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Twisted a cap on the canister filter the wrong way and snapped the locking fitting. Popped it back on and doesn't seem to leak so fingers crossed (and put spare life boat nearby..)
 
I used a scented sponge to clean the glass of my 5 gallon full of guppy fry. Tank was overstocked with 20ish fry, within 2 hours there were 2 left, and those two were the only survivors....


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SNorlin said:
So, my worst and almost fatal mistake was only a year ago. My fish store told me to tie my java fern down to a rock with sewing thread. I chose the heavy duty stuff so it wouldn't break down. About a month later, I walk by my tank and notice one of my cory cats going bonkers. He was going around and around in a perfect circle along the bottom on the tank. I went in and tried to pick him up, he nearly killed himself trying to get away from me, but he couldn't. Turned out he had somehow gotten the loop that was around the java fern had gotten caught around his lips!!!! I ended up getting him out ( with a lot of effort that had him bleeding) and took a needle and slowly released the knot around his lips. He survived and completely healed. I will never use string or fishing line in my tank again!!!!!


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Click to expand...

I use fishing line in my tank to tie down cucumber halves. Never had amy issues with it.

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I raised a Snowflake Eel in a FW tank. I kept it for some years but it kept escaping. Several times it had been away from the tank for hours but one day it was out too long.
 
Brookster123 said:
My most repetitive mistake is going to the fish store when I need absolutely nothing at all, it's like there is some cosmic force that will not let me leave with out buying something, I have a box under my tank table with filters, air pumps, heaters.. I have a problem...
Click to expand...

You aren't the only one...

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Brookster123 said:
I have a 46 bowfront in storage! Just need a place for it, I have a feeling that my biggest mistake will ultimately be scaring my girlfriend off by overcrowding our apartment w fish tanks..
Click to expand...

I got my boyfriend hooked. He just joined the forum and wants a tank for his place.

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When setting up my 56 gallon again after moving back home, I had to run my python all the way out the front door through the living room to fill it (no inside faucets can fit it - none of the sink aerators come off) and I didn't check the connections in the hose well before turning the water on. My mom was already in a bad mood because she would prefer me not having mh big tank running and to top it off my boyfriend (who she doesn't like) was there helping me set it up. Then while I'm outside to be ready to turn the water off when the tank is full, I hear her screaming to turn off the water - there was a leak where two hoses were joined. Needless to say before I could finish filling the tank I had to take a break to sop up probably 5 gallons of water out of the carpet and off the walls in the living room. And I do my big water changes in the dead of night or while she's at work and pretty much let her forget that I have fish.

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Lol - just used the gravel vac to remove 10 gal and for the umpteenth time forgot to check the hose hadn't popped out of the bucket...
 
Delapool said:
Lol - just used the gravel vac to remove 10 gal and for the umpteenth time forgot to check the hose hadn't popped out of the bucket...
Click to expand...

I thinl everyone has had that happen before. Makes a nclice big mess too

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the last mistake I made was a couple months ago.
Did a water change on my ten gallon tetra tank using a five gallon Sparklets bottle. I only changed about 3 gallons so the bottle wasn't full.

so then I tinkered around with my salt water tank and had to drain out a couple of gallons of water and just used the same bottle.

Then about an hour later when feeding my tetras I noticed one was missing. I looked all around the tank when suddenly the light bulb went on and I went and looked into the water bottle (hadn't emptied it yet) and sure enough there at the bottom was a dead tetra.
They don't fair to well with an almost 50/50 mix of fresh and salt water. :(

now every time I do a wc on my ten, I examine the contents of the waste water before dumping, saved a couple more fish that way. ;)


that certainly must be one heck of a ride going along 4-5 feet of siphon hose, kinda like
Six Flags for fish or something. LOL
 
Biggest mistake ever: keeping a one inch Red-Tailed Shark in a 7 gallon goldfish tank! Poor thing died of a fungal infection!
 
Delapool said:
Lol - just used the gravel vac to remove 10 gal and for the umpteenth time forgot to check the hose hadn't popped out of the bucket...
Click to expand...

Mine has a clip that hold it to the bucket.

Ran out of c02 booster today.

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Biggest mistake I was cleaning my bettas half gallon bowl and in stead of using the water treater I used algae destroyer by accident of corse the thing dyed in a hour


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I had white fungus on some of my aquaponics plants that I have growing in my overflow box and wanted to try a home remedy consists of baking soda and water. I didn't review how to mix it and just sprayed it. The concoction burned all of the leaves. Once I noticed it I rinsed the leaves and saved most of them.:banghead:
 
Delapool said:
That's a good idea - will see what we have in the house.
Click to expand...

My remedy to the hose falling out of the bucket was to buy a longer length of hose. I have about 2 metres of hose attached to my gravel vac now. I can leave a couple of loops in the bucket. It doesn't mean i don't let the buckets overflow sometimes. I usually clear up the tank floor fairly quickly then hold the vac in place with the tank lid and let it drain while i watch. I have a short attention span once i'm cleaning tanks 3-6 and half hour of watchng water drain has passed.
 
Just a couple of days ago I needed to fish two Dwarf Puffers out of the overflow filter. I fished them out and a minute or so later I needed to use to the net to get something else and realized that one of the Puffers was still in the net. Luckily it wasn't harmed.
 
My solution to having water going everywhere during a water change? - have my five year old in charge of the hose and the bucket. She holds onto the hose and makes sure it stays in the bucket, then I put a line inside the bucket and when the water gets to the line my daughter says,"mama, stop!" Works wonders and she feels like she is helping out ( which she is, the last time I changed water, I dumped about a gallon of water on our new wood flooring, wood +water= disaster!!!).


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