglas (or some other similar composite) for the lid on my tank. I lean it against the tank itself when I'm doing maintenance.



Oh, my biggest mistake...must've been putting the goldfish (my VERY first fish) in a 1 gallon bowl...then neglecting it.

Next would be putting a big catfish (i think it may have been a pictus) in a 5.5 with neons and zebra danios, none of those fish should have been in that tank.


I'm sure I can think of more, but ill share more at a later time.

 

[Sillyfishies]

Getting neon gravel and cheesy decor

 

[DragonFish71]

Last year I had surgery and was home for 6 weeks recovering. Well, I couldn't just let the tanks go without care, so one day when I felt good I grabbed the python and got to work.

I finished my two tanks and had just set up the third for refilling so I decided to sit doing and rest. BIG mistake, I mean HUGE. I had been warned that I would get tired easily between my body healing and the pain meds, they said to rest when I feel tired. So yeah, sitting down was good. Until I fell asleep. The 120 over flowed. I woke up to water running into our laundry room, the carpet flooded.

My hubby came home as I was starting to clean up the mess. I was hurting, tired and upset.

Moral of the story, don't over do it after surgery by trying to clean a tank!

 

[Alyxx]

Last year I had surgery and was home for 6 weeks recovering. Well, I couldn't just let the tanks go without care, so one day when I felt good I grabbed the python and got to work.

I finished my two tanks and had just set up the third for refilling so I decided to sit doing and rest. BIG mistake, I mean HUGE. I had been warned that I would get tired easily between my body healing and the pain meds, they said to rest when I feel tired. So yeah, sitting down was good. Until I fell asleep. The 120 over flowed. I woke up to water running into our laundry room, the carpet flooded.

My hubby came home as I was starting to clean up the mess. I was hurting, tired and upset.

Moral of the story, don't over do it after surgery by trying to clean a tank!

Oh no! I guess the same goes for doing a water change when you are sleepy in general. I've cut it close a few times because I got distracted, but thankfully it's never spilled over. I have missed buckets with the end of the siphon before I got my python. Drained maybe a gallon right onto the floor before I realized.
Looooove your avatar, btw DragonFish.

 

[ArtesiaWells]

I doubt it, but if it is, then that's part of the reason for this thread.

Well no, not really but...